ALLYCYON

EXILED ELF

Also By Ross Kitchen

Fornesia Adventures

Hellena, A Werewolf’s Tale; 2021

Hellena And The Dungeon; 2024

Hellena, Orcs, Elves And Dryads; 2024

Hellena, Orcs, Elves And Dryads; Due 2024

Helven Adventures

Allycyon, Exiled Elf; 2019

Allycyon and the Wolves; 2020

Allycyon, The Raider; 2024

Allycyon and The Boar Hunt; 2024

Allycyon At War; Due 2024

Maëlys, The Unlucky Adventurer; 2021

Maëlys and the Rogue Mage; 2024

Tatiana, Dreaming Of Freedom; 2020

Tatiana And The Midnight Serpents; 2024

Helven Short Stories

Groff; 2024

The Baron's Offer; 2024

Murderers; 2024

Lizzie; 2024

Gregory; 2024

Meline; 2024

Princess Ellena Stories

The Bored Princess; 2019

The Princess Ellena Gets A Cat; 2024

The Princess Ellena And The Bucket; 2024

The Princess Ellena And The Maze; 2024

The Princess Ellena And The Party; 2024

The Princess Ellena And The Angry Servant; 2024

In Collaboration With Real Kingdoms

Troll Quest; 2023

Dragon Quest; 2024

Copyright © 2021 Ross Kitchen

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Published by Ross Kitchen, Author

ISBN: 978-1-917573-01-6

This is a work of fiction. All concepts, characters and events portrayed in this book are used fictitiously.

Any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except brief extracts for the purpose of review, without the permission of the publisher and copyright owner.

All rights reserved.

Second Print

DEDICATION

I would like to dedicate this book to two people.

Firstly l would like to dedicate this book to my eldest daughter, Isobella Kitchen. I deliberately set the main character to be a teenage woman as l wanted to see if l could create a character who would appeal to her and l am also hoping that having a book written just for her will finally get her into reading.

Secondly to Bernard Pearson of Clarecraft and Discworld fame. He wrote the book, Dovetail, simply because he had heard that "Everyone has a book in them". So l decided to write a book, myself.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The font used throughout this book is called Open Dyslexic. It is specifically designed to be easier to read for those with Dyslexia.

ALLYCYON

EXILED ELF

A

HELVEN

ADVENTURE

AUTHOR

ROSS KITCHEN

CONTENTS

My Eighteenth Birthday

Disaster

Escape

Groff

Allycyon - Leaving Summerstown

Saving A Dwarf

Learning About Stats

Eldred

Allycyon - Outlaws

Creating Teams

Finding the Nest

Spider Queen

Grapplington

Reward

Recovering

Gaining a Title

Acquiring a Job

Celebrating

Meeting Peter

Monster in the Basement

Arms and Armour

Caravan Guard

Roccnia

Capture

Back in Town

Finding a Healer

A New Home

Charlie

Moving In

Epilogue - The Beginning

Allycyon's, Final Stats

Addendum

MY EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY

I woke with a start, my face lighting up with a big smile.

“Yes! It's my birthday and I am finally eighteen.” Not quite screamed out but probably unnecessarily loud this early in the morning.

It was still early and although the room was dark, light could be seen spilling round the curtains, made from a thick, dark purple material, they blocked most of the morning sun. The room was homely in a rustic kind of way, framed pictures dotted the wooden walls. Overall the colour scheme was purple and pink and clearly feminine in nature.

Something else was there as well, in the bottom left corner of my vision I could see a flashing blue dot. It was fixed to my vision not an actual item, as I moved my head and eyes, the dot tracked around, always staying in the bottom left corner.

This was not a surprise, as my parents and school had taught me what to expect.

All adults on Helven had access to screens within their vision which provided details on their health and skills. These generally switched on when a person reached their eighteenth birthday. Whether Human, Elf or Dwarf, it was recognised across the world as a right of passage.

With a mix of emotions and my heart beating fast, I concentrated on the flashing blue dot and said "Open" quietly to myself. Immediately a transparent blue square occupied my vision, it was a simple written message.

[Congratulations, your screens are now active. Information on your health is now accessible through your status screen. In addition skill pages will chart your progress in any skills and abilities you may have now or learn in the future. Additional pages may become available as you progress.]

Below the text was a short list

[Status

Skills]

Nervous and excited, I sat up in bed and concentrated on the word Status, finding it easier to say the words quietly to myself for now. It was supposed to get easier and become a non verbal exercise with practice.

"Status" The text disappeared, replaced by more text and a table.

[Allycyon of Clan Beech

Race - Elf

Title - Dancer

Female]

[Status

Age

18

Level

1 (0/10)

Health

10/10

Stamina

12/12

Mana

10/10

Strength

12

Agility

13

Dexterity

13

Intelligence

13

Perception

10

Charisma

10

Willpower

12

Luck

10

]

"I am quietly pleased with those. Years of dance and gymnastics classes, appear to have actually paid off."

In general most people started off at ten in everything. Depending on how hard you studied or trained, your figures could start significantly higher. They never got lower however, if you were weak or ill during a significant part of your childhood it just took longer for your screens to switch on.

Studying the names and levels, I tried to match them to what I knew about stats. Health and Stamina were obvious and gave an indication of the state of your body.

“Health related to how healthy you were and how much wear and tear you could take. Stamina related to your ability to carry on doing a task.”

The two odd ones were Mana and Luck. No one really knew much about Mana or how it worked other than the obvious, it powered magic.

“The higher your Mana figure the more powerful a mage you are, outside mages though, most people ignored Mana as it didn't affect anything in normal life. You could fight or get ill and your Mana level would be unaffected. As for Luck, again no one really knew how this worked, so most people ignored it, with the exception of the odd thief or gambler.”

The remaining fields were all obvious.

“Agility and Dexterity affect how well you move or handle items. Intelligence affected how well you planned or designed anything. Perception covered your ability to look for patterns or ideas.”

Charisma and Willpower appeared to be two sides of the same coin.

“At the most basic level, Charisma governs your ability to persuade others to follow you. Willpower governs your ability to resist accepting the words of others.”

Although your training throughout childhood provided your baseline for when your screens switched on. Once they were on, you could train to achieve any combination of stats. Certain actions also gave you free points which could be used to improve your figures in any way you chose.

Slowly getting used to the idea of the translucent screens in my field of view, I switched to just saying the words silently in my mind.

"Skills"

A new screen appeared, this time however, I hadn't said the word out loud.

[Skills

Dance

Beginner 4

Acrobatics

Beginner 2

Horsemanship

Beginner 3

Improvisation

Beginner 2

Swordsmanship

Beginner 1

]

Each skill was listed from Beginner, through to Master, and each skill grade was split into ten levels. Since this only represented your progress, most people started each skill as a low level Beginner. Progress in each skill was dependant on training and use.

Concentrating on each gave me new screens, detailing the skill in greater depth. Under Dance was Tap, Ballet, Formal and Improvised. These also broke down into abilities, such as spin and cartwheel.

Having satisfied my curiosity about my new screens and my levels I decided it was time to get up. Getting out of bed I undressed and stood looking at myself in the full length mirror fixed to one wall of my bedroom. Something that most female Elves had.

"I am officially an adult now, free to make my own decisions and mistakes." That affirmation didn't make me feel any different. Though the thought of making mistakes that would affect my life, did cloud the view of my future.

Studying my body and turning this way and that I decided I was happy with the way I looked. Like most Elves I was tall and slender.

"Not bad, average for an Elf, although on the tall side for a human at five foot eight. My hair is average as well, light brown and hung straight down my back. Usually I wore it tied up in a braid. Unlike some of my friends who have started to shave all over in the fashion of human women, I was unshaven. The tall pointed ears give away my race as does my angular face with high cheekbones. My favourite though is my green eyes."

Then I started thinking of the day ahead which brought a smile to my face.

"Ilyan has been dropping hints that he would ask me out on my eighteenth. Perhaps I will be able to steal a kiss tonight, away from any parents and chaperones."

Turning away from the mirror I finally got dressed, choosing light brown trousers and a cream, tunic style top

Leaving the bedroom I went downstairs, calling out to my mum in the along the way.

"Hi mum, I am up, it's my birthday and my screens are now visible."

Disaster

Arriving downstairs, I found my parents in the kitchen/dining room, consisting of a single large room with a wooden table and chairs set in the middle. Shelves, worktops and cupboards filled two walls, while the third was dominated by an open range fire and a large sink. The decor was rustic pine, the whole house being built out of wood.

Like Dwarves, Elves generally lived longer than humans and didn't age significantly after reaching adulthood, at least not until much later in life. Due to this it was difficult to tell the age of both Dwarves and Elves after they reached eighteen. Looking at my parents I was aware that I took after both of them in different ways.

"I get my green eyes from my mother, light brown hair from my father. Yet now we all look close enough alike that it would be difficult for anyone else to pick out the child if we were all together. Uh oh, what's up, they both look more worried than cheerful."

This put me on edge and I looked from one to the other but got no help from either.

My mother was dressed in a similar fashion to me, trousers and a tunic top she was also the first to speak. "Please, come and sit down, we have some things to discuss."

"Oh no, no way. I am not having a birds and bees discussion with you, we did that at school."

"No that isn't it, at least not initially."

This confused me more than anything, it seemed such an odd thing to say, I didn't have time to think about it as my mother carried on.

"You have always wanted to be a renowned dancer and we have supported and encouraged you in this. You have to realise though, that apprenticeships are few and far between and therefore very expensive. You do understand this, don't you?."

I simply nodded, we had discussed this several times over the last two years of my schooling. My parents never letting me forget how much the additional lessons had cost or how expensive a dance apprenticeship would be.

"Both me and your father have jobs in the Summerstown Court and like all Courts it comes under the jurisdiction of the Queen. These jobs aren't particularly high level but we have been able to get to know various other staff both here and in the High Court." She paused as if this was an important statement.

"As a result of this we have managed to get you an apprenticeship with one of the Senior Court Dancers. She intends to retire soon and wants to personally train her replacement, preferring a newcomer to one of the established dancers in the troop."

It was too much and I couldn't help myself, jumping up and letting out a shrill scream, "Yes, yes, I knew it was going to be a good day."

That was when I realised there was something definitely wrong. Neither of my parents were smiling or celebrating.

Sitting back down I looked at my mother. "What's wrong, why aren't you happy for me."

"You have to understand this was the only dance apprenticeship I could find anywhere here. Court Dancers are renowned both here and in the Human Kingdoms. They are showered with gifts wherever they go and are some of the wealthiest, independent women around."

I was getting more and more worried now, the description was too good to be true given my parents looks "I can feel a huge but coming up. What is wrong with the job?"

"Court dancers work directly for the Court. This evening you will perform a short dance for the Prince Consort under the tutelage of the Senior Dancer. Afterwards you will be expected to accompany him to his bedchamber and attend on his wishes."

My mother was now just staring at me the whole time she was speaking. In comparison, I was now sat there open mouthed in shock.

"Attend his wishes, how very polite." My voice rose in anger towards the end.

"What happens then? I am pretty sure from your looks that I don't get to be a Princess or Lady."

"No, at least not initially, Court Dancers are expected to be at the beck and call of the High Court. They are even occasionally sent out to other Courts in the Human Kingdoms."

"You will become rich and famous though, just like the dancer you are eventually going to replace. When you decide to retire you will have a choice of men to marry should you wish to. You will also get to know everyone at Court and everything that is going on, this could prove to be invaluable to me and your father."

"So I have to sleep with whoever wants me and in return I get wealth and fame together with information for you. Some deal."

I was now beyond angry, my pulse was racing and my face was flushed.

"They've managed to ruin my dream. How could they? They knew it was all I wanted to do for the last few years, all that work to become a famous dancer, all wasted."

"I won't do it, you can't make me either!" Finally giving in to my anger, I yelled my defiance at my mother.

My mother now looked equally angry, reacting to my yelling. "You have no choice Allycyon. We have paid the fee, this is not some silly school teacher we have apprenticed you to. You can't simply back down now. She is the Senior Dancer at Court and the Prince Consort's favourite to boot. To back out now would be to offend the Queen, she has already been informed."

"Well, you should have thought of that before." With that and now crying freely, I got up and left the room in a rush, slamming doors behind me.

I didn't even hear my father say a single word during the whole argument. He simply sat there stone faced throughout. Not that I had ever heard him disagree with my mother at any point during my childhood.

ESCAPE

Having calmed down after crying myself out, I wiped my eyes with my hands. Sitting down on the edge of my bed, I started thinking of what I could do next.

"Well staying here is not an option, forced to become a Court Dancer or most likely arrested for refusing. Therefore I have to get away. So I am going to need clothes, supplies and food if I am really going to go through with this."

Finally feeling motivated and with a clear idea in front of me, I set to the task.

"Rucksack first, then essential clothes only."

Dragging my rucksack out from under the bed, I started selecting clothes and essentials, occasionally changing my mind and removing or adding something. Carefully checking the weight every now and then, knowing I would need to add food and other supplies at some point.

"There is no way I am facing my parents again today, so going downstairs to raid the larder is out, I will have to get food later. I can go out the window as I have often done in the past."

Having packed as much as I thought I would need, I grabbed my cloak and rucksack and opened the bedroom window. Climbing out, I then scrambled down into the rear garden.

Keeping a careful watch out for my parents or any neighbours, I crept along the hedgerow on one side of the garden until I came to the first tree.

Circling round it so that I was hidden from the house, I climbed quickly up into it and dropped down into the neighbours garden.

Walking as fast as I could without actually running, I made it to the end of their garden. Climbing over the fence into the adjoining property, I simply walked up their path, past the house and into the street.

"Ilyan will have to be my first port of call. He was dropping hints about asking me out. He is sure to want to leave with me."

Now I was walking slowly with my head down, deathly afraid that I would attract unwanted attention. In this way I made my way to Ilyan's house. Every noise on the way made me jump, so much so that by the time I got there I was flushed, breathing hard and with a racing heart.

It felt like I had just run a race as I knocked on the door, this then started me thinking of my ruined day which made me start crying all over again. I sobbed into the shoulder of a very surprised Ilyan when he opened the door.

Like most Elves, Ilyan was tall and slim, his high, pointed ears showing through his mop of unruly, light brown hair.

"What's up? What's happened?" He asked quietly, while holding me in a warm embrace.

Once I was suitably calmed down again, I explained what had happened that morning.

"You were the only one I could think of. What can we do? Where can we go?

Ilyan looked startled, before taking charge. "Well we can't stay here, that's for sure. Your parents will come here straight away, once they realise you are missing. We need to move and move now."

Grabbing his coat and my hand, he carefully opened the door and looking each way before venturing out, he dragged me along behind him.

"We can go to the Library initially, I am due there now anyway, hence the suit. There are plenty of reading rooms upstairs where you can hide out for the day. Reading will also take your mind off everything and if your parents arrive looking for me I can act dumb and find out what is going on."

Readily agreeing to this and having no other option or plan that I could think of, I followed him eagerly.

"No idea what will happen after the Library closes but that gives us all day to figure something out.

Having reached the Library we went inside, separately on Ilyan's urging. "If we enter on our own we are less likely to be noticed. Especially me, as I work here. You will simply blend in with all the other users and can walk straight upstairs to a reading room without being questioned."

Ilyan's suggestion made sense and once I was in the library, I grabbed some books to take my mind off the events that morning.

I chose several books and started to read about the fractious human kingdoms to the north.

"My mum mentioned that Elf dancers were sent to the Human Courts, maybe I will be able to make a name for myself there. That would show her."

Becoming totally engrossed in my books, I completely lost track of the time. I jumped nervously when I heard someone call my name, looking up to see Ilyan standing there looking more nervous than me.

"Your parents called in to talk with me, asked if I had seen you, I said no, they then passed on some really bad news. You have been banished on the Queen's orders, if you are found within Elf Territory you are to be arrested and brought to the Court for sentencing. As a Court Dancer you would have worked directly for the Court, the Court has apparently taken your running away as a personal insult to the Queen." He paused before continuing in an even more sombre tone.

"I am sorry Allycyon but there is not much more I can do for you, I could now get into as much trouble as you."

"Wait, you won't help me?" I asked, the shock in my voice sounding out clearly.

"I will help as much as I can today, but when the Library closes you will have to leave town on your own."

"Why can't you come with me? I thought you were going to ask me out." I was near to tears again, the day seemed to keep getting worse.

"Yes I was, but I really can't now. Leaving with you, it would destroy my career and my family. I can go out in a few hours though and get you a few things. What do you need?"

"I really don't know, I just grabbed some clothes and things, my parents were downstairs and I didn't want to face them by trying to get food and stuff from the Kitchen."

"Okay, I will see what I can get for you without arousing too much suspicion."

Left alone again, I went back to my reading and began to think of seriously about the future.

"So the Elf Kingdom is now closed to me if Ilyan is to be believed and I can't think of a reason why he would lie to me about something like that. It also matches what my mother said about not being able to back out."

Having ruled out the Elf Kingdom, I turned to thinking of where I could actually go.

"So west is Elf Territory all the way to the ocean, so stealing a boat is out and really where would I go in a boat. To the south, again through the whole of Elf Territory, it is untamed Jungle. I have no desire to forage for myself in a dangerous jungle even if I could reach there anyway."

With west and south accounted for I considered the other directions.

"To the east there are the mountains, home to Dwarves and Orcs. Neither would welcome an Elf, Dwarves are as likely to kill me as they are to lock me up. Orcs would simply kill and eat me and not necessarily in that order."

This narrowed my options somewhat.

"That only leaves me with one option. north to the Human Kingdoms. They are not particularly friendly to anyone, even their own fellows, if these books are to be believed but at least some of them have allowed the establishment of Elf and Dwarf quarters."

Feeling happier at having a plan now, I looked to the short term future.

"It will take time for my banishment to become common knowledge and even longer for a decent description to circulate. I could have half a year maybe even more to establish myself in one of the Elf communities there."

To give myself added impetus I considered the alternative.

"As an extra added incentive, finding my way in the Human Kingdoms certainly can't be worse than my fate if I stay here. A life time spent languishing in a dungeon cell or a quick execution and out of those two I think I would prefer the quick execution."

It was hours before Ilyan returned carrying several large canvas bags.

"I had to buy the bags to hide the supplies, hopefully there should be enough here to last you several weeks. I added a small stash of coins as well. Here take a look."

I got up and walked over. Opening the first bag my eyes were struck by the variety of things it contained. Lying on top was a single hand and a half sword in a scabbard, next to it was a matching dagger in it's own scabbard.

Taking these out I grabbed the belt I had seen underneath, quickly fixing the two scabbards to it and wrapping it around my waist.

It wasn't unusual to go armed and although the weight felt odd the mere thought of them, immediately made me feel better about myself and the future. Going back to the bag I drew out packets of various different trail rations.

"How did you afford all this?"

"I drew some money out of my account. My parents will cause a fuss when they find out but they won't say anything about it to anyone else as it will be too late by then. They won't want to drag the family into the fuss you have caused."

The second bag had camp supplies, a bedroll, canteen, metal cooking tin, some more trail supplies, a few maps plus a small leather drawstring purse.

Looking up I rushed over to Ilyan and wrapping my arms around him I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and then changed it to a full kiss. Ilyan responded to me, wrapping his arms around me and kissing back.

"Thank you." I said breathlessly.

We both blushed and quickly broke apart.

Kneeling down, I started repacking my rucksack, aware that everything needed to go into it. In the end it all went in, just and I even managed to fold up the bags and force them down the side.

"How long until the Library closes?" I asked without looking up."

"Just under an hour. You should have no trouble getting out into the countryside without being seen or stopped. If you head north-west you should be out of Elf lands within three or four days. The maps cover the three local human kingdoms, at least they do according to the market seller I bought them off."

Coming back to me an hour later, Ilyan took to blowing out all the candles and lanterns. Leading the way, he led me to the back door. Outside, it was almost pitch dark, stars twinkling in the sky above.

"This alley is not used much as it only leads to the back of the Library, just keep your head down and walk fast and confident."

"Thank you." Saying that I walked out and didn't look back, only just catching Ilyan saying "Good luck" quietly.

I was on my way and on my own, trying to be brave and trying not to cry.

"What a day. My eighteenth birthday didn't really go as I planned it."

It had been so far from what I had expected it was almost like it was a bad dream or a nightmare.

Smiling quickly to myself as I walked along, people could have been mistaken for thinking I was happy.

"I kissed Ilyan properly, never asked him about his screens or levels which was a shame, too busy with everything else I suppose. Swings and roundabouts I guess, he never asked me about mine."

Kissing Ilyan had been the only thing that I had been expecting that had actually happened. Then I frowned, wondering whether I would ever see him, my parents or childhood home again. I felt a tingle down my spine and guessed that was my subconscious mind telling me "No".

GROFF

I awoke to the sight of a blue light, flashing in the corner of my vision, marvelling at the magic that created it.

Saying "Open" as my father had taught me, I was greeted by a notification informing me that my screens were now active.

"Well that's certainly superfluous, a notification I wouldn't be able to read if my screens weren't already on."

Calling up my status screen I saw that the hours spent studying in the Library had affected my levels, with Intelligence and Perception being the highest. I then looked at my skills.

"At least Blacksmith is there, although only at Beginner two, that is something that will please and displease my father in equal measures. Please him as it is there but displease him because of the low level. Ahh well, nothing I can do about that now.

[Groff of Clan Rockhammer

Race - Dwarf

Title -

Male]

[Status

Age

18

Level

1 (0/10)

Health

10/10

Stamina

15/15

Mana

10/10

Strength

15

Agility

10

Dexterity

10

Intelligence

13

Perception

12

Charisma

10

Willpower

12

Luck

10

]

[Skills

Librarian

Beginner 3

Smithing

Beginner 2

Horsemanship

Beginner 1

Battle Axe

Beginner 1

War-Hammer

Beginner 1

Swordsmanship

Beginner 1

Shield

Beginner 1

]

"Father has been pushing for me to move to Uncle's house and take an apprenticeship as a blacksmith in the family business. From father's point of view this was a win/win situation, he wouldn't have to pay for my apprenticeship and I would give him access to the business."

On the other hand, I had no intention of accepting this. Ever since I could read, I have only ever been interested in books and learning. I also rarely wore armour and only practised with weapons when forced to.

My bedroom reflected this, no weapons or pictures of martial success adorned the walls. Instead, bookshelves took up every available space. Admittedly they were all made of metal and some were extremely ornate but it wasn't a typical Dwarf bedroom.

So,without my father's knowledge and therefore completely illegally, I arranged for an apprenticeship at the town library. It was only an apprenticeship to one of the junior Librarians but the key factor was it didn't cost any money to set up which should help persuade father.

As a junior apprenticeship, it only paid out eighty coppers a week in wages, meaning I would struggle to live if I have to leave home. Otherwise it suited me just fine. me

Getting dressed I then went downstairs to face the music and explain to my father how I had sorted out an apprenticeship as a Librarian.

My father was sat at the table eating, dressed in his leather armour as tradition demanded.

"Why can't you at least dress properly?" He asked in a gruff voice that lacked anger at the moment.

"Armour is too thick and heavy and we are not at war."

It was a regular disagreement and not just in this household. Humans and Elves only wore armour on guard duty or in battle, yet Dwarf tradition demanded it be worn all the time.

It wasn't a good start to what was likely to be a difficult conversation.

"Dad, my screens switched on today, my status is quite good. Blacksmith is at Beginner two."

"Huh, should really be four to six."

"Dad, about apprenticeships, you know how I have been helping out in the Library, well I have agreed to accept one there, at the Town Library that is. It only pays eighty coppers a week but doesn't cost anything to set up." I just blurted it out unsure how to begin a conversation like this.

My father looked surprised and then angry.

"You arranged an apprenticeship without asking me first. When did you become head of the house? How dare they agree that without my consent."

He had stood up and walked round the table towards me. "Right this nonsense about books and libraries ends here and now. You have until I get back to pack your things, ready to leave for your uncle's."

I was literally shaking with fright as I had thought he was going to hit me when he got up. My senses returned and I queried him about his comment.

"Where are you going?"

"Where do you think? That damn library you're so keen on. Going to make sure they know how I feel about them arranging an apprenticeship for my son without my approval. I will also be letting them know they won't be seeing you any more as you are moving to your uncle's place to take up blacksmithing."

As he went out the door he turned around and and in a quiet, angry voice had one last thing to say to me. "I meant what I said, when I get back, packed or not, you are going to your uncle's, even if I have to drag you there myself."

With that he slammed the door shut behind him as he went out.

For a moment, I didn't know what to do. My apprenticeship was out and I had no wish to become a blacksmith.

"Father will keep his word now, I have never seen him back down after making an announcement. So I have a choice, pack and get carted off to my uncle or don't pack and get carted of to my uncle. I really don't fancy either choice so what can I do?"

Staring around at the house, I felt like I was in prison and about to be executed.

"Staying at home is out of the question then, so I have to leave and I have to leave quickly."

I started to pack things into a rucksack quickly, which made me laugh for a moment, as it was one of my father's requests. Ticking things off in my head as I collected them, helped stabilise my emotions.

"There is no one close I can go and stay with and anyway my family know all my friends, so that would simply delay the inevitable. So therefore, leave town it is."

I wasn't too keen on camping but father had insisted I go at least once, hence the rucksack.

"Camping, my least favourite thing in life, next to being a blacksmith of course but needs must as they say."

Ransacking the cupboards for dried, easy to cook and carry food, the rucksack steadily filled up. Since I don't own a sword, shield or any armour the pack was relatively light. Leaving the house, I took a last, long look around and wondered when I would be able to come home.

"First stop needs to be the market, I have to pick up some camping gear as well as some maps. Then I need to make a decision, do I stay in Dwarf Territory or go somewhere else to try my luck. If I do go somewhere else, where exactly do I go?"

Wandering around the market didn't help me, although it did give me the opportunity to buy some maps even though I already knew the basics.

"Right, to the east there were Orcs and desert, north and south along the Mountain range is Dwarf Territory. To the west, Elves and Humans."

Going to a local park I decided to sit down, look at the maps and make a decision. This made me feel better and picking an empty spot, I sat down down on the grass and spread out the new maps.

The first one was a simple map of the continent, showing the mountains, sea and the range of each race, Dwarves and Orcs either side of a long mountain range, humans from the sea in the north covering a large area to the west of the mountains and then a large triangular range further south of the Humans controlled by the Elves. Judging from what I knew of the local geography I guessed I would hit Elf Territory if I went due west.

"So my choices are, north, south, east or west. East is easiest to deal with, so that first. Orcs, they will kill me on sight and if I survive them, it is a desert until the next mountains and the unknown. Definite no then."

I ticked that off my mental list, which made me smile. Progress of a kind.

"North and south would keep me in the Mountains and within Dwarf Territory, simpler but just as dangerous. Father would more than likely hear of me at some point, which means arguments and maybe even getting arrested for leaving an apprenticeship. Housing, money and job are also an issue. No again then."

That was three down, which left me with one.

"West it is then. Elves or Humans. Well although we are now technically at peace with the Elves, there is very little direct contact between us. I can't imagine that a lone Dwarf is going to be very welcome, at least not outside of Court. More than likely I would simply be thrown in the nearest dungeon and forgotten about."

That left only one course of action, north-west to the Human Kingdoms.

"Humans, well we fight them as well, although not as much as the Elves and Orcs. So apart from starvation or suicide, neither of which appeals to me in the slightest, it has to be the Human Kingdoms. Either that or turn tail and throw myself on father's mercy."

I didn't know much about Humans or the Human Kingdoms, at least not over and above the usual tales that were passed around. Were any Human Kingdoms better than any other? I would have to wait and see.

Getting another map out, which according to the seller was an annotated map of the Human Kingdoms, I hoped this would give me an answer to my questions. h

Most of the annotations were simple, Dwarves and Elves not welcome, was written against one or two. One pricked my attention though, Kirkluk a nearby Kingdom. According to the notes, it had large Dwarf and Elf communities in the big towns and even some of the smaller ones. It also had a long standing, peaceful monarchy. Unfortunately the one immediately before it to the east said Dwarves and Elves not welcome, so I would have to skirt around the Elf Territory and follow the border to get to Kirkluk.

"Damn that is going to increase my travel time and eat heavily into my resources, I don't have the money to buy lots of food or stay at Inns as I go north at first, I am going to be very hungry when I get there."

Putting the maps away and getting up I went back to the market and with the last of my money bought a load of trail rations which were then packed away into my rucksack.

With preparations taken care of, I started walking towards the north-west, taking any roads that went roughly in that direction. Soon I came to the edge of town and walked through the open gates into the countryside beyond.

"Technically I am now a free man, completely on my own and I sink or swim based only on my own abilities. Damn this is slightly terrifying, no wonder everyone stays at home and does whatever their parents say. Anyway once I get to Kirkluk I can find myself a Library and get a job. How difficult can that be?"

Heading north-west in the countryside was much harder than in town, most of the roads and tracks seemed to go north/south or east/west. Walking through fields and woods was hard going and although technically I could walk due north-west, in reality the terrain made this very difficult.

Hedgerows, fences and walls blocked the route when crossing open fields and walking through woods was difficult enough without the added worry of the need to keep on a straight line.

I had been walking and camping for a few days now. Steadily getting used to the idea of being out in the open on my own.

"Well I have to admit it, I am lost, kind of. I can still see the taller mountains so I know I am still heading roughly north west. Unfortunately that is a very broad direction though and I have no way of telling how many miles I have covered."

Stopping, I sat down, taking out the maps. Looking between them and the mountains trying to work out where I was and sighing in frustration.

"I have to cut south-west at some point but when is that? I know I am only heading roughly north-west. If I am further south than intended I could end up hitting Elf territory, if I am further north I will end up in Attid. Neither option results in a pleasant outcome for me"

None of this disheartened me though, and the thought of turning round and heading back to the mountains to return to Dwarf territory to become a blacksmith filled me with horror.

Afraid of which race I would see or which Human Kingdom I would end up in meant that I had also been avoiding all signs of habitation.

If I turned south-west too soon I would end up deep in Elf territory, too late and I would end up in the Human Kingdom of Attid where Dwarves weren't welcome. Of the two I favoured the second so kept putting off turning.

I had been travelling for almost two weeks when my luck ran out.

Trying to eke out my supplies for as long as possible resulted in me being hungry most of the time. This was actually counter-productive as it was slowing me down. To aid walking and defence, I had acquired a stout branch to use as both a walking stick and quarterstaff.

I had been walking through a large copse or small wood, reaching a small, sun dappled glade made me realise how tired I was. Having thought that, I decided the glade made a terrific spot to sit down and relax.

Sitting down with my back to a tree, I unpacked my rapidly shrinking pack of rations and relaxed in the sunshine eating my lunch.

Having eaten, I was relaxing and thinking of the next hike when a noise disturbed me. From the opposite side of the clearing came the sound of something approaching, a steady rustling in the undergrowth.

Standing up, I grabbed the stout branch, which doubled as a walking aid and weapon and waited nervously for whoever or whatever was coming this way.

"Two things spring to mind immediately, even though I am not a hunter or tracker. It sounds quite large and is not worried about making a noise. That suggests it is dangerous and unworried about predators, really not a good combination."

What came through the undergrowth into the clearing surprised me immensely as I had been thinking along the lines of wolves or boars.

A giant spider faced me, a brown fur covered body with black, shiny legs. Stepping back I braced my back against the large tree I had been resting against. This protected my back while also making it difficult for the spider to attack me from the sides.

Deciding that holding the staff like a sword would make it easy for the spiders to grab it, I held it horizontally with hands held apart for stability.

As the spider approached me, I started yelling and swearing at it. To come this far, only to get eaten by a giant spider, I was beyond angry. As several other spiders fanned out from behind the first one I started laughing maniacally and swore at the Gods above for their poor sense of humour.

ALLYCYON - LEAVING SUMMERSTOWN

A whole new world of adventure lay ahead of me and I started to smile again, while trying to keep to the instructions Ilyan had given me.

“Keep your head down, walk fast and confident, those were Ilyan's words. I hope he knows what he was talking about."

Heading steadily north-west through the darkened streets, I would occasionally disturb cats and foxes who were out and about on their nocturnal way. I paid little attention to them, too worried to notice what was going on around me.

At last houses gave way to hedgerows and fields and I found myself walking through the Countryside, having now left Summerstown behind.

Now I was really on my own and walking towards an uncertain future in the dark.

The dark outside the town was creepier and seemed to be darker as well. No lanterns or candles lit nearby windows or buildings. It was completely dark, I could see nothing beyond abstract shapes, trees and bushes producing impenetrable shadows.

Drawing my sword and dagger gave me a sense of safety, even though I had never had any formal training beyond dance routines. remembering that, I started to practice, swinging and stabbing with them as I walked along the lane, trying to get used to the weight and balance of the weapons.

Walking quickly, I soon found that my night time companions were now rabbits, bats and owls, or at least I hoped that was what they were.

"I don't need to go too far tonight, it is unlikely that they will look for me too seriously. So a decent camp site with water nearby and some trees for a fire and a windbreak."

It didn't take too long to find a suitable location, the sound of a babbling brook clearly carrying in the quiet of the night. Quickly, I crossed a field, heading towards the sound of flowing water and a line of trees I could see in the distance.

Having picked a suitable spot, I unrolled my blankets and settled down for the night, deciding that a camp fire could wait until the morning.

Wrapped up in my blankets and before going to sleep, I called up my screens again. As I saw my Title, Dancer, written in translucent pale blue words, floating before my eyes, I almost started crying again.

"I should feel lucky I suppose, not everyone has a title straight away, all those years of dance training though, now almost certainly wasted. If I stick to dancing though, I wonder how many Elf dancers there are out there in the Human Kingdoms and how much they earn compared to how much they have to spend to live."

I shook my head to clear my unhelpful thoughts and tried to get to sleep.

Waking up in the morning, the previous day came back to me in a rush. It was all I could do to stop myself from screaming out loud at the unfairness of it all.

Clearing up the camp didn't take long, once I took care of the chores, after eating and washing of course.

Setting out as soon as possible, I was quickly back on my way, heading resolutely north-west.

Snacking was preferable to long breaks, so I was eating trail bars walking along the roads or paths, careful to ensure I left no mess. I wasn't exactly singing with joy but I was enjoying the walk. The overnight camp had been pleasant as well.

"At least as a Scout I had spent time hiking and camping each Summer, the night time sounds haven't unnerved me. It has helped that my parents insisted that camping would build character and let me create a wider circle of contacts for my future. Turns out only the camping part was a useful thing."

My route continued on towards the north-west, taking tracks if they went that way but cutting across fields and woods when they didn't. It was more tiring than I remembered from Scouts although then there had been my friends to chat to, which took your mind of the tiredness.

Late afternoon a wagon passed me, heading in the same direction. The driver stopped and offered me a lift. Needless to say I was apprehensive about his intentions.

"Would you like a lift? I am going this way for the next few miles. You're more than welcome to sit up front if you want, company would be welcomed."

"Thank you, yes that would be much appreciated." A lift was too good a gift to turn down, regardless of my worries.

Climbing up on to the wagon's bench seat I removed my rucksack. Sitting down gave me the opportunity to rub my shoulders and upper arms trying to help remove the ache.

"Where are you headed? Just isolated farms out here along the border."

"Nowhere, just out hiking and camping. I live in Summerstown."

The old man looked at me sternly before laughing.

"Right, and l'm a dwarf." He added before laughing at his own joke or maybe my naivety.

"I really am from Summerstown." I added indignantly.

"See, that sounds much more honest."

"Would it make a difference to you if my story was different?" I had grabbed my rucksack and readied myself for a jump, just in case.

"Actually, no it wouldn't. Around here you get a fair bit of illicit activity, from hunting to smuggling. Everyone tends to see or hear nothing as a result. Different if we see humans or monsters of course, but clearly you are neither of them." He gave me a long look.

"You're alright here, you don't have to worry about me. You can relax for the next hour. Where are you really going? Honestly now."

"Kirkluk, across the border. Had to leave home in a hurry and my friend refused to come with me. So here I am travelling on my own."

For the next hour we chatted happily, swapping stories of our childhoods as we travelled along the lane. The time passed all too quickly.

"Sorry miss, this is where I turn off." He had stopped the wagon just before a junction where a lane led off towards the south.

I clambered down from the wagon and then grabbed my rucksack, spending some time fitting it correctly on my shoulders. Turning, I waved to the old man.

"Thank you for the lift and the conversation."

"No worries. If you ever get tired of life in the Human Kingdoms, you can always come and work here. There are always people on the look out for someone who is confident and intelligent."

"Thanks again, and I will keep that in mind." I waved again as he got the wagon moving and turned off towards the South. Smiling at the last comment, I had no intention of returning at least not without a pardon.

"Absolutely no way I would come back here to work for some illegal gang. I would spend my life looking over my shoulder, worried that someone had turned me in. Not to mention worrying about rape and murder."

Having had a breather I now turned to practising my dance moves as I walked along.

Holding my sword and dagger as well, still trying to get used to their feel.

"I must make an interesting sight to anyone watching. Here I am walking along doing occasional spins and leaps with sword and knife held out straight. Good practice though and it will help me become more comfortable with both."

As the sun went down that evening, I made camp just outside some woods, ensuring I had a supply of firewood and a windbreak in one direction.

The next morning, I followed the same routine as before, clearing up the camp site and then donning my rucksack and heading out in a north-westerly direction.

I was expecting to reach the borderlands the following evening at the latest. These covered nearly twenty miles of land along the whole Elf/Human border and provided a buffer against armed clashes between the two sides.

It felt like hours since breaking camp, I was regularly checking my map against the land and the compass, another gift from Ilyan.

"I must be on the edge of Elf lands by now. Too dangerous to use the main roads though, which is annoying as that would allow me to check for sure."

Walking past a large copse, checking for tracks or animal runs, I realised the noise I could hear was someone yelling and screaming.

"Who or what is that?"

I couldn't make out anything coherent but someone was clearly in trouble. Removing my pack I set it down next to a small tree on the edge of the copse.

Drawing the sword and dagger I crept slowly forward into the copse, moving as slowly and stealthily as I could. The notifications that flashed in front of my sight were ignored as I concentrated on moving towards the noise.

After a few minutes of creeping through the trees I came to a small clearing. Standing with his back to a large tree was a Dwarf. He was clearly a Dwarf although he wasn't wearing armour and had no weapons beyond a staff.

"Short and stocky, dark complexioned and with a neatly trimmed beard, he is definitely a Dwarf and the first one I have ever seen outside of a book."

SAVING A DWARF

Wielding a large staff, which on closer inspection, appeared to be, simply a long, stout branch, the Dwarf was successfully fending off six giant spiders. None of the spiders seemed to be that intelligent, fortunately for him. They were actually fighting and pushing each other more than they were the Dwarf, each eager to get to him first.

"Stupid animals, no intelligence, take it in turns to wear him down. I suppose it doesn't matter in the long run, he can't out last all six of them even if they are fighting each other more than him. At the moment he is just putting off the inevitable, he is dead without help. So, the big question for me. Do I help an unknown Dwarf or do I just pass on by? He is fighting against six Giant Spiders and potentially I would be risking my own death, but he will be dead soon without intervention. Damn, I really wish I hadn't heard him."

Sighing and swearing at fate, I raised my sword and dagger. Picking out the nearest spider, I ran past it raking my Sword against it's legs as I did so. However apart from a sound like running a stick along railings, it did no obvious damage, other than numbing my hand and arm. It also failed to draw the spider's attention away from the noisy dwarf.

"Well that didn't do anything, my strengths though are dancing, gymnastics and agility, not wielding a sword with brute strength. Change of tactics needed then."

I ran at the nearest spider and used its legs to clamber up on to it's back.

The spiders had uniformly brown, furry bodies about twice the size of the average sheep, held aloft on eight shiny black legs. Sitting astride the animal I put my dagger away and grabbing the sword with both hands I repeatedly stabbed downwards.

"Now this is much easier and it is at least doing some damage."

Notifications flashed quickly before my eyes, too quick to read. Finally the spider reacted to my presence and the injuries I was inflicting on it. It started spinning and rearing up, trying to get rid of me, while not being able to reach it's back. Holding on tightly with no opportunity to further hurt the animal I screamed out to the sky. Finally the spider came to a standstill, making strange clicking noises with its mandibles. Feeling bad I gave it one last stab, at which it fell to the ground, curling its legs under itself.

I jumped down and took a look around, picking out my next target and taking a running jump at it. Quickly hauling myself on to it's back, I repeated the process, stabbing this one rapidly until it suddenly collapsed under me. Jumping off, I picked my next target and repeated the trick. My hands and sword were now covered in black sticky gore.

Getting off the third dying spider I realised there was only one left, two of them had obviously realised something was wrong and in the process had run off.

Looking back at the Dwarf I realised his luck had finally run out. The remaining spider had finally caught the staff in its mandible and was now engaged in a vicious tug of war with the dwarf.

A game which the dwarf was now evidently losing. Not wishing to let go of the staff he was being dragged away from the protection of the tree.

Taking a run up, I again jumped, finishing by clambering onto the back of the spider and began my routine of stabbing downwards in a frenzy. This caused a reaction in the spider, it let out an ear piercing screech.

In screeching at the attack, the spider had let go of the staff and the Dwarf was quick to start hitting it around the head. Between the two of us the spider was quickly finished off.

Getting down from the spider, I was startled to find that my legs were shaky, my breathing rapid and my heart racing.

During the fight I hadn't had time to think of anything other than run, jump and stab. Now the adrenaline was starting to wear off and I realised I was tired, scared and in danger of collapsing in a heap. Taking control as if I had just completed a major dance routine, I started walking around taking deep breaths to calm myself down.

Finally feeling relatively normal I turned to the Dwarf and said "Hello."

He was just staring at me, open mouthed as if in shock. I tried again, this time slightly louder.

"Hi, I'm Allycyon. Are you ok?"

Finally appearing to get a hold of himself, he nodded, before finally managing to speak.

"Hi, yes, I am fine now, I'm Groff by the way, but you're an Elf." He stammered over the last bit and was gripping his staff no less tightly than before.

"Ten out of ten for eyesight and perception." I replied with a smile, while I wiped my sword and sheathed it.

"I heard you as I was passing and seeing the position you were in I couldn't very well leave you to get eaten by spiders, even if you are a Dwarf."

"Thank you, yes, it would seem I owe you my life, a debt of honour that I won't forget and something that will require repayment at some point, even if you are an Elf."

He smiled at the last comment. "Actually you are quite skilful with that sword. Do you practice a lot?"

"No, not really, although I have used swords and sticks in dance before."

Groff looked confused now. "Dance?" Was all he said.

"Yes, I am a professional dancer or at least I was."

Groff had started to look around at the dead spiders while we were talking.

"Should we move away? Will those two come back with more?" Groff was now starting to look worried.

Looking around, I tried to think what we should do.

"Yes, I think we should definitely move. At the very least, the bodies will attract lots of scavengers, I don't think we have to worry about the other two coming back though. Anyway, what are you doing here? This is Elf Territory, not the friendliest of places for a Dwarf, even if we are close to the border of human territory."

"Oh, I was further off course than I thought. I was trying to make my way to Kirkluk, one of the Human Kingdoms. Dead reckoning and hiking are not my strong points, I was also trying to rush as I am running low on supplies."

"Your lucky day twice then, maybe even three times, I was passing this way as I am also heading to the Human Kingdoms. Come on, let's go make camp further on and you can share some of my trail rations, I have enough, that is if you don't mind travelling and sharing food with an Elf?"

"At the moment, with the thought of Giant Spiders on my mind, I would even be glad of the company of an Orc."

It was then that we heard giggling, it took us awhile to figure out that it was coming from up in a nearby tree.

I drew my Sword and Groff brandished his staff as together we approached the tree.

"Hello, who's there?" I asked, not being able to keep a slight tremor out of my voice.

Instead of an answer, an attractive, young looking woman, dropped athletically out of the tree. She was dressed all in black, a long dress, boots and a pointed hat.

"My, you make such a nice couple." She said, at which point she started giggling again.

I was the first to react to this comment. My face turning red, a mixture of anger and embarrassment. "We are most definitely not a couple. We just met, I helped Groff defeat some giant spiders."

The last was accompanied by a sweeping gesture with the sword, indicating the various dead spiders.

"Already on first name terms and no chaperone either." Was her answer to that, Not waiting for a comment from us, she carried on.

"Hmm, introductions I suppose, I know your names as I heard your earlier conversation. You can call me Magdalena. I was foraging for plants when I heard the noise you were making. You had finished the last one when I got here."

"More importantly, What is an Elf doing hiking in the Borderlands with a Dwarf from the Mountains?"

I spoke up again, my face still red from the comment about the chaperone. "As I said, we just met. Like you, I heard a noise and followed it, to find Groff fighting off these spiders. I helped him kill them, which brings us up to the here and now and you."

"Hmm a nice little story, the pair of you are very interesting, no doubt I will be seeing you again soon." With that she stepped back behind the tree. When we reached the spot, Magdalena had completely vanished.

I looked at Groff." Did that seem as strange to you as it did to me?" I asked, calming down from the comments the witch had made.

"No, witches are strange by definition and she was obviously a witch. She didn't turn us into frogs or put us in a cauldron ready to cook, so as I see it, a definite win on our part."

"Oh, I hadn't thought of it like that. By the way I didn't mean to offend you in any way by saying we are not a couple, so strongly."

"No offence taken, we are clearly not a couple."

At this, fresh giggling broke out above us, Magdalena had clearly only climbed back up into the tree.

I yelled up into the tree. "It's rude to eavesdrop on conversations!"

Groff looked startled and then scared, before answering my yell. "You shouldn't shout at witches"

"He is so right, or wizards, we all tend to take being shouted at badly. In this instance you are correct and it was bad of me to listen in but I am so very curious about how an Elf and a Dwarf will get on. Anyway bye for now." With that there was a bright flash of light.

We found ourselves staring at each other again.

"Do you know the difference between a witch and a wizard? And that isn't a joke by the way." I asked, before continuing. "I know there are female wizards and male witches around."

"No, not really, both can turn you into frogs, although only witches have a reputation for boiling you in cauldrons. Maybe just the colour of their clothes, if she had been wearing red instead of black we would have called her a wizard."

"True, anyway changing the subject, it is getting late and we need to camp and I would rather not camp right here."

Walking back the way I had come, I led Groff to the spot where my rucksack was. Picking it up from where I had left it, we carried on towards the north-west, eventually picking an open spot with some large trees nearby.

LEARNING ABOUT STATS

The trees would provide some defence if required and a close source of firewood. I started making a camp fire, clearing a small area and then digging a shallow pit. Groff looked on curiously, at which point I asked him to go fetch some more firewood.

Once we had a good fire going, we began to relax a little and stopped jumping at every little sound.

"You're not bothered about camping with a Dwarf and a male?" Groff asked me, after we had finished the trail rations I had dished out. The thought of eating the spiders had been appalling.

"Honestly, no, at least not now, a few days ago, yes I would have been mortified at the thought. Worried about what might happen and what my friends would think of me, if they ever found out. Now, none of that matters, I am simply a lonely traveller sharing a camp." I didn't wait for a reply jumping in with my own question.

"How come you have so little in the way of supplies? Have you been travelling long?"

"Yes, a couple of weeks. My father had arranged an apprenticeship with my uncle in the family blacksmith business. I had already arranged one with the head librarian at the local library."Groff looked depressed as he continued.

"Father was not amused about that and stormed off to the Library to complain. He gave me until he got back, to pack ready to leave for my uncle's place. Needless to say I had left before he would have returned home. I really didn't have a lot of time to pack anything, I was rushing and panicked. What about you? How did a dancer end up in the woods heading for the Human Kingdoms?"

"Same as you, my parents made an apprenticeship deal I was not prepared to accept." I then went on to explain about my banishment, giving him a condensed version.

"Cruel, certainly far worse than my story."

"You're eighteen then, the same as me." I was now eyeing Groff curiously.

"Yes, eighteen and a simple level one, I hadn't gained anything before that fight. I have some notifications to check now, so I am guessing you do too."

At that I realised I still had a flashing blue light, flickering away in the corner of my vision.

"How quickly that has become normal. I mean I saw all the notifications flickering in front of my eyes but then promptly forgot about them. Maybe that was the let down from the fight."

Concentrating on the blue icon resulted in the blue screen appearing again with a list notifications.

[Giant Spider x3, Killed, Exp 15 (3 x 5)

Giant Spider x 1, killed, Exp 4

Level up, Level 2, 19/30

Gained 3 Status points for distribution

Gained 2 Skill points for distribution

Gained new Skill, Beast Rider.

Gained 1 Skill point, Beast Rider

Gained new skill, Stealth.

Gained 1 Skill point, Stealth

Gained 1 status point, Agility, Dexterity and Intelligence

Gained 1 Skill Point for distribution]

I then took the opportunity to look at my main screens again.

[Allycyon of Clan Beech

Race - Elf

Title - Beast Rider

Previous Titles - Dancer

Female]

[Status

Age

18

Level

2 (19/30)

Health

15/15

Stamina

17/17

Mana

15/15

Strength

12

Agility

14

Dexterity

14

Intelligence

14

Perception

10

Charisma

10

Willpower

12

Luck

10

3 Status Points to distribute]

[Skills

Dance

Beginner 4

Acrobatics

Beginner 2

Horsemanship

Beginner 3

Improvisation

Beginner 2

Swordsmanship

Beginner 1

Stealth

Beginner 1

3 Skill Points to distribute]

Deciding to talk to Groff before doing anything I turned around to face him. "Groff! Do you know anything about distributing points?"

"Really only the basics and unless you take up a career it is generally meaningless to discuss them. Think about it, as a dancer I guess your main strengths would have been Agility and Dexterity. Mine as a Librarian would have been Intelligence and Perception, now I have no idea what I should do. I have three status points and two skill points but I now have a new skill, Quarterstaff, which I think will probably be useful in my new life. I know we get three status points and two skill points per level and can then get more as bonuses when you complete certain things. Exerting yourself fighting regularly for instance will give you strength and stamina bonuses."

"Oh, well yes. As a dancer I would have wanted my dexterity and agility to be as high as possible. Now though I have a new skill as well, although I am not sure how useful Beast Rider is going to be in my new life but it has to beat being nothing more than a concubine." Once again my thoughts turned dark as I thought of my parents

"I think as we are both low level we can avoid making quick decisions. Levelling up is quick and easy so we will soon have lots of points to attribute and can then decide what to do once we are clear on a career path." I looked pleased with myself, at least until Groff burst my bubble.

"I am afraid I do know enough to know it doesn't work like that. You just killed four giant spiders to gain one level. Levels double in difficulty each time, so the next level will require eight, then sixteen, then thirty two and so on. Trying to attack a group of thirty two giant spiders on your own will get you killed, so you need help, but fighting as a group reduces the experience you get, resulting in a slowing down of levelling." He paused as he saw my frown at his news.

"This is where adventuring guilds come in. Their high level senior members, mean low level groups with one or two senior helpers can attack high level monsters. The low levels get lots of experience with little danger, while the high levels get kudos and money."

I gave him a puzzled look at that. "Kudos?"

"Sorry, appreciation and status, for their help."

"Ahh, that makes sense now. So we should join a guild if we want to be adventurers and gain levels fast?"

"Depends on what you want. Guilds have lots of rules and as a low level starter, we would get kicked around a lot at first. Lots of taking orders, you couldn't just pick the jobs you wanted to do."

He paused before continuing. "Individual or small groups of Adventurers do exist but eventually, they tend to join a guild, in the end it becomes the only way to level up safely."

Both of us now looked glum as we settled down for the night.

ELDRED

Like most guards, I disliked the Spring. Invariably Spring always brought a rush of humans heading south looking for new farmland in Elf territory.

"I mean, I know they can't head off in any other direction either, but it is amazing that they would think Elves would let them take over any land they wanted when clearly their human colleagues won't."

This year I had been allocated to the border of Attid. Border guards were rotated every year in an attempt to reduce bribery and corruption. Our patrols were carried out in the borderlands, zig-zagging between the relatively fixed borders of the Human Kingdoms and Elf lands.

This morning we had come across some tracks heading south, a wagon together with a large group of people travelling on foot and had turned south to follow them. Every hour we travelled south, took us closer to Elf lands and every hour the Commander would have us stop while she checked her map to see where we were. Finally she announced that we had crossed the official border and were now in Elf Lands.

It was important to know where we were as there were different rules on how to deal with human settlers based on location. In the borderlands, they were simply chased of northwards, in Elf Territory though it was a different story, they were simply executed on sight, hence the reason most guards disliked the Spring.

We finally caught up with the group of would be settlers in the early evening.

The settlers had made camp at an old ruined farmstead, the wagon was parked outside the front. Behind the house, collapsed wooden barns could be seen.

Spreading out to form a semi-circle around the front of the house, the commander had our archers take out their bows in complete silence. Those outside the farmstead were hit without warning, the shouting and screaming that ensued from within the building confirming there were others inside.

Drawing our swords, my squad prepared to move in, I followed the others up to the building, while the archers provided cover. Each room and outbuilding would have to be carefully searched and cleared.

Following along behind my colleagues, I was happy to let them do the dirty work. Walking through the building though, I was surprised to find a closed door, the rules were very clear, all rooms had to be left open to prove they had been searched. This also allowed the officers to do quick spot checks without worrying about being surprised by living enemies.

Deciding I had to open the door regardless of the sight I expected to see. Gripping my sword tightly, I then grabbed the door handle and quickly pushed the door open. Stepping inside I was surprised to see the room was empty, although I quickly revised that opinion when I heard a quiet sob.

In the far corner was a young girl, sat down with her knees drawn up to her chest. Wearing cheap trousers and a worn, white tunic top, her black hair stood out in stark contrast.

Just then I heard footsteps outside and span around to see one of my colleagues stood in the doorway. "Well Eldred, I thought you were too soft to join in our kind of fun, look your sword is still spotless."

"You guessed right Godred, no way am I like you, which puts us in a quandary doesn't it?"

"Not really, she dies either way, shame to miss out on some fun first though."

"Ahh well, we'll have to see about that."

The man looked surprised now. "Well, well, not only soft but a human lover to boot. Looks like I will have even more fun."

With that he drew his sword and rushed at me, I simply sidestepped and ran him through in one quick, fluid motion.

"Idiot, Godred. You were trained not to rush blindly at an opponent, though I am glad you did."

Needless to say Godred didn't reply. Sheathing my sword, After wiping it clean, I unslung my bow and and readied an arrow. Where Godred went his two ever present cronies went as well. Just then there were footsteps outside and a whining voice called out.

"Hey Godred. Why didn't you wait for us?"

I struck the first man who came through the door without warning. Hitting him in the eye, having had time to draw and aim roughly before he appeared, he was dead before he hit the ground. The second man, drew his sword and yelled before taking an arrow in his throat. Clutching his neck the man sank to his knees, coughing up blood as he slowly toppled over.

A female voice called out then, one of the officers. "Eldred, Godred, what is going on in there? Did one of the humans survive?"

"No, it's just me, Eldred. Couldn't let Godred have his fun with one of the human women."

"Damn you Godred, you know the rules about that sort of thing."

"I am afraid that Godred and his cronies aren't in a position to hear or answer you any more."

"Well damn you too then Eldred. In that case I am not prepared to lose any more of my men over this. You realise I will have to report this when we get to Summerstown, that means an arrest warrant for you, although, that's a two day hike each way."

"Yes, and I wouldn't expect anything else from you, no point in both of our heads being set on poles."

"You always were too honourable to be a border guard. Good luck out there Eldred."

With that I could hear her ordering the men into formation and leading them off.

Sitting down with my back against a wall, I relaxed and turned to the girl. "As you heard my name is Eldred. What's yours?"

"Carnelia, thank you for saving my life. Do you think they really have gone away?"

"No, at least not all of them. I would certainly leave a couple of men behind in her position. We will wait until dark before we make a move."

Having moved closer to the girl, I managed to get a better look at her and quickly revised my estimate of her age. Although she was short and petite, she was clearly not a girl. I guessed she was probably in her mid twenties.

Creeping out in the dark later, we found the area to be empty, the officer had been true to her word. I voiced my surprise but then led the woman away from the camp towards the north-west.

For the next few weeks we camped out in the borderlands, catching game for supplies and steadily making our way westwards away from Attid, a Kingdom that didn't allow Elves in.

One evening we stumbled over an abandoned house and entering it cautiously, settled down for a night of well earned security.

ALLYCYON - OUTLAWS

In the morning we woke early. I tidied up the camp fire and then each of us took advantage of a nearby stream to freshen up.

Having packed up, I was studying my map. "If we continue to head north-west we should leave Elven Territory by tonight. We can then cut across and reach a road since we shouldn't be in any danger from any Elven Patrols by then."

Rolling up the map I picked up my rucksack and called out to Groff. "Come on then."

The day was bright and sunny, birds and insects could be seen and heard everywhere, it was beautiful.

Walking on steadily, the Countryside we passed consisted of gently rolling hills and valleys. Copses and overgrown fields full of wild shrubs filled our view.

Occasionally we could see deer in the distance. Hawks, kites and buzzards circled in the sky, often chased off by crowds of crows or rooks. It was calm and peaceful, which was making both us nervous. We kept looking all around and jumping at any new sound. This kept on until the early evening.

Feeling tired and disinclined to talk we made camp quickly and soon settled down to sleep.

In the morning neither of us seemed inclined to walk and so we made a slow start to hiking, putting it down to having tired, aching legs.

The Countryside hadn't changed from the day before, a series of shallow rolling hills. Brooks and spinneys blocked our way here and there, making the going difficult at times. We were walking up a gentle slope when I realised what was bothering me.

"The bushes and trees ahead almost make a straight line. It looks suspiciously like an old estate boundary."

Groff stopped and looked around before staring ahead. "It does look straight and unnatural, generally nature doesn't produce long straight lines."

We slowed down as we approached the hedgerow, in front of it was a badly overgrown ditch confirming our guess that it was a property boundary. Walking alongside the ditch we started looking for an easy passageway through as the hedgerow blocked our path.

Finding a gap just wide enough for both of us, we pushed through to the other side, stopping as soon as we were through. In a cleared field was a large, relatively unscathed house, although several ruined outhouses could be seen to either side. It wasn't quite a manor house but was too big to be called a country cottage. The surprising part was that a group of men and women appeared to be camping in the field in front of the house.

I gasped having taken a quick look around at the group, a notification popping up as I quickly took in all the people sat around.

["Human, Outlaws"]

This was followed by several other notifications

[ +1 Perception

+1 Perception]

Looking at each other I whispered to Groff "What do we do now?"

"Go back and go round I suppose."

Turning round we both realised it was way too late for that, all eight outlaws were looking at us in shock.

"Nothing for it then"

Standing up straight and squaring my shoulders I marched forward, Groff mumbled to himself but followed on behind me.

As we approached the group, I spoke before anyone else could, trying to take command by being outspoken and brusque. Remembering how my dance teachers would talk to the students.

"Lessons I remember, be confident, act like you belong, look everyone in the eye and don't stammer or falter."

"What's going on here then? It is not usual to camp in front of someone's house." I was imitating my senior dance tutor. She was a woman who could subdue a roomful of excited teenagers, self-confident, forceful and direct to the point of being brusque.

The group of humans now looked confused and started to look at each other, most importantly, at least to me anyway, they weren't trying to draw weapons or shout me down.

Now having time to look at them more closely, I could see they were somewhat dishevelled. Their leathers were worn, torn and patched in places. None of them looked like they had washed properly in weeks. In all they looked like a band of wild outlaws.

One of the men finally spoke up. "What is an Elf doing with a Dwarf servant? Even we know that is unusual."

I only faltered for a moment. The shock of them thinking Groff was my servant giving way to a smile.

"Groff is going to take umbrage at that comment. It must chaff a little, that he owes his life to me."

"This is Groff, he is my travelling companion, not my servant and you haven't answered my question."

The outlaws didn't look any less confused, but continued to sit around, not looking at all angry or threatening which was something.

I then realised that the door had opened and received a shock, apparently similar to the shock the person looking out got. Standing in the doorway was a very surprised looking, male Elf.

"You're led by an Elf?" I asked rather incredulously. In all the stories I had heard about Outlaws, they were always Humans.

Then remembering my manners and still trying to sound like I was in charge I addressed the Elf. "Allycyon of Clan Beech, You are?"

"Eldred, Clan Elm, although you are mistaken for thinking I am their leader, I am more like their prisoner."

"What?" Said pretty much everybody at the same time.

Everyone began talking then, at least until Groff spoke up. "Quiet!" He shouted, everyone turning to look at him in shock, even me.

Turning to me he bowed with a flourish and said in a quieter voice. "Allycyon of Clan Beech has the floor."

Now that I was studying him that much more carefully, it was easy to see the differences between him and the Outlaws. Eldred was dressed in expensive looking, form fitting leather armour, it might be dirty at the moment but it appeared to be new or at least well maintained. There were none of the worn spots or patches that marred the clothes of the Outlaws, marking them as second hand at best.

"Thank you Groff." I was smiling broadly as I turned to the man who had been speaking before.

"Can you please explain to me what is going on?"

Not really knowing why, but complying anyway he explained their problems.

"All of us are originally from Attid, having been driven out of our homes when the local Baron put rents up so high no one could afford them. We tried to fight back but against trained soldiers it was an extremely one sided affair." He paused, running his hands through his hair. I guess some of the sights were still raw in his mind.

"Before they moved against us the Baron called out that everyone there was declared to be an Outlaw. The title stuck immediately, we ran away as a group, I saw quite a few others cut down, regardless of whether or not they fought back." The story had clearly upset him and some of the others, he was close to tears and two of the women were now openly weeping, men who I assumed were their partners comforting them.

"We were looking for a place to settle when we stumbled across this place about six weeks ago, it has been our home since then. Two nights ago we came back from hunting and foraging to find these two had shut themselves in. They refuse to leave and we don't want to smash up our own house or hurt them so we have been stuck here in a stalemate."

I looked back at the Elf when he mentioned a couple.

At that point a woman who was clearly human appeared in the doorway. Standing behind Eldred she leaned from behind his back like a shy child, an image enhanced by the fact she was short and petite.

Standing around five feet tall with long black hair, currently held in a single braid. Like the outlaws the clothes she was wearing all looked worn and second hand, which made her stand out against Eldred even more.

Groff had clearly decided he had, had enough and sat down grumbling loudly. "Man this gets weirder and weirder. First I end up travelling with an Elf after killing Giant Spiders and then we run into a group of pacifist outlaws and now another Elf, this one with a human."

Opening his rucksack he got out some rations and a drink. Looking up as it was now quiet, he found everyone looking at him. "What? No one is going to kill anyone, so I thought I would sit down and have a break."

The outlaw who had been speaking, laughed and answered back at that semi-serious comment.

"Thanks, yes, pacifist outlaws, I like that." Turning to Eldred he continued. "Hi, you can come out, we never intended to hurt you, we just didn't know what to do or say."

"Since we now know who you are, I suppose I should introduce everyone. I am James, although most people call me Jamie, the small, red head is Catherine, Kyle is the young man with her. Then we have two couples, Richard and Sarah; Peter and Annette, followed finally by Justin." He pointed out each of his friends as he called out their names.

"Thank you Allycyon for helping sort this out for us. I guess you are on your way to spend your good fortune."all

Both Groff and I looked confused. "Good fortune? We haven't really had anything like that apart from meeting you now."

The Outlaw Leader looked like he was about to cry. "Please tell me you at least cut out their eyes

"Eww, gross, why would I do that?" Was my immediate, unfiltered reply.

"Freshly cut and stored, they are very valuable to alchemists and mages, they are used in lots of potions. Depending on size and level they are worth at least five silvers for a set of eight or at least that is what the travelling salesman told us. He also said there was a market for the Chitin shell from their legs, it is apparently used in armour, harder than leather but lighter than steel."

I now looked annoyed, as did Groff. "We killed four of the things, that means we lost at least twenty silver plus whatever for their legs."

"Don't forget the two that got away" added Groff.

This didn't help me at all and I scowled fiercely at him. In all honesty, I wanted to scream at the thought of all that money we left rotting away back there.

"Two got away, so there were actually six" He now looked excited.

"Yes, so?" Groff obviously didn't feel excited at all, as for me I was just curious about his comment.

"A few on their own could mean anything. six is likely to be different, especially as two ran off. That makes it more than likely that there is a nest close by. A nest means a Queen and they are usually very large. We could easily make several gold."

"We could also get very dead" said Groff followed by "I really don't like giant spiders."

Eldred and several of the outlaws had come over on hearing about the gold. Although it was Eldred who spoke first.

"A nest will mean lots of spiders as well as a Queen, there are only twelve of us, no armour and few weapons, it will be a very one sided battle and we will all die."

All but James looked downcast at the thought of death or missing out on that potential windfall, me included. The thought of getting enough to settle down for a year had set my mind racing.

"I could rent a house, it would give me time to settle down and get a job, maybe I could become a dancer after all."

I almost missed the reply from James, he had paused, deep in thought before replying to Eldred.

"We have a small cache of weapons and supplies hidden in the house, we would be willing to join in for an equal share of any money made." He looked around at his companions who all gave him affirmative nods in return.

I quickly spoke up then, afraid the two men would simply take over, it felt like I was losing control of the situation. Although I had no idea why I needed this form of control.

"Okay James, you go and extract your cache. What weapons do you have and who is good with what?"

Turning to Eldred I then questioned him. "Eldred, do you have any weapons with you and who is your companion?"

"Yes, I have a sword and a bow. This is my travelling companion, Carnelia."

"I guess there is no point in asking whether you are proficient with the bow, but are you any good with the sword?"

Smiling, Eldred replied to my comment about archery, all male Elves trained in archery as did a fair number of the women. "Yes, proficient in both, I was a border guard until a few days ago, now I appear to be an outlaw."

"Ah well, I am banished if it makes you feel any better."

Eldred again looked shocked but recovered his composure quickly.

"Carnelia really isn't suited to fighting at the moment, maybe she could stay here with anyone else who doesn't want to fight."

I looked at Carnelia and then the other women in the Outlaw group. Only the red head, Catherine looked interested, the other two clearly looked worried and were whispering to their respective partners.

Again I found myself worried that I could be lumped in with Carnelia and the other women as the as the men took charge. So again with no clear idea why, I spoke up quickly, taking charge again.

"Hi, Eldred has agreed that Carnelia can stay behind. If any other women want to join her she would be very grateful for the company."

Both the two women who moments ago had looked worried, cheered up immediately and ran over to Carnelia. Their partners also now looked relieved.

Shortly, James (or should I call him Jamie) emerged from the house dragging two large canvas holdalls. "Swords, knives, one bow, a couple of bucklers and travelling supplies."

"Wow you were actually kidding when you said you had a small cache. From that comment, I was expecting a couple of swords, daggers and supplies for a day." I was more than pleasantly surprised.

Between the three of us, we unpacked the holdalls and laid everything out on the ground.

"How many of us are there?" I asked quietly, more to myself than anything else.

"Nine" Eldred answered quickly.

"Six Outlaws, as Catherine clearly has no intention of joining the other women, the two of you, plus me."

Jamie was now smiling.

"Catherine is good with a bow, the rest of us are passable with a sword. Be aware though, Catherine has two hard rules. If you are a man don't get too familiar with her, if you know what I mean and don't treat her as a soft woman. Kyle has been slapped more than once but seems to accept that as going with the territory."

I didn't answer that, instead going through the numbers in my head before repeating them out loud.

"Okay that is Eldred and Catherine as bowmen, Groff with his quarterstaff, which leaves six of us with swords. If we give the bucklers to two they can form a defensive group with Groff. The archers will be our ranged attack, while the rest of us will be the melee fighters."

The others now looked at me in shock.

"What, we regularly choreographed fight scenes in dance class and so we treated ordinary dances just the same."

"Choreographed fight scenes, Choreographed?" Jamie sounded as shocked as he looked.

"Yes, fight scenes are very popular at the moment. We had to learn all the correct moves and terms as well. No one likes playing defence, standing there like dummies. Archers were fun, children's bows with the cloth tip dipped in red paint. Best of all though were the melee fighters, as one of those you could perform your own routine, unrehearsed to make it more realistic."

The others were now listening and showing an interest.

"In a standard dance, we refer to the main troupe as defence, their job was keeping the attention of the audience. The Top dancers would be referred to as melee dancers, performing exciting routines to catch the eye of any visiting VIPs. Ranged would be in the wings keeping everyone on their toes and dishing out props and occasionally nudges." After looking around and seeing their continued interest I carried on.

"It could be quite dangerous as well. You weren't allowed to actively interfere in another dancer's routine but you could plan your routine so that you had the opportunity to improvise. This meant adjusting the timing and placement of your leaps, jumps or spins on the fly with the aim of putting off your competitors. Of course they would all be doing the same, dancing can be very competitive and injuries are quite common. For some of the older more traditional dances, real swords are used, that really gets the adrenaline running, although we were too young to be taught with those."

Jamie had been following my comments closely and kept looking between me and Eldred in confusion.

Setting up Teams

"Okay, you clearly know about the basics but I don't quite understand why Eldred is not taking charge, he was a border guard and is older than you."

Eldred actually spoke up at this, before I could think of a suitable reply.

"You need to understand basic Elf society. We are a strict Clan based, Matriarchy. Yes I was a border guard, but just a basic soldier, not an officer. Clans can and do change their position in society but at the moment Clan Elm is lower in status than Clan Beech. As such, Allycyon ranks above me in our society."

At this the others all turned back to me, I was simply rooted to the spot, still in shock. It hadn't occurred to me to quote our political system to prove a point. As it was, I still wasn't sure what was driving me to stay in charge.

"Fine, seems like you are our leader then."

I jumped then as notifications flashed in front of my eyes. "Damn, still haven't got used to that."

Groff and Eldred looked at me in surprise and then laughed. "What did you get?" They both asked almost in unison.

"A title, some status points and a new skill, Leadership, comes with a new screen as well. Ah well something to study later. Right, back to business, Eldred why don't you take Catherine off to one side and see how good an archer she really is. You're the only one who is likely to have an objective view."

Jamie laughed, "Oh this I have to see."

"Why, what is wrong?" My question was quick, startled out of me by his comment and laugh.

Dropping his voice into more of a whisper he continued. "I mentioned earlier about her rules, rumour has it she was an archer in a City Guard, but had to run when she killed a senior officer who wouldn't take no for an answer."

Eldred had started walking off to one side and called out to Catherine to come join him, with a puzzled look she turned to follow him, leaving behind a sullen looking Kyle.

Everyone was watching now, with a fair bit of nudging and whispering going on.

Eldred picked up his bow and pointed to a tree. Clearly talking to Catherine but too far away to hear he then took an archers stance, selected an arrow and quickly loosed it at the tree. There was an audible thud when it hit.

Turning to Catherine he then proffered his bow to her. She looked startled at first but then accepted it gracefully.

Selecting an arrow, she nocked it and drew back the cord before being stopped by Eldred. Letting the bow go slack, she listened attentively as Eldred clearly said something to her. The men around me started whispering and smiling, clearly expecting Catherine to hit out.

Turning back to watch, I saw that Eldred was now showing Catherine his stance, keeping his distance and never touching her. After a few moments Caroline was clearly copying him and then loosed an arrow.

It hit the same tree but with a quieter thud than the one Eldred had released. He was now talking to Catherine again so I turned round to talk to Jamie.

There was an almost disappointed sound to the buzz of conversation going on now, which made me smile.

"They clearly expected Eldred to get handsy with Catherine and equally clearly Catherine recognised that he was more of an expert than her."

"Jamie, which of you are the most agile and quick thinking, that is the thing for a melee dancer. Don't stop moving or thinking, the spiders were not particularly intelligent and seemed to focus on the noise more than anything. I found I could jump on their backs and then stab down, seemed the easiest, safest thing to do."

"Well, most definitely not Kyle then, he has two left feet, Justin is not that much better, so me, Peter and Richard."

"Good, that is our three teams then." I then proceeded to list them for his benefit.

"Ranged attack then, Eldred and Catherine."

"Defence and distraction, Groff, Kyle and Justin."

"Melee, myself, you, Peter and Richard."

"Until we find the nest there is not much more we can plan beside that. Now I just need to sit down and see what notifications I received."

With that I walked off to find a quiet spot near the house. Sitting down I started to concentrate on my screens.

First up were the notifications.

[Charisma +1

Luck +1

Willpower +1

New Title, Outlaw Leader

New Skill Leadership - Beginner Level 1

New Screen, Leadership]

Then I looked at my status screens to see how they had changed.

[Allycyon of Clan Beech

Race - Elf

Title - Outlaw Leader

Previous Titles - Beast Rider, Dancer

Female]

[Status

Age

18

Level

2 (19/30)

Health

15/15

Stamina

17/17

Mana

15/15

Strength

12

Agility

14

Dexterity

14

Intelligence

14

Perception

12

Charisma

11

Willpower

13

Luck

11

3 Status points to allocate]

[Skills

Dance

Beginner 4

Acrobatics

Beginner 2

Horsemanship

Beginner 3

Improvisation

Beginner 2

Swordsmanship

Beginner 1

Stealth

Beginner 1

Beast Rider

Beginner 1

Leadership

Beginner 1

3 skill points to allocate]

The Leadership screen allowed me to not only add members but also let me create various sub teams.

"Now let's see how this screen works."

Making sure I could see all the members of the new group, I set to the task.

"I need to create one big team, adding all the members to it and then subdivide it into the three teams as agreed."

I started to add the names to the sub-groups I had created and judging by the puzzled looks everyone was giving me, not only was it working but everyone was receiving notifications as I went along.

Thinking of the future and the points available to me, I again decided to wait and see what happened over the next few weeks.

"I am only just getting to know Groff and now there are others to get to know and learn from. Allocating points can wait until I have a clear idea of what I want from the future.”

Groff came up to me at that point, bringing an end to my introspection. "You okay."

"Yes, thanks, just thinking of the future and what it might bring."

"It will bring whatever you want it to, providing you let it."

With that I got up and standing next to Groff, called everyone over.

"I think it best if we leave first thing in the morning. We can backtrack over the route we took getting here. It was a two day hike to get here, so we should be near the clearing by the next evening and can set up camp. The following morning we can start searching for the spider nest. Once we have found that and know what we are dealing with we can set up a detailed plan. Everyone okay with that?"

There were lots of nods to this and then everyone wandered off.

That night, sleep didn't come easily to me. Eighteen, banished and now leader of a group of Outlaws.

"In the morning I am expected to lead them on an adventure against a suspected Giant Spider nest. How have I talked myself into this."

The following morning, everyone was ready early. Rucksacks packed and weapons strapped on, just in case.

For me and Groff, the trip was interesting because we had been so nervous the first time through this area that we never really took much notice of the landscape.

Now we were looking we could see old signs of cultivation and make out run down and overgrown buildings here and there.

"Where did everyone go?" Asked Groff.

"Further into Elf or Human territory, the border moves although not by much depending on the strength of the local lords on either side. Outlaws, monsters and patrols by both sides make living here difficult. So sad though to see all this land lying unproductive." I frowned as I looked around at all the abandoned farmland.

Early the second evening, we made camp just outside the Copse where I had met Groff.

Seeing Groff standing out on his own, I walked over to stand next to him. He was staring at the Copse apprehensively, as the light steadily faded from the sky.

"Really not looking forward to going back in there, but it makes sense given our lack of funds or our realistic chances of getting any in the next few weeks by any other method. Doesn't mean I have to like it though."

With that Groff turned around and wrapped himself up in his blankets.

FINDING THE NEST

The morning dawned dull and grey, much like the mood of everyone in the camp. Breakfast was a rushed affair, after getting dressed no one seemed inclined to talk. Once we were all washed and presentable all of them formed a group in front of me. Waiting for a speech maybe?

"If we split into three teams of three we can cover more ground. If you find anything, return to camp. Don't do anything stupid, this is just a reconnaissance. Come back to the camp at noon and we can then go out again in the afternoon if nothing is found this morning." It wasn't the most awe inspiring of speeches but it was the best I could think of in the spur of the moment.

I was with Groff and Peter. Walking through the Copse, which was actually more like a small wood, was hard work. It was heavily overgrown, ferns, brambles, roots and bushes made walking slow and uncomfortable. It didn't help that all the time we were creeping through the woods, thoughts of being attacked by Giant Spiders were playing through our minds.

As we hadn't found anything by the time we had to return to the camp, we called it quits and headed back. We had started off in good spirits, chatting happily, if quietly. Now we were downcast, tired, hot, sweaty and dirty, not to mention hungry.

Waiting for us was the group led by Eldred, he looked happy, so I guessed his group had found something.

"Okay, what did you find?" There was no point beating around the bush, his group were clearly happy at having good news.

"A clear track, lots of prints and bits of spider web, shows frequent, recent use." Giving a concise report, Eldred sounded as pleased as he looked.

The third group turned up then, looking as downcast as mine, and admitting that they hadn't found anything either.

"Eldred, since your team is the only one to find anything, can you lead us to the track you found? We can follow it to see what it leads us to. I would prefer to just look at the moment."

Eldred just nodded, getting up at the same time and heading out with his group, not bothering to look back. The rest of us followed along behind, as he led us through the trees to what looked like a well worn game trail.

There we rearranged our group, I took the lead with Groff beside me, there was no room for more than two people and in places even that was a squeeze. Next came Catherine and Kyle, with Eldred bringing up the rear, sword drawn just in case.

As we moved along the path, the bits of webbing got larger, and soon we could hear a loud, hissing, chattering sound.

Coming around a corner we could see the path ended in a dark clearing. Reaching the end we managed to get our first look at the nest.

Inside the clearing, dozens of giant spiders milled around without any obvious reason. Above them, hung a much bigger spider, clinging to a web strung between the surrounding trees.

Having seen enough we turned tail and crept back down the path, running back to the camp as soon as we were clear.

Groff was shaking. "I really don't like spiders, especially the giant type."

"You'll be okay, there are more of us this time and we will be better prepared." I tried to console him but in truth I was equally as apprehensive as him.

Steeling myself, I tried to project a brave front. "I couldn't see anything there which would make a difference, so I guess we press on. If we attack first thing in the morning they might be a bit slower, as it should be cooler."

"Defence will go in first, they can move around the outside of the clearing, making a lot of noise to attract the attention of the majority of the spiders.

Pausing, I waited until I had received nods of acceptance from Groff, Kyle and Justin. "Melee will go in second, we will attack spiders one at a time while we keep moving around quickly. Try to get up on the spider's backs, they don't seem to notice and can't get at you there. Ranged will stay out of sight on the path or just off it, just be careful about being taken by surprise and also keep a few arrows back for the Queen."

Jamie looked around at everyone before speaking. "How do you get on the back of the spiders?"

"I jumped onto the first, then it was a case of jumping down from one and up on to the next, jump or scramble up their legs, really whatever works for you. They are packed close together so we should be able to jump from one to another at least at first. Watch out for them collapsing under you when they die though."

We continued to discuss various options and outcomes, until I felt we were going around in circles and called the meeting to an end. "We should all get an early night now, to allow us to get up early, refreshed and ready for tomorrow."

With that we all checked our individual gear and ate a quick meal, before settling down for an early night.

I decided to check my stats first as I had seen, but ignored a couple of notifications.

[Leadership +1

Charisma +1]

Both were reasonable given what I had been doing all day.

"I wish I had an idea of what the future will be, it is frustrating not knowing how I should develop my stats."

Seeing how I wasn't getting anywhere, I pulled my blankets tight around me and tried to go to sleep.

The following morning we were all up early, checking our weapons again and again, nervously.

Finally, as we were all ready and prevarication could no longer delay us, I set off and leading the way, I headed into the woods, the others close at my heels.

Reaching the path, I had our group line up in a different formation to the day before.

"Kyle, Justin you lead, I will go next with Groff and then Jamie, Peter and Richard, with Eldred and Catherine bringing up the rear. This will allow the defence group to enter the clearing first."

"Now I am actually getting a thrill from giving people orders. It is still scary at the same time though. What happens if someone refuses to obey."

Reaching the clearing we could again see and hear the spiders milling around with no apparent rhyme or reason.

Reaching out to Groff, I whispered, "Go."

SPIDER QUEEN

With that order, Kyle, Justin and Groff entered the clearing. Slipping in quietly and keeping to the side, trying to blend in with their surroundings. Moving slowly they edged their way around the clearing, putting some space between themselves and the path.

Once they were some distance from the path, all three started shouting and yelling. Kyle and Justin were also beating their swords on the bucklers making for a loud din.

This immediately had the desired effect, as all the spiders turned towards the noise. With Groff between Kyle and Justin the three men continued to inch their way along the side, fending off the spiders with sword, staff and buckler while keeping up a loud tirade of swearing and yelling. I had become fixated on the swearing.

"Where do people learn all these swear words. I haven't heard half the words or phrases before."

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I led my group into the clearing, unnoticed by the spiders as they concentrated on the loud disturbance. As a dancer, I had no trouble vaulting on to the back of a nearby spider but the others struggled, having to clamber up, rather than jump up gracefully. However, the method was not important, only the end result, we were all safely sat on the back of a Giant Spider.

Once up we took to hacking and stabbing our respective rides. The number of spiders helped us at first as they were so tightly packed we could simply jump from one to another at will. It helped that the spiders were still concentrating on the noise coming from the edge of the nest.

Eldred and Catherine had started to attack now, loosing arrows from the path opening, while trying to avoid being noticed. They weren't doing enough damage to actually kill any spiders directly, but they were injuring those they hit and slowing them down. The number of notifications I was receiving, was actually distracting at first but after awhile you kind of got used to them.

I had now jumped on to my fourth spider. Crouched on it's back for balance, I paused for a moment as I drew breath and looked around. Groff and his group were almost half way around the clearing, still making a noise and fending off spiders. The rest of my group were spread out, getting increasingly messy as we hacked at the spiders we were riding. That is when I realised I could actually strike at the nearby spiders.

Swinging my blade down, I sliced at the body of the nearest spider and succeeded in cutting off one of it's legs. Repeating this, over and over until my arms ached. Stopping to ease the cramps in my arm muscles, I took another look around. Dozens of dead spiders littered the clearing providing obstacles for those that remained. Yet the survivors didn't change their behaviour.

Meanwhile, a small group of them continued to harass the noisy group on the edge of the clearing, ignoring the carnage around them.

Looking over to the path we entered from, I could see that Eldred and Catherine were now clearly targeting the Queen.

Having no nearby spiders to attack, I quickly killed the one I was riding and jumping down made my way to the remaining group of spiders. Jamie joined me, but Peter and Richard were already within the group causing mayhem.

That was when we heard and felt a loud thud, turning we realised we had forgotten about the Queen. She was now on the ground, a number of arrows sticking out of her body and while these were clearly slowing her down, she was by no means dead in the water.

I yelled out to Jamie, "Go right, I will go left, keep her from joining the remaining spiders."

With that I ran left around the Queen spider. Hacking at the nearest leg seemed to achieve nothing other than to numb my hand so I gave up on that. Sheathing my sword, I took a running jump at the nearest leg, then clambered up it onto the Giant Spiders body.

Moving to the front, I started to stab down repeatedly, trying to both distract and hurt the animal. I was more successful in that than I bargained on. The Queen let out a loud screeching sound and reared up on her hind legs almost throwing me off backwards.

Jamie used this distraction to dart under the Queen to stab and slash upwards, now the Queen appeared to weaken quickly. Jamie raced away in a crouch afraid the staggering animal would fall down and crush him. I was still grimly holding on and stabbing downwards although I was now shouting and screaming almost as loudly as Groff and his group.

"Die! For crying out loud, die!"

This was followed by a string of swear words that would have both surprised and upset my parents in equal measure.

Suddenly my wish was granted and the Queen collapsed under me and grew still. Carefully I climbed down, worried it was some kind of trap. Walking over to where I could see Jamie, together we stood still, almost in the middle of the clearing and looked around. Richard and Peter stood with Groff, Kyle and Justin, all looking stunned and exhausted.

All the spiders were dead!

"We did it, we killed them all including the Queen." This received the reaction I was hoping for. The men whooping and yelling, waving their swords in the air at the same time.

Now came the grisly business of collecting the eyes of all the spiders. It had to be done quickly after death, to ensure they didn't start to rot.

We each had a bag, feeling it was the only way to evenly dish out the messy work. Some hours later, we each had a sack full of spiders eyes and sections of Chitin cut from the spider's legs. The others had all agreed that I should get the privilege of butchering the Queen but that the money should be split equally between everyone.

Then we had to start again after remembering to look for cores. No one really knew what these were but they appeared in all dead animals shortly after death, assuming the animal wasn't too badly cut up that is. By the end of the process each of us was soaked head to toe in spider goo.

After finishing we made our way slowly back to the camp, where it was agreed that me and Catherine could go to a nearby stream first to try and get cleaned up.

Picking up clean clothes, soap and towels, we headed for the stream. Once there I looked apprehensively back towards the camp. Catherine who had already started to undress, looked at me in concern.

"What's up. What's worrying you?"

"Do you think we can trust them to stay there."

Catherine's answer was not quite what I was expecting.

"Does it matter? I am soaked through with spider goo and the only way to get clean is to strip off. As a guard we would regularly wash with the men. Admittedly it doesn't stop anyone from staring and commenting, especially if they are young or new, but no one touches or takes any ribbing too far. If you don't strip off, you will smell awful come morning and you risk getting ill as well."

By then Catherine had stripped naked and was kneeling in the stream, swearing at the cold water while she washed herself.

Having one last nervous look around, I shook my head, swore and then stripped off, joining Catherine in the stream.

"You are right, I need to wash regardless of whether there are any men watching, you are also right about how cold the stream is."

Both of us were shivering and swearing now, finishing washing as quickly as we could. Getting out of the water, we dried ourselves off and got dressed.

Catherine now gave me an evil looking grin. "Of course once the men go off, we can sneak after them and spy on them."

I blushed heavily at the thought of seeing all those men naked. "We couldn't do that. Could we?"

Catherine laughed and shook her head. "No, but it was fun to see that you actually thought about it."

Getting back to camp we were glad the men had started a fire and quickly ran over to warm ourselves up.

Leading the men off ,Jamie yelled out. "Last one in is a cry baby!"

Catherine turned to me.

"Men have almost as many hang-ups as women about their bodies, especially when it comes to being naked in front of other men. It is only when it comes to being naked with someone of the opposite sex that they are better, refusing to acknowledge or accept they are inferior in any way."

I didn't know what to do or say to that, but was saved from further embarrassment by some familiar giggling. Catherine had immediately started to draw her sword, but I shook my head, stopping her by grabbing her arm.

"Hello Magdalena. I can hear you giggling, you can stop playing games now and come out."

At my call, Magdalena appeared in front of a nearby bush, there had been no flash of light but neither did any of the branches of the bush move. We stood looking at her in shock for a moment before I recovered.

"Hi. Catherine, this is Magdalena, a witch I met earlier. Magdalena, this is Catherine an ex guard we are now friends with."

"Groff is still with you then? I thought for a moment that you had split up."

"No, the men are out getting cleaned up.

Magdalena who appeared to be more interested in Catherine than whatever I was talking about suddenly perked up and looked at me with interest.

"Men, plural. How many exactly?"

"Seven, they should be back any time soon."

"Allycyon, wow you have managed to gain a reverse harem in the short few days since we met, impressive.

I looked at her in confusion, clearly not knowing what she was talking about while equally clearly Catherine did, judging by the coughing and laughing.

Once she had calmed down, Catherine explained what a reverse harem was to me. It annoyed me more than it should have but before I could yell at Magdalena, the men returned, calling out ‘Hello.’

The human men had rushed off at Jamie's yell leaving a bemused Eldred and Groff to turn up together last. By then the others were half undressed, making ribald comments about each other, soon they were all stripped and swearing at how cold the water was.

Too cold to take any time to relax, they dried off and got dressed as quickly as possible before walking back to camp.

Calling out ‘Hello’ before walking in, all the men apart from Groff got a surprise, instead of the two women they had been expecting, there were actually three and Allycyon didn't look very happy. Before any of them could react though, Magdalena let out a squeal and ran up to Groff giving him a quick hug.

"I thought Allycyon had abandoned you to hunt rewards from getting potion ingredients."

"No we are still travelling together, only we heard there was good money to be had from hunting Giant Spiders."

"And who are all these people with you?" Indicating the men with him, with a wide sweep of her hand.

"Guys, this is Magdelena. Magdelena meet Eldred, Jamie, Peter, Richard, Kyle and Justin, in no particular order. Guys, if you haven't already guessed, Magdalena is a witch. We met her here a few days ago when we had the first fight with the spiders."

"Why are you still here Magdalena?" Groff asked curiously.

"I am still collecting ingredients, something I noticed you have been doing. It is also good to meet you again, and so soon."

Groff had squatted down next to the fire to warm up and was quickly joined by Jamie

"Is she okay?" He whispered. "Are we about to be turned into worms?"

"No, she is fine." Groff tried to convince Jamie but he was feeling less than convinced himself.

Magdalena had finally turned back to talk to me.

"So just how many spiders did you kill?"

"Not sure yet, I haven't had a chance to sit down and study my notifications. At least a couple of dozen and the Queen. We have nine sacks of eyes and spider bits, one sack each. Now we have to go to town to sell it all."

"That is a good haul, judging by what I pay you should make one or two gold each." There were whistles and gasps at this news.

"We thought it was going to be worth doing but didn't expect that much." Groff looked surprised.

"Giant Spiders aren't super rare like dragons but they are not common either, whoever you sell them to will have a rush on their hands once word gets out though." Magdalena had been looking at the bags longingly while she said this.

I suddenly felt sorry for her and made a quick, impulsive decision.

"Magdalena, here look you can have a set, I am sure you can make lots of useful potions with them."

Eldred and Groff looked amused, while the rest looked shocked at the loss of this part of the money.

Magdalena quickly went from surprised to delighted to frowning. "Hmm, yes I could, but very few things in life are actually free. What would you want in return?"

"Nothing actually, consider it a goodwill gift. You seem to have an interest in us, so it makes sense for us to see you happy."

Magdalena looked delighted again. "Okay, on that basis I would be more than happy to accept such a gift."

With that, there was a flash of light and Magdalena vanished. I noticed the sack I was holding felt a bit lighter as well.

"Well at least she was a bit more polite this time" Groff said, getting a laugh from me.

Jamie didn't look too happy. "Was it really necessary to give away something she would clearly have paid for if she had the funds."

"I think so, I really don't know how powerful she is at the moment, but any type of magic user makes a good friend and a bad enemy. She is now clearly a friend, which means we can call on her in the future if we need to."

Jamie looked happier at my well thought out explanation.

"Right, once we have eaten, we can get settled early, allowing us to get an early start again tomorrow. The sooner we get to a town and sell all this the better I shall feel." I didn't look too happy having said this.

"We now make an inviting target with all this wealth on us."

Settling down later, wrapped up in my blankets, I was close enough to Groff to whisper to him.

"I am checking my notifications and screens now. Have you looked at yours yet?"

"No, just about to" Was his quiet reply

As usual, I started with the notifications.

[Giant Spider x3, Killed, Exp 17(34 x 0.5)

Giant Spider Queen x 1, killed, Exp 4

Level up, Level 3, 36/70

Gained 3 Status points for distribution

Gained 2 Skill points for distribution

Gained one status point, Agility, Dexterity and Intelligence

Gained one skill point, Leadership, Sword, Stealth

Gained 4 skill points, Beast Rider]

Then, like before I looked at my stats.

[Allycyon of Clan Beech

Race - Elf

Title - Outlaw Leader

Previous Titles - Beast Rider, Dancer

Female]

[Status

Age

18

Level

3 (36/70)

Health

20/20

Stamina

22/22

Mana

20/20

Strength

12

Agility

15

Dexterity

15

Intelligence

15

Perception

12

Charisma

12

Willpower

13

Luck

11

Six Status points to allocate]

[Skills

Dance

Beginner 4

Acrobatics

Beginner 2

Horsemanship

Beginner 3

Improvisation

Beginner 2

Swordsmanship

Beginner 2

Stealth

Beginner 2

Beast Rider

Beginner 5

Leadership

Beginner 2

Five skill points to allocate]

Satisfied with that and still not prepared to allocate any points, I settled down to sleep.

GRAPPLINGTON

Waking up , I found myself in a cheerful mood, hardly surprising given our success yesterday. My arms ached though, and looking around I could see it was going to be another cloudy, dreary day.

Up and dressed, I took to rousing those who weren't already awake, getting groans and curses in return for my effort. It would be worth it though. It was a two day trek back to the farmhouse and then however many to a decent town in Kirkluk. We needed to find a decent sized town, one that had an Adventurers Guild and a reasonably honest trading shop.

After breakfast, the men quickly turned to trying to out do each other with tales of how many spiders they had killed. I found myself acting like a mother hen, chiding them continually in order to get them moving. Admittedly no one was looking forward to a two day trek carrying a sack of spider parts each, not even me.

It was a case of Deja Vu for Groff and me. The second time we had walked this route after fighting Giant Spiders. He walked besides me, mostly in silence, each of us content in our own thoughts.

Apart from some wildlife, the countryside was empty. Birds and deer could be seen occasionally but nothing else. It was kind of eerie and quiet, something that made all of us edgy and reduced talking to a minimum.

"Well at least it isn't just Groff and me this time. The area gives me the creeps. Perhaps it is just the emptiness, combined with obvious signs of abandoned habitation. Can't help but think of all the people who have died out here."

Even with the cloud cover helping to keep us cool, dragging a sack along was not an easy task. By the end of the day we were all worn out and happy to simply crash.

Waking in the morning, I was not happy this time. Still worn out and facing another hike today.

"Why does everywhere have to be so far apart. Can't wait to have enough money to be able to afford a horse. Which brings up several questions. How much does a horse cost? How much does it cost to keep and feed a horse?"

The hike today was less interesting, everyone complaining about aching arms. We took frequent breaks along the way. Towards the end of the day, breaks were getting longer and walks shorter. We were all glad to see the hedgerow that marked the edge of the Farmhouse.

"It's a mixed blessing though. It will be good to meet up with the other three but that means we have another long hike ahead of us starting tomorrow."

Pushing through the hedgerow, Peter and Richard began calling out loudly before anyone could stop them. Fortunately, everything was fine and we were all pleased to see the three women we had left behind, appear from the Farmhouse.

After a short but happy reunion we all agreed that another early night was in order. I was more than glad to turn in.

"How long until we find a decent sized town. There are names marked on the map but no indication of size. We will be forced to stop and ask for directions, which might be difficult with our titles."

I discussed this problem quietly with Groff before turning over and going to sleep. He couldn't see a solution to that problem either."

I decided that morning came around too quickly. My arms still ached as did my feet and legs. There was no stopping now though, to leave this good fortune here and carry on without the sacks was unthinkable.

After breakfast we had a short discussion on direction and agreed we should head north-west, further into Kirkluk. None of us knew what lay ahead of us but we prepared as well as we could.

I took the lead alongside Groff. Next came Catherine and Kyle followed by the others. Eldred and Carnelia brought up the rear. We were all armed and ready for anything.

"We must make an interesting and probably frightening group for anyone passing us."

It quickly became apparent that we were now well in to Kirkluk. The land had become more cultivated, farmhouses were no longer derelict and we started to see people and farm animals.

The narrow track we were following became a clear if somewhat unmaintained road. Two deep ruts and numerous potholes indicating that this was not a wealthy area.

"According to the map we should reach a town called Grapplington tomorrow. I have no idea what size town it is, there is no indication on the map.” Like my colleagues I sighed happily at this.

“Regardless of size, we are likely to meet other travellers and need to be on our guard. The presence of the sacks indicates wealth of some sort and so makes us an inviting target. Everyone needs to be conscious of where they are and be aware of any possible dangers."

No one contradicted my comment. We were all nervous and couldn't wait to get rid of these damn sacks.

We reached the outskirts of Grapplington in the late evening. Not wishing to walk in at night, we made camp and waited out the darkness.

It was bright and sunny for a change when I woke up. Once breakfast was over, I hurried everyone along, keen to be on the move.

"Come on, it seems like we have been carrying these sacks for ever."

"You are a bit of a slave driver in the mornings, l've noticed." Groff was laughing as he said this though. He really wasn't a morning person.

The Temple towers were visible from outside the town wall. It proved two things, one the town was quite wealthy, given the size of the towers. Two, it wasn't that large a town, the towers didn't seem that far away. The towers of a temple were usually the tallest building in a town, only castle keeps being larger. Temples were a single large building with four towers aligned north, south, east and west, inside there would be multiple altars for the various Gods.

The town wall was a simple wooden affair with a large double gate. Two guards stood outside a small wooden Gatehouse on the outside, more for the look of things rather than to provide any serious defence or control. The Guards asked about our business in town but made no attempt to stop or search us.

I had been nervous about the guards. Worried I would be stopped simply because I was an Elf or because news of my banishment had spread. It didn't help that Eldred had an arrest warrant out and maybe Groff as well, if his dad was really peeved at him.

"Could you direct us to the Adventurers Guild Hall, please?" Their lack of interest in us had emboldened me no end, although my pulse rate was only now starting to lower as I calmed down.

"Certainly, all the Guilds have places surrounding the Temple. Head straight down this road, you can't miss it."

"Okay, thank you."

Groff was again grumbling quietly to himself. "Hate it when people say you can't miss it, I always end up lost and wondering around for hours."

As it turned out the Guards were correct. Initially we were passing houses with large gardens and vegetable plots. Most of these houses were single story, wattle and daub buildings, interspersed here and there with stone cottages and log cabins. As we travelled into the centre, the buildings became larger and now most were constructed out of stone and wood.

Following the road we finally came to a large, cobbled square with the Temple at it's centre. Around the outside of the square there were a mixture of taverns, shops and Guild halls.

The Adventurers Guild hall was easy to spot. A large sign was hanging from a thick wooden spar, the sign had a picture of men fighting a dragon painted on it, below the picture, it was inscribed 'Adventurers Guild Hall' in a fancy script.

Making our way across the busy square, we ended up forming a large group outside the main doors. Two pillars held up a narrow stone awning above double doors, both doors had large iron rivets studded across their surface.

Standing in front of the three storey, stone and wood building we looked around, but nobody seemed interested in us.

"I really don't want to walk in with all the bags. That is likely to cause a major fuss, resulting in lots of questions. I want us to remain in charge of any discussions about our battle and loot."

"So who stays out here with the majority of the bags?"

"The women should go in, which leaves the men as guards." Jamie was quick to make a recommendation.

"I am happy with that although I also want Groff by my side, Eldred seems like a good man to have around in a fight as well."

Having made my decision, I selected Eldred, Groff and the four women, together with Jamie to represent the original outlaws. Putting all but one of the sacks down, we entered the building, leaving the men outside to guard the remaining ones.

Entering through the main doors we found ourselves in a large square room. The far wall was taken up with a long bar, behind which was a bored looking man, currently polishing beer glasses. People were sat at the bar and at the various tables scattered around and although most looked round to see who had come in, they all immediately turned round again, for which I was grateful.

Walking up to the bar we stopped as a group and looked around.

The wall on the right had a large wooden plaque complete with gold plated scroll work. Lists of names and dates could be seen on it. The wall on the left had a much simpler cork board, this had sheets of paper pinned to it, seemingly at random.

Since there appeared to be no one else to discuss matters with, I stayed at the bar alongside Groff, while the rest wondered over to the walls.

Groff continued to be happy letting me do all the talking, which fitted in to my current desire to show I was in charge.

"Still not really sure where this desire has come from but I certainly don't want to be a woman who needs protecting. Catherine is more my role model than the others."

"Hi, who do we see about claiming rewards for killing monsters?" I asked the man in front of me.

"The Duty Manager, which would be me." He was a tall, gangly man with a shock of black hair.

"Ahh, okay then. We killed a Giant Spider Queen and her brood, a total of thirty four animals, thirty eight if you count the four we killed a few days before hand."

"We would need evidence and a detailed account of where and when this took place before we could pay out the five gold. You realise we can't just pay out to anyone who walks in here with a tale."

That comment had me smiling."No problem, I have a sack here full of spider bits. These are the eyes of the Queen"

Leaning down I grabbed a cloth wrapped bundle from the sack by my feet. Laying it down on the bar top, I unwrapped it carefully, displaying the jet black eyes from the Spider Queen. Six were the size of my fist while the remaining two were twice that size. Our conversation had now drawn an interested audience.

"Wow, I wouldn't worry too much about the five gold reward, those alone are worth more than that." An old man was smiling at me and pointing at the black crystal like eyes.

All the attention was starting to make me nervous and I looked warily around the room. "Thank you, I don't suppose you know a reputable trader where we could get rid of these?"

"As it happens, I do, left out of here and round the first corner, Bob's Trading Post, can't miss it."

We all turned around as Groff groaned, from where he stood behind me.

Smiling I turned back to the old man.

"Allycyon of Clan Beech, pleased to meet you." I held my hand out for him to shake as I introduced myself.

The man took my hand and shook it in a very business like manner, making no attempt to crush my hand or bend to kiss it. I was impressed and starting to like him in a business like way.

It was his turn for introductions now as he released my hand. "Brian, leader of the Old Grizzlies Guild, likewise pleased to meet you."

The manager returned then holding a large leather bound ledger together with a small leather coin purse.

"Here we go then, first who is the leader? Ah you, Allycyon, hmm don't get too many outlaws through here and you are quite a young, varied lot. Never mind, don't bother anyone and no one will bother you, one of the advantages of being a small border town."

Opening the Ledger and turning it to face me, he found the next clear page and pointing down at it addressed me again.

"Right if you can fill in the details here that would be great. Doesn't have to be a blow by blow account , just the basics. Here is your reward, five gold coins, you can change them into something smaller at the bank across the square, although they might require you to open an account first."

I filled in the Ledger, first handing the purse over to Groff and then noticing that Brian, the old man was still watching me.

"Would you let me escort you to the shop, will add gravitas to the event and on the way you can tell me how you came to lead a group of outlaws that includes Elves and Dwarves."

I found myself blushing but Groff was clearly trying his level best to prevent himself from laughing.

"That would be very helpful, thank you." I replied, trying to keep my voice level and professional.

At that point Eldred and the rest joined us at the bar.

Eldred was the first to speak. "Hi, can anyone apply for the jobs on the board?"

I turned around with Groff, both of us intrigued. "Jobs?" We said in unison, before laughing.

The manager looked at Eldred.

"Yes anyone, although the jobs cover the whole Kingdom, which can involve a lot of travel. The board is arranged left to right, simple to difficult. It is up to the group applying, to decide whether they are up to tackling any particular one though."

"Would you advise us if you thought we had selected something too difficult?"

Brian laughed at this. "Officially he can't as it is up to individual Guilds to decide how strong they are. As you are not a Guild yet, he can kind of bend the rules a bit, maybe cough or splutter at what you select. He can of course explain the details of the job."

I looked at him quizzically at the word "Yet" but didn't interrupt as he continued his explanation.

"Guilds are usually pretty good at self policing their selection. Getting half your members killed picking a quest that is too difficult doesn't help improve your public profile or your profits."

I looked at the three members of my group. "We could maybe do a few simple jobs"

Jamie looked worried at this.

"I know we did okay against the spiders but Peter and Richard are farmers, as soon as they get their share they are buying supplies and heading back to the house. Doubt there is anything you could say to make them change their minds. Catherine would probably join you and obviously then Kyle. I would like the money but I am also basically a farmer and the other two will need my help."

I looked downbeat at this news but cheered up immediately.

"That's fine, don't worry about it, if Catherine and Kyle join us, that would be six, I assume you will be staying Eldred although I know Carnelia is not a fighter. That is a good little group to start with."

Eldred was smiling back at me,"Of course, like Groff, I believe our destinies are linked, so at the moment wherever you go, I go."

Brian now looked a bit surprised. "I just assumed you two were a couple, sorry for that but we don't get too many Elves and Dwarves through here, at least not to stay and chat."

This amused me no end.

"First the outlaws assuming Groff was my servant and now Brian assumes Eldred is my husband.

"That's okay, no we are just travelling companions, we grouped together for safety and to collect the bounty on those spiders. I seriously don't fancy becoming a farmer or maid and completing jobs hunting monsters sounds interesting anyway we need a source of income for when the bounty runs out."

Brian looked thoughtful so I asked him what was wrong.

"Your titles, we get all sorts through here as do most border towns so no one is going to bother you if you are peaceful. Take some of these jobs though and you will have to visit the bigger towns or cities. Walk into one of those and the first guards to see you will arrest you or more likely just kill you on sight."

Now I looked upset and the others didn't look much happier, apart from Jamie anyhow as this wouldn't affect him.

"Just when things are looking up something bad comes along."

One of Brian's colleague's spoke up then giving us all a lifeline. "You could try Lizzie's spell shop, a couple of streets away, a friend got a new title there, no idea on cost or availability though."

That cheered me up again, my mood changing quickly with every new comment. "New plan then, go to Trading Post, sell everything, visit Bank to split money into something more manageable. Then find this spell shop before coming back here to see if we like any of the simple jobs. Everyone good with that?"

Everyone nodded back at me or simply smiled.

REWARD

Leaving the Guild Hall, we picked up the rest of our group, who all looked surprised at the additional person but no one made a comment about him.

Brian whistled when he saw the eight additional sacks.

"Bob is going to have a fit when he sees all this, Chitin as well as eyes, he will have every mage, alchemist and armourer from miles around beating a path to his door. He might have to go to the bank to get funds mind."

His enthusiasm made me smile. "I don't mind that, we were going to go to the bank next anyway."

Leading the way, Brian led us around a corner, where we saw an inn style sign hanging from a large wooden beam, announcing to the world that this was Bob's Trading Post. The building was a large two storey wooden affair, with big windows sat either side of the central door and smaller windows running along the top floor.

Walking in, the door made a small bell ring and we quickly realised that there wasn't really room for everyone. Shelves and benches seemed to fill every available space. We quickly agreed that it made sense for Groff, Eldred and Brian to join me in staying inside with the one sack again.

At this point, we heard a voice call out. "Yes, can I help?"

Brian answered before anyone of us could. "Bob, it's Brian, I have secured you some supplies I think you are going to like."

I was as startled by this comment as the others looked to be but Brian either ignored it or didn't see it, as he ushered us further into the maze like shop. Reaching the back we came to an old, highly polished, wooden desk with a large metal cash box bolted to it. Behind this was a short, red haired man about the same age as Brian.

"Brian, good to see you again." Bob replied, while reaching out to shake Brian's hand.

Making a sweeping gesture with his arm to indicate the three of us he continued. "These are?"

"Allycyon, Eldred, both elves obviously and Groff equally obviously a dwarf. Travelling companions who have a serious quantity of Giant Spider parts."

Bob's eyes grew wide and he suddenly became all business like. "Good quality? Freshly harvested? What sort of quantity are we talking about?"

He aimed these quickly timed questions at no one in particular, then seemed to realise he sounded too keen and unprofessional.

"First things first, who am I dealing with? Only one person, otherwise everything gets bogged down in arguments." With that he came around the desk to stand in front of us.

I found everyone looking at me, so sighing, I replied to Bob. "Guess that would be me. Would you like to see some samples?"

"Guess I can't have my cake and eat it too. I can't pick and choose when I want to be in charge."

"Samples? You mean this isn't the lot."

Brian was now laughing. "Told you they had a serious quantity of the stuff, took out a Queen and her brood."

Bob just stood there open mouthed for awhile, then he was all business like again.

"Fine. Can I see some? Is it alright if I examine the items?"

"Feel free to do whatever you like, we have thirty three sets of brood eyes, plus the set from the Queen. We also collected a load of Chitin from their legs, nine sacks in total. Let me tell you, that was really messy work. We didn't get cores from all of them but we have a dozen small ones and a larger one from the Queen."

For a moment I thought Bob was going to faint. He recovered quickly and then I swear I could clearly see him doing calculations, his eyes concentrating on his rapidly moving fingers.

Brian looked shocked as well but then he laughed again.

"Forgot to ask about those, must be losing my touch. Add jewellers and metalsmiths to the list of people who will be beating down his door."

I helped Bob to open the sack, moving all the Chitin leg pieces out of the way. Picking out two pieces of cloth, I handed them to him. He took these over to the desk and unwrapped the contents, displaying the cores and the eight jet black eyes from the Queen.

Picking out an eyepiece from his pocket he began to examine the items one by one. Once he finished he again did the calculations with his fingers.

The suspense after carrying these sacks for so long was intense, I found myself holding my breath waiting for an answer.

"Hmm, right, given the quantity and quality, I can offer you one hundred gold and before you start haggling, yes I am aware you could probably get a lot more in the Capital or if you split it up and tried to sell direct. This is my price for speed and convenience."

This time it was our turn to stand there open mouthed in shock. I was the first to react.

"Wow, I know she said several gold each, but I thought she meant per person not per set."

Brian picked up on this comment quickly. "Who?"

"A traveller we met on the way here." There was no way I was about to give away any details about Magdalena.

I looked at Eldred and Groff who both looked like they were still in shock but got faint nods from both.

"That is an acceptable deal. Would you like us to bring the rest in?"

"Yes please. I will have to go to the bank to get the money though."

Brian seemed to be finding everything funny at the moment as he laughed at this. "Told you so."

I was also giggling but managed to get out a reply. "That's okay, we were going there next anyway. We need to split some of the money down and given the amount, I would like to leave most in the bank. I wouldn't feel safe walking around with all that on me."

Now I caught Brian looking at me with an odd look, then he gave me a big smile and bowed.

"Cautious, sensible, intelligent, attractive, no wonder these two are prepared to follow you anywhere."

I blushed furiously and then rushed out leaving behind four men laughing loudly. Outside I quickly calmed down, realising he was only playing with me.

Catherine had immediately come over looking angry.

"Are you okay? Did something happen?" She looked ready to rush in which made me panic again.

"No, no, nothing like that, Brian complimented me, a lot."

The change in Catherine was interesting to see, at least it would have been if I wasn't so angry. She went from angry to confused, and finally to amused, clearly now trying not to laugh, something the others were struggling with as well.

"He complimented you, a lot?"

"I panicked, I didn't know what to do."

"Amazing, Giant Spiders and Outlaws no problem, a quick compliment and you go to pieces."

Catherine gave up trying not to laugh, especially when she looked at me and realised how angry I was. Once they all calmed down, we realised Groff was looking out of the shop.

"What is taking so long? We are waiting for the other sacks".

This caused another bout of laughing, but they managed to pick up the sacks and carry them in anyway.

Now smiling, I stayed outside with Catherine, chatting amicably now I had calmed down. Soon we were joined by everyone else including Bob, who proceeded to lock up his shop. After that we made our way across the square, getting curious looks from the people passing by.

The bank was an imposing building, designed to awe customers. With stone pillars and several wide stone steps leading up to the doors.

Inside, the floor was polished marble and the high ceiling was supported by large stone pillars, all in all it was an imposing sight. There were a number of desks laid out in front of us and Bob went up to one of the desks, immediately starting to talk to the clerk sat behind it. Shortly they both got up and came across to address our group.

"It is most irregular to deal with a group this large but we do have a meeting room upstairs free at the moment if you would like to come this way."

Not waiting for an answer he turned around and led the way to a door at the back of the room. With the clerk leading the way , we followed him up a set of stairs and into what was clearly a conference or training room. Several rows of chairs faced a large desk, behind this there was a large blackboard. The clerk went and sat down behind the desk, opening up the books he had brought with him.

"Right, down to business. Bob you want to withdraw one hundred gold. Is that correct?"

"Yes"

"Hmm, given the amount, which he says you intend to split equally I would recommend you all open accounts. You can draw out money from any bank in the Kingdom."

There was a lot of whispering going on, at which he looked up.

Speaking up before he could, I added in my news of additional funds.

"I also have five gold which needs to be split between us and added to the total, although we need to pay the Hall ten gold as well." Taking out the coin purse the Hall manager had given me, I handed it over to the clerk.

"If you want to open an account form a queue at my desk, just be aware that if you don't you will be walking out with several years average wages which will make you all a very tempting target. If you are intending to buy lots of supplies you can tell the shop you have an account here and they will send us the bill. I will supply you with identification slips which you hand over instead of cash. They are only valid in town though. Just don't sign them before you need them. We check the signatures, not whether you have been robbed. Please let us know if you are robbed though."

More whispering followed this but we all got up to form a queue

"Thank you. I am not sure if you are all aware but you will each receive seven gold, ninety one silver and sixty six coppers, I would suggest you all withdraw a purse of no more than fifty silvers and fifty coppers each, that should be more than enough to start with.

There were shocked gasps from those who hadn't yet worked out what their share of one hundred gold would be.

In particular Richard and Peter looked dazed as between each of them and their wives, they would have over fifteen gold. This represented almost a lifetime's earnings for the average family.

One by one we all signed our names in the ledger, marvelling at the opening figure recorded against it.

After the last person had signed, the clerk got up and led us all back downstairs. There we waited while he went downstairs, eventually returning with thirteen leather coin purses and another ledger. We again had to individually sign for the purses, with two purses for me, my own and a second with ten gold in it for the Guild. After this the clerk shook each of us by the hand and said goodbye, returning to sit at his desk and waiting for the next customer.

RECOVERING

Walking out of the bank, we were all looking slightly dazed.

Looking at us intently, Brian changed his mind about going to the Spell shop.

"Look, I know the plan was to go to the Spell shop next but you look like you all need to sit down and the shop will be open all day. I know a quiet little Inn near here where we can sit down and chat quietly while you get over the shock and make plans. Is that okay with all of you?"

I thought that it was a great idea and judging by the number of nods at this, so did everyone else. With Brian leading the way we set off to find this quiet Inn, for some reason even Bob trailed along.

The Inn was an old, battered looking black and white, half timbered building.

Entering the Inn, we found ourselves in a quiet, low ceilinged room, crammed full of tables and chairs. Sitting down it became clear that we had formed two distinct groups. Jamie, Peter, Richard, Sarah, Annette and Justin sat around one table, while Groff, Eldred, Carnelia, Catherine and Kyle sat at another with me. In fairness though, we would have had to move several tables together to make enough room for all of us. Brian and Bob sat down at the table with my group.

"My group, that has a nice ring to it. This leadership lark is actually getting serious."

A waitress had come over and said ‘Hi’ to Brian, she then proceeded to take orders for drinks. In the meantime she brought out several bowls of nuts and bread rolls, compliments of the house.

Once we all had a drink, Brian started off.

"You have all just had a lucky windfall, leaving it in the bank is the sensible thing to do." Turning to look at the other group who were clearly all listening in, he continued on.

"I know some of you need to buy supplies for your farmsteads, but don't go mad, that money should last you years if you are careful. That should give you time to build up your farms. Especially you two young guys, don't go wasting it all on wine and women, the money in your purse should easily last you half a year without even touching the rest."

With that he turned back to the group sat around his table.

"I set up the Old Grizzlies Guild mostly so that old guys like me had somewhere to go and something to do. In the main guilds we tend to be ignored, except for training the newcomers, which can get tedious and boring. " His look look had changed from wistful to something darker by the end.

"This way we have our own guild, do the odd job and hire out as trainers when we want to or need to. We do have bills that need to be paid after all, otherwise we just hang around the Guild Hall. It's a nice quiet life, none of us have any real money in the bank or close living relatives, so there is no real alternative to Guild life." He looked slightly sad as he said this but cheered up as he continued.

"I made my decisions long ago and so I get to live by them, I have some amazing friends and some of the adventures we had, well they are stories that can be saved for another day." With that he finished his drink and picked up a bread roll.

"Have you all settled down, plans ready? Drink up then, time to visit a shop."

Following his lead we all finished our drinks and picked up a bread roll each for later. I gave the waitress a small tip as she came over to collect the empty glasses.

We again found ourselves following Brian, this time to a small shop. Bob had left us to return to his Trading Post but asked me to keep in touch in case we ever needed anything or had more goods to sell.

The shop Brian led us to, had a sign that read Lizzie's Spell Book Shop. It was painted in pastel yellows, the windows full of books, potion bottles, candles and incense sticks.

Brian explained to us, that Lizzie ran the shop but her Grandparents actually owned it.

She apparently never talked about her parents. After his little speech we all tried to enter the small shop but quickly realised there wasn't anywhere near enough room. So instead, as with the Trading Post, I entered alongside Jamie and Brian, while the rest stood around outside.

Inside, books filled several bookshelves while tables displayed trinkets, stones and amulets. The air smelled strongly of incense, several sticks burning in holders on a bench along the far wall.

A young, smiling woman came out of a bead covered doorway. She was wearing a pale yellow dress, which accented her blonde hair and blue eyes. She was about average height for a Human woman and was quite pretty, slender without being skinny.

"Hi, I am Lizzie, how can I help, oh, hi Brian, didn't realise it was you."

I turned to Brian at this easy familiarity. "Seems you are quite well known, at least amongst the younger women." This time Brian blushed, as did Lizzie.

"Okay, touche, I probably deserved that after my previous quip." Brian took this in good humour and was smiling again now.

"Lizzie do you have any title spells around, my young outlaw friends here, would like to lose their current ones."

"Yes, but what would they like and what are their current titles exactly."

Turning to me she concentrated for a moment, studying me closely, I felt a strange sensation, like a tingling in my brain.

"Outlaw Leader, you are quite young to have a title like that, not sure what I have in stock to top it, give me a moment though and I will check out back. With that she turned and pushed through the bead curtain.

A short time later, she came back through holding a thick wedge of parchment sheets.

"Here we go, let's see, Farmer, Shopkeeper, they all tend to be generic as specific titles would highlight your lack of knowledge or skills. It's only the two of you?"

"Sorry, no. There are twelve of us In total, although I am the only one who has Leader as well. I am guessing that six would be happy with farmer or shopkeeper, I would have to check with each of the others individually though. They are waiting outside if you don't mind meeting them?"

"Yes, that will be fine, just checking to see if I have that many. Ah here we go, Head Teacher or Head Librarian, either should do for you."

She continued to look through the sheets, as she headed for the door, stopping to let someone open it, she stepped out to meet my group of outlaws.

"Groff would kill me if I selected Head Librarian, so Head Teacher it is.

"Groff do you want the Title, Head Librarian?" I called out quickly.

Lizzie turned to Eldred, but was surprised when Groff, a Dwarf in what looked like mage robes, holding a long quarter staff replied "Yes please, where?"

Lizzie handed Groff and me a piece of parchment each.

"Don't read or damage it yet, that goes for all of you. Who wants generic farmer?" six hands went up, "Sorry, I only have five but I have four shopkeepers as well."

Sarah and Annette both asked for shopkeeper and were handed a sheet of parchment each before Lizzie moved onto the four wannabe farmers.

That left four, Eldred, Carnelia, Catherine and Kyle.

"Do you have anything like Guard" asked Eldred.

"Yes, here we go, Guard, I have two of those. Eldred and Catherine both put their hands forward to accept a sheet.

"Hmm, what's left, Clerk, ah soldier, would you like that" she said looking at Kyle.

Kyle looked like he was going to say yes but then changed his mind. "Not really me."

"Oh, what about this, Guide, very safe and generic, bit like an explorer."Kyle cheered up and said yes.

Turning to Carnelia, she was about to say something when Carnelia spoke first.

"Clerk please."

"Oh, that was easy, now for the rules."

"One. Don't read or damage the parchment until you are ready, if you can't read, come and see me and I will change the spell for you."

"Two. Choose somewhere safe and quiet, even simple spells like this can make you dizzy or pass out."

"Three. Check all your notifications and screens first, make sure you use up any free points, people have complained that these have disappeared after using similar spells."

"Four. Afterwards, check your screens and notifications again. Come see me tomorrow and I will check everything is good. Now on to activating it, at the bottom you can all see a dark red smudge, that's my blood, prick your finger or thumb and smear a drop of blood on top of it, count to three hundred and then read the spell slowly, at the end tear up the spell, making sure you tear through the blood spot. Everyone clear on all that?"

When everyone nodded or said yes she walked back into her shop, quickly followed by Groff and Brian and me.

Standing behind a small desk off to one side, Lizzie was all business like now.

"Ten ordinary title spells and two Leader title spells. That will be three gold please."

I looked at Groff worriedly, knowing they we didn't have that on us but we were saved by Brian.

"They will all pay separately if that is alright with you, Lizzie?"

"Definitely fine, as long as I get paid, I don't care how, leaders are fifty silver, the rest are twenty."

"Brian has been invaluable to us today. I have no idea how we are going to repay his generosity."

Ignoring my thoughts on Brian, I prepared to pay up for my spell. Together with Groff we removed our coin purses and handed over fifty silvers each, although Groff was doing a lot of moaning.

"Huh, so much for this being enough to last half a year."

Brian had gone out to inform the others and they slowly walked in one at a time to pay twenty silvers each.

Back outside we didn't really know what to do until Brian took charge and asked us if we had accommodation sorted out.

As we didn't, we quickly agreed that it would be our next priority. Once again we found ourselves beholden to Brian. He led us to a large Inn near the West Gate, called the Horse and Groom. Along the way he explained that this was the busiest route in and out of town.

Being such a large and diverse group, we continued to get curious stares as we walked along but they no longer phased us. The Inn had a large sign out front with a picture of a young lad leading a horse. It was a large building with an arched entrance for horses, leading to stables around the back, steps led up to the main door.

Once we were all inside there was a hurried discussion about the number of rooms we would need. Eventually we settled on five to seven depending on the number of rooms available. They all pushed me towards the bar so I turned and glared at them but accepted that once again, I was the spokesman of the group. Getting the attention of the barman I asked about rooms.

"Hi, we need rooms for the night, so do you have enough spare for our group?"

The man looked over in surprise at the size of our group.

"Thirteen might be a struggle, depends on how many of you are prepared to share a bed or a room."

"It's twelve actually, Brian is not staying. Umm, let's see, we have two couples, three women who won't mind sharing a room and seven men who will need several rooms unless you have a barracks hidden away somewhere."

Smiling at my joke, he reached under the counter and brought out a large leather bound ledger, Opening it the barman started turning pages, running his finger down the entries.

"Let me see, yes I can do two adjoining double rooms on the second floor, five coppers a night for each. Yes and three rooms on the third floor each having four beds at eight coppers a night for each room. Is that acceptable?"

I turned round and got lots of nods and so accepted the rooms on behalf of all of us.

"How many nights do you intend to stay?"

That question caught me by surprise, we hadn't discussed length of stay, so I took a wild guess to start.

"We are not actually sure, say at least four to start with, but we will let you know for sure by the end of tomorrow."

The barman started writing in his ledger before looking up at me again. "That will be thirty four coppers please. Meals are two coppers each, drinks are one."

I handed over the money, wincing at the sight of my now almost empty coin purse.

"Groff was right, the bank clerk was well out in his estimate of how long our money would last."

"If you wait a moment I will get you the keys."

The barman returned shortly, carrying five keys each of which had a large wooden tag."

Right, these two are for the two double rooms on the second floor and these are for the three rooms on the third floor. There are shared wash-rooms on each floor, please enjoy your stay." With that he handed the two sets of keys to me and went back to serving other customers.

Having returned to the group, I explained how many rooms they had and the cost. They all paid up to me quickly, thanking me at the same time. The two couples immediately left to go to their rooms and the rest of us looked tired and worn out as well.

I wanted to retire to my room but I was also hungry.

"For now I am just dumping my rucksack upstairs, then I am coming down for a meal. Anyone care to join me?"

Eldred, Groff and Caroline said yes. Brian said he had things to do and thanked us for an entertaining day, promising to catch up with us later the next day.

GAINING A TITLE

Entering our room, I dumped my bag onto one of the four beds. Catherine and Carnelia quickly following suit.

"It will feel odd sharing a room with two other women. I guess it can't be any worse than camping out. At least we get along well with each other, even if Carnelia is a bit quiet.”

"You two ready now. I am seriously hungry."

"Yes, hold your horses. You can go on ahead if you like, snag us a table." Catherine answered my question, so taking my leave I headed downstairs.

Snagging a table was easy, it was mid afternoon, the noon rush was over and the evening rush hadn't started yet.

I had hardly sat down when Catherine and Carnelia joined me. We sat at the table discussing the choices available to us. In the end we all chose stew, cheap and filling.

Groff, Eldred and Kyle joined us shortly and once we all had drinks, the conversations got louder.

The volume reduced once our meals were delivered. Conversation having to be balanced with actually eating.

"I was right, this does have the makings of a good group. Taking a couple of jobs shouldn't be a problem. It's not that we need the money any time soon, it's the experience more than anything, together with the name we make for ourselves."

Afterwards we swapped stories and anecdotes from our past but none of us mentioned how we had come to be travelling as an outlaw.

At last we had all had enough to eat and drink and decided to retire to our rooms early. We all had title spells to look forward to. Trooping upstairs we all said good night as we reached our separate rooms.

"I really hope the others remember the spell and associated rules. Not rushing is the important bit.

Having washed and changed, I sat on my bed and concentrated on the notifications I had received recently. Quickly looking over at my room-mates to make sure they wouldn't disturb me.

Catherine and Carnelia were both sat on their beds with that far away gaze which indicated they were studying their own stats.

My notifications were welcome and also obvious, given that I had been acting as leader and spokesperson all day.

[Gained 1 Status point, Perception

Gained 1 Skill point, Leadership]

“Now I have to go through my status and skill screens.”

[Allycyon of Clan Beech

Race - Elf

Title - Outlaw Leader

Previous Titles - Beast Rider, Dancer

Female]

[Status

Age

18

Level

3 (36/70)

Health

20/20

Stamina

22/22

Mana

20/20

Strength

12

Agility

15

Dexterity

15

Intelligence

15

Perception

13

Charisma

12

Willpower

13

Luck

11

6 Status points to allocate]

[Skills

Dance

Beginner 4

Acrobatics

Beginner 2

Horsemanship

Beginner 3

Improvisation

Beginner 2

Swordsmanship

Beginner 2

Stealth

Beginner 2

Beast Rider

Beginner 5

Leadership

Beginner 3

5 skill points to allocate]

Then I had a problem. How to allocate my available points? I had to think of my future and what direction I wanted it to take.

"Hmm, well Dancing as a career is out, but Agility and Dexterity are very useful for an Adventurer. Then again Intelligence and Perception are clearly useful for Leadership. Charisma and Luck are also useful for both."

My thoughts kept going round in circles.

"Right, I think I will put two each into Charisma and Willpower and then one each into Luck and Perception."

After that I looked at my skills and had the same problem.

"I can't see any future use for dance or beast rider so they are out for a start, I think that for the moment leadership and improvisation are going to be my strong points, so I can put two into improvisation and one each into leadership, swordsmanship and acrobatics. That should give me a little boost."

Having allocated my points, I then took a quick glance at my stats again.

"Not bad for a beginner, to my eyes anyway they look quite good."

Now it was time to use the Title Spell. Picking up the Spell sheet, I followed Lizzie's instructions carefully.

Using my dagger, I pricked my thumb, smearing blood over the dark mark at the bottom of the sheet before counting to three hundred in my head.

When I reached three hundred, I carefully read out the spell to myself tearing the sheet into pieces at the end.

At first I was afraid something had gone wrong as nothing happened. That thought was followed quickly with a sudden sharp pain in my head and a dizzy spell which made me want to vomit. These all passed quickly enough, although they left me feeling weak and tired.

"I hope I don't have to do many of those. Not pleasant at all.”

Checking my notifications I was not surprised to see some of them and quickly moved on to check my status again.

[Gained new Title - Head Teacher

Debuff added Health -5

Debuff added Stamina -7

Debuff added Mana -15]

[Allycyon of Clan Beech

Race - Elf

Title - Head Teacher

Previous Titles - Outlaw Leader, Beast Rider, Dancer

Female]

[Status

Age

18

Level

3 (36/70)

Health

15/20

Stamina

15/22

Mana

5/20

Strength

12

Agility

15

Dexterity

15

Intelligence

15

Perception

14

Charisma

14

Willpower

15

Luck

12

]

[Skills

Dance

Beginner 4

Acrobatics

Beginner 3

Horsemanship

Beginner 3

Improvisation

Beginner 4

Swordsmanship

Beginner 3

Stealth

Beginner 2

Beast Rider

Beginner 5

Leadership

Beginner 4

]

Now that I was happy that the Spell had worked, I relaxed, crawling under the sheets and blowing out the candle next to my bed. I knew my health, stamina and mana would recover naturally, so there was no worry there.

ACQUIRING A JOB

In the morning both Groff and I had to visit the bank to withdraw another fifty silver as we had both paid this sum out to Lizzie. The others had decided they didn't need to top up having only paid out twenty.

"Damn, one gold gone from my account already and we haven't been here more than a day. How long will that money last at this rate?"

Afterwards we all visited Lizzie at the Spell shop. I walked in first with Eldred.

"Lizzie, hi, it's Allycyon and Eldred." I called out as Lizzie wasn't visible in the shop. She came through from the back at the call though.

"Hi, good to see you this early. I can see the titles worked, did either of you have any problems?"

"No, no issues. Slight headache but not enough to prevent me going to sleep. I will send the others in, two at a time. Thank you for these." I left the shop along with Eldred and then sent the next two in. Groff who disliked the strong smell of incense was last in the queue.

Once we were all checked and Lizzie had confirmed that all the spells had worked correctly, we collected as a group outside the shop.

"We need to have a look around the shops and markets to get an idea on prices and equipment. See what there is, what we need and what we would like." Jamie had a clear idea of how he and his fellow farmers were going to spend the rest of the day.

"What do you think you will need then, you could probably afford to buy anything within reason." I was curious to see what he and his friends had discussed.

"Well we will definitely need spades, hoes, rakes, all the usual farm implements. Seeds, all sorts to start with, fast, easy growing types, beans, peas, potatoes, sunflower, hemp and pumpkins. Healthy and varied, lots of hard work without a doubt. Would like to have, well that pretty much covers everything else found on a farm, plough, wagon, horses, etc.... What are you going to do?"

"We are off to the Guild Hall to look at quests, see if they have anything suitable and easy enough for us."

Leading what I now thought of as my group we made our way to the Guild Hall, saying hello to Brian and then the Hall manager as we entered. I went over to the Hall Manager while the others went to the jobs board.

"Hi, we received our payment for the spider parts we collected and need to pay in your cut."

"Good, we are always willing to accept payments," Leaning down he brought up a ledger, quill and ink bottle from under the bar.

"It was spider parts, wasn't it?"

"Yes."

"Right, how much did you get, and what is the Hall tax worth at ten percent?"

I again answered quickly. "One hundred gold, in total, so ten gold in tax."

The man visibly gasped and put down the quill while looking at me. "You can't really have made that much, can you?"

Smiling, I handed him the second leather coin purse, containing the ten gold. "Here you go, ten gold to cover our tax."

The manager, opened the purse with shaking fingers before tipping the coins out and counting them.

Staring at me curiously, he gave me a polite thank you. "Thank you for that, it must have been quite a haul you brought in."

"It was. It was also a very messy job getting it all." With that I said bye and turned to look for my friends.

They were all stood in front of the job board, so I walked over and joined them. The board was a single large piece of cork board, with a gold painted, title scroll at the top proclaiming "Quest Board".

There weren't too many choices but two caught my attention. I pointed these out to the others. "These two look quite easy and basic. What do you think?"

"Those were the only two that we thought might be suitable, yet we don't have the numbers for caravan guard duty." Eldred answered me, while looking round at the others.

"So ignoring our numbers for the moment, we can go and ask for more information about these two."

Saying that I picked up both sheets of parchment and walked back over to the bar, followed by the rest of my group.

Getting the attention of the manager I queried him about both quests, handing him the sheets as i did so.

"Hi, are both of these as simple and easy as they sound?"

Brian, having seen us pick up two sheets from the quest board, came over to take a look too.

The manager looked at them and then Brian before replying.

"Certainly the Caravan guard is as simple as they get, you travel with the caravan for a set fee, if it is peaceful you get several weeks paid travel, if not you have to defend the caravan to the best of your abilities. Your levels are alright for this job, at least round here but you could do with more numbers. Hiring a couple of mercenary squads would probably be your best bet. Brian can advise you about them."

He stared at the second sheet for a moment clearly undecided on what he could say.

"Hmm the second is more complex, since you are low level maybe treat it as a look see, don't do anything rash and report back if it turns out to be anything really dangerous. If it is something you can deal with safely then all well and good. Now on to the complexity, the landowner is known for being bad mannered and cantankerous. He owns a large run down estate about forty miles from here. It has a reputation for bad luck and contains a number of old ruins and standing stones, the background magic level around these seems to be very high and the Estate produces monsters on a regular basis. Unfortunately he got into a fierce argument with the last guild to attend and ended up refusing to pay, now none of the guilds will help him."

I was looking at my colleagues, none of them looked worried and a couple simply nodded.

"If that is it, then we will take both."

The manager produced another large ledger from behind the bar as well as a stamp and ink pad. He copied the details into the ledger and then stamped and signed both sheets before handing them back to me.

"You will have to meet the Caravan master first and agree fees and numbers, they usually insist on at least one mage though."

With that he put away the ledger, pad and stamp and turned to serve other customers.

"Do you mind if I join you?" Brian asked.

"No of course not, the table over there is free and big enough." I answered for my group and we all walked over and sat down, taking turns to look at the two sheets.

I was studying the sheet for Caravan duties. "This is for a four week round trip, including a two day stopover for unloading and loading. Fees to be arranged. It doesn't start for two weeks and leaves from just outside the North Gate, which would give us time to complete the difficult monster job first."

Eldred nodded at this.

"While guarding the caravan, we can practice sword fighting and archery. It will give us a chance to see how well we attack and defend as a group."

Brian was smiling and nodding along to our comments.

"Sounds good to me, you seem pretty sensible, the mercenaries have a guild hall near the guard barracks by the North gate. Easy enough to find, say I sent you and if possible ask for Lieutenant Treddian. He belongs to the Wild Boars Mercenary Guild, quite young but sensible, he should fit in well with your group. Hmm, mages, don't really know any outside the guilds, Lizzie might know some, if not she should know who to ask."

With that he got up, said goodbye and went over to join his colleagues.

I looked pleased as punch at this. "Well then, that takes care of the rest of the day, trip to Lizzie's again and a trip to the caravan master. Is there anything we urgently need for either quest?"

Everyone looked at everyone else, wondering who would start first, in the end it was Catherine.

"I need a new bow and some additional arrows. A decent sword and shield wouldn't go amiss either."

There were nods from the others at this.

Sighing, I replied to their clamour to go weapon shopping. "I guess that takes care of tomorrow then, arms and armour, do you think we will get discounts for buying as a group?"

The rest smiled and giggled at this.

Getting up we left the Guild Hall and made our way back to Lizzie's Spell shop. As usual the shop smelt strongly of incense. Lizzie came out of the back room and seemed surprised to see us all again so soon.

"Hi, good to see you all again, nothing is wrong I hope."

"No, not at all, Brian mentioned you might be able to help us again." This time I sounded shy and quiet, not at all as business like as normal.

"Asking for favours is definitely harder than simply ordering people around."

"We need a favour actually, we have accepted a quest to guard a caravan but apparently they usually request a mage. None of us are mages and Brian doesn't know of any outside the guilds, so he pointed us in your direction. Can you help? The caravan doesn't leave for two weeks, and we will be away on a quest for some of that."

"A mage, yes I know a few outside the guilds, they won't be high level though."

"We're not expecting to fight off anything outrageous, so low level is fine. We're hoping to get a couple of Mercenary squads to help us out with numbers, which is where we are off to next."

"Have you got the details of the caravan on you. I can start asking around straight away then."

I handed over the quest sheet and Lizzie copied down the details.

"Definitely have someone either just before or who will meet you at the caravan."

"Thanks, no doubt we will be back soon, can't seem to keep away from here." With a short laugh, I waved goodbye and quickly and left the shop.

Outside, we all took deep breaths of clear, fresh air.

"Way too much incense by far." Wheezed Groff.

"Right, North Gate then, which should be that way." I pointed north and took off, not waiting for a reaction from my group.

Heading north or at least as northerly as the sometimes winding roads would allow. The buildings we passed, started getting larger and fancier with ornate gardens, even walls and gates in some places.

"Well we certainly know where all the wealthy people live." Catherine like the rest of us was staring around at the imposing buildings we were passing.

We finally reached the town wall and found another simple wooden guard house placed strategically outside the gate with two guards standing in front of it.

I went up to them to ask about the mercenaries and the caravan master.

"Hi, we are looking for a caravan master and the mercenaries guild."

"Umm, well the guild is back towards town first left, Caravan masters usually hold Court in the old Inn, which is a large red building, first right."

Saying thank you, we turned around before starting to argue over whether we should visit the mercenaries or caravan master first. In the end Eldred won the argument by pointing out that they could stay in the Inn and Eat and drink if they visited the Mercenaries first. So taking off and turning left, we looked out for the Mercenaries guild.

We were surprised to find that this was housed in a plain stone building, looking more like a simple house than a guild or office. A plain Brass plaque proclaimed this to be the Mercenaries Guild Headquarters.

Knocking on the door first, I opened it to find ourselves looking into a narrow hallway with doors on the left and right. The left door opened and a middle-aged man came out.

"Hi, how may I help you?"

He looked and sounded military and I was surprised by the fact that he wasn't wearing a Guild uniform.

"Hi, we are here to see about hiring some men to help guard a caravan that leaves in two weeks. Brian from the Old Grizzlies Adventurers Guild recommended we come here and also suggested we ask for Lieutenant Treddian."

"Take it you are a new Guild then, don't have the numbers but need the income. Yes we should be able to help out, the Lieutenant is out training but should be back within a few days. Come through into the office and we can discuss terms."

He led us into a small office where we sat down around a small table. "Back to business. We were about to discuss terms weren't we?"

The sudden intense attention had me blushing and stuttering. "Yes, but I don't know anything about normal terms, the caravan is paying a silver a week for each guard we supply up to a maximum of thirty for a total of four weeks. Any extra though would have to come out of our pay."

"We generally charge one silver a week for each person, two for officers. Let me see then, two squads would be twelve men, plus the Lieutenant, so that comes to a total of fifty six silver. Costs and wear and tear on equipment would be another five Silver, bringing that up to sixty one. Normally we would take fifty percent up front, with the rest due a week after completion."

We held a short conversation amongst ourselves coming to an agreement that this was a fair price for the additional men.

"Thank you, yes we can accept that, when do you need payment by?"

"We ask for the payment to be paid no later than the day before the contract starts."

"Good, we can easily pay you the money by then."

"Another trip to the bank to withdraw money. Being an independent adult seems to involve spending lots of money."

"Before you go though, one other rather important thing. Lieutenant Treddian will be in charge of the men, he will obviously report to you and accept any reasonable orders he receives relating to guarding the caravan. However, the safety of his men is also a high priority and you must expect him to at least question any orders he feels will risk putting his men in unnecessary danger."

This took me somewhat by surprise, but considering it even quickly, I realised it was only reasonable so nodded and shook his hand when he offered it across the desk.

Leaving the Mercenary Guild we headed back towards the North Gate, and then carried on to the Inn. This was a large ramshackle building with various add-ons to enlarge it, all in different styles.

Entering the Inn, we made our way to the main bar, where I cornered the first barman I came across.

"Do you know whether there are any caravan masters in here at the moment?" Nodding he directed us through a door in to the main eating/seating area. Inside we saw that there were several groups sat at tables so I again went up to the bar rather than shout or ask the groups individually.

"Do you know who is the Master for the Caravan going to Roccnia." The barman didn't reply, simply pointing to where a red haired, short, stout man was sat at a table with a large group of men and women.

Going up to the table I braced myself before getting to the introductions.

"Hi, I am Allycyon and these are my friends, we have just picked up the guard quest for the Caravan to Roccnia, Gerrusia." The man looked at us, quietly studying each member of my group while the others at the table did the same.

"You seem awfully young to be a Guild Leader and an Elf to boot, not only that but you have a Dwarf with you. Very unusual. How about numbers and a mage?"

"At the moment this is our group."

Several around the table started laughing at this but I carried on.

"Realising we are short of numbers and probably tactical knowledge, we have agreed to hire two mercenary squads totalling twelve men, together with a commanding officer. That should give us the requisite numbers and tactical knowledge although as leader I will remain in overall charge. We have also hired a mage."

"The last is a bit of an exaggeration as I have only just asked Lizzie to start looking for one."

"Well you have obviously done your homework, I will give you that. Normal pay is one silver per week, per person up to a maximum of thirty. Basic field rations are included, we usually have a single cook producing three simple meals a day. Accommodation and sleeping materials are your own responsibility. Sleep rough or agree with one of the wagon owners to sleep on or under their wagon, the choice is entirely yours. If you bring your own wagon you will be responsible for maintaining it and for the health and welfare of the horses pulling it. That okay with you?"

I simply nodded, slightly stunned by the brusque manner and volume of information.

"We leave at dawn in two weeks, on the third day, no delay. If you are late, you will have to run to catch up and will get docked a day's pay each regardless of reason. If that is all we will see you then."

CELEBRATING

With the rest of the group, I moved off, finding an empty table as far away from the Caravan group as possible.

After ordering food and drinks we started discussing the coming weeks and in particular the monster hunt due to start in two days time.

"It's a forty mile hike, with equipment and supplies that is realistically two days each way, another two days there gives us eight days spare just in case."

"We are still going shopping tomorrow aren't we?" Catherine sounded unhappy at the thought of missing out on buying weapons.

"I hope so." replied Carnelia. "I am looking forward to getting some chain-mail even though I know I would be useless in a fight. Wearing armour will make me feel less of a burden and less of an easy target." The rest of us were slightly stunned at this, from the usually quiet and shy Carnelia.

"Yes, I am looking forward to shopping for armour and weapons as much as you." Moving quickly, I reassured the others that tomorrow was earmarked for shopping.

Having finished our meal and drinks, we paid the bill, tipped the waitress and made our way back to the Horse and Groom Inn where they were staying.

Groff and Eldred, with Kyle in tow decided to have another drink, getting curious stares from some of the patrons.

I retired to our room along with Catherine and Carnelia.

Once we had settled down, we discussed what would be needed for a four week trip guarding a caravan.

"Decent scarves definitely, wind and dust are a real pain, walking near wagons or horses." Catherine started the list off.

"Nuts and dried fruit, dried meat. That should supplement the meals they provide and keep us all healthier. Arms and armour we are getting tomorrow. They did mention a wagon and horses, maybe we could look at hiring one. We will also have whatever supplies the mercenaries are bringing, there is no way we will be able to carry all that at the same time as carrying out guard duties."

Having retrieved paper and pencil from my bag, I was now busy writing down all these comments.

Catherine now looked thoughtful and I thought she had come up with something important for our trip.

"Hmm, wonder what they are doing downstairs, no doubt drinking, telling dirty jokes and laughing too loudly, very manly things." Which in actual fact was a very accurate description of the night, especially after Jamie and Justin joined them.

Now it was my turn at looking thoughtful, staring back at Catherine.

"Do you know any dirty jokes, Jamie mentioned you were a guard, that seems likely to have been a source of lots of jokes like that."

Catherine looked like she was going to get really angry, then she just burst out laughing.

"Forgot how young you are, yes I know some jokes, most are men's jokes, some are by women for women but most require the teller and listener to be at least merry. Wait here and I will go and get some wine and glasses."

Getting up quickly, she left the room. Leaving us to carry on suggesting things for the trip, at least until Catherine returned with three glasses and two bottles of wine.

Smiling broadly she explained that she had indeed seen the men. "They were laughing, telling each other jokes and stories while drinking. Told you so, they have also been joined by Jamie and Justin."

With that she opened the first bottle and poured each of us a glass before starting on her first joke.

It was late when we finally got to bed and all three of us were a bit tipsy.

Coming down for breakfast the next morning, only Groff and Catherine looked ok, the rest were clearly all suffering from hangovers.

"Fruit juice, water and bread for everyone." Catherine called out as she went about ordering breakfast for everyone.

Very little was said during breakfast but Catherine kept looking at everyone and laughing.

Afterwards and feeling slightly fresher, we all left the Inn on our mission to get new arms and armour. The first stop was Bob's Trading Post, more for information than any belief he would be able to supply us with their needs.

Walking in, we found Bob moving stock around.

"Bob, hi. We're looking for weapons and armour and wondered what you had or if you knew someone good and reliable." I called out a quick hello followed by a long question.

"Hmm, weapons and armour are in the next room. Don't have much and very few matched sets, most of it is trade goods. You might find the odd interesting item but your best bet is Nick's Emporium, two streets over. He concentrates on weapons and armour, doesn't actually make any but he only supplies good quality, new equipment, might be dearer than market goods or mine but they will be new and very well made."

Having walked in we decided to have a look at his stock anyway, as we were here. Going into the next room we found a wide display of knives, swords and armour.

I actually decided to buy a long dagger I found which took my eye, even though there was no matching sword. Catherine bought a set of throwing knives, saying it would give her something new to practice with for the four weeks of the caravan quest.

Paying for these they left the store and went looking for Nick's Emporium.

The size of the shop took us by surprise. It was a large, sprawling two storey, stone and wood building. Trooping in, we entered a large room, which smelt heavily of oil and leather.

Display cabinets and cases were everywhere and any wall space available was covered in displays of swords, bows and crossbows. Groff and Eldred looked impressed, whistling as they turned round to take in all the displays.

Catherine looked on in awe as well, which left Catherine and me looking bored alongside Kyle.

"Come on then. What do we all need?

There, were a few shouted answers such as "Everything" and "l won't know until I see it".

I sighed. "That isn't helpful, come on be realistic, I need a shield and chain-mail and I guess that goes for all of us." There were sheepish nods at this.

Seeing a shopkeeper behind one of the counters we walked up to him.

"Hi, we would like six shields and six sets of chain-mail please."

"Right, well shields are in the room on the left, chain-mail and other armour is upstairs. Which would you like to see first?"

Eldred was the first to answer. "Shields, they should be the easiest of the two."

"Follow me then please." Walking off towards the room on the left, he led our group into the room. The walls of this room were covered in shields of all shapes and sizes and racks of shields littered the floor.

The store assistant looked at us. "Where would you like to start? Would you want the same design each or do you want something individual?"

We all seemed lost for words, amazed at the number of different shapes, sizes and styles. Eldred coming to our rescue again.

"We are adventurers and will be guarding a caravan on a four week trip. So I think lightweight, round shields will do for now and given the difference in stature and strength, I think individual is also the way to go."

The man nodded and beckoned us over to two large racks that held an assortment of round shields. After sorting through them and checking for weight and size we all eventually had one that felt right.

With help from the assistant, we managed to adjust the arm strap, so that all six of us could try them for fit. It took awhile but eventually we had all selected a shield that we were happy with and had them stacked by the Counter. Then it was upstairs to look at armour.

So, we will need, six sets of Greaves, six of Vambraces, six chain-mail Hauberks and six helms with coifs, all individual of course." Eldred seemed to be enjoying himself.

The assistant simply said 'Okay'.

On the other hand we were just stood there staring at him.

"Who are you and what did you do with Eldred?" Laughing, I called out to him,

"You forget, I was a guard, we did get training occasionally." But he was smiling as well.

The assistant then went through the various types of chain-mail available.

Groff selected Scale-mail, this was heavier than normal mail but looked impressive, small shield shaped, metal pieces overlapping like scales.

Eldred, had gone for Dragon Scale-mail, not so heavy as the Scale-mail but heavier and denser than standard chain-mail, it consisted of overlapping rings, again designed to look like scales. The rest of us had selected plain chain-mail. For helms, we all went for simple open face helms with detachable chain-mail coifs.

For Vambraces and Greaves it was decided that leather with thin metal strips would be fine.

We then hit a snag. It was a simple comment from the shop assistant. "I will have to measure everyone, is that alright with you?"

Looking more concerned than the men, I took a look at Catherine and Carnelia and answered for the three of us. "How and where?

"Here, with a tape, head, arms, legs, waist and umm, chest, for women you need two measurements, just under your breasts and then around your breasts" At this he had started to blush profusely.

Catherine looked angry but then quickly calmed down.

"Afraid he is correct, without getting measured we will only get basic gear which will rub and chaff. That is not something you want on a four week expedition. If you like, I can measure you two and Allycyon, you can then measure me."

Turning to the Assistant she now addressed him.

"If you do the men first, I will watch so that I know where to measure. You okay with writing the numbers down as we call them out?"

We heard a mumbled ‘Yes’ in reply.

We then watched as he measured each of the three men, calves, forearms, then neck, shoulders, arms, waist and chest.

Catherine then repeated the measurements on myself and Carnelia, making both of us blush, when measuring our chests. I then repeated the measurements for Catherine.

The assistant said 'Thank you' adding that they should be ready for collection in four days.

Going back downstairs we headed for the weapons section.

Groff paused in front of a selection of different quarterstaffs, testing each for height, weight and balance. In the end he selected a steel bound quarterstaff which while still being practical, looked very impressive.

Carnelia had been wandering around with a frown on her face before settling down to try various different sword and dagger combinations. Like Groff she finally decided she had found something she liked, a short sword and matching dagger. Practical and for Carnelia at five feet, something that wouldn't drag on the floor or become too heavy, too quickly.

Eldred and Catherine had both been quick and easy, as both selected recurve bows and several packs of arrows.

At first, I couldn't find anything I liked as I wandered around the displays. I had a good sword and matching dagger, together with the second dagger from Bob's.

Then I stumbled across a set of throwing axes, these were smaller than hand axes and were made of solid metal like some of the battle axes, Dwarves used. Picking them up I turned them around in my hands, marvelling at the light weight and balance. Smiling, I immediately knew that I had to buy them.

Kyle was even quicker than Catherine and Eldred. He had decided on a traditional double headed axe, on the grounds he lacked coordination and simply swinging an axe around was easy. When we saw him with his purchase we couldn't help but laugh, it didn't stop him buying it though.

Following the assistant back to the counter we picked up our shields and gave him one of the bank detail slips, provided by the Bank. Informing him that the Bank would refund him through it. Walking back to the Inn we formed a tight group of chatting, laughing friends, carrying shields and a variety of weapons. This resulted in us getting some curious and occasionally frightened looks from people who saw us, but we were oblivious to everything.

Once we were settled back at the Inn, we discussed the hike to the Estate due to start the next morning.

"Right, no drinking tonight." I drew a peel of laughter at this comment.

"We promise we will be good, we have weapons and shields for the hike, plenty of supplies and have everything sorted. Until we get there, meet this Peter character and see the problem there is not a lot else we can plan for. So I suggest a big meal, maybe one drink and an early night." Carnelia answered my flippant comment.

"She really is starting to come out of her shell. That has to be good for her and the group."

The rest of us agreed to this quickly, as she had made some good points. As one, we selected a clean table and ordered food and drinks and prepared for an early night.

During the evening the subject of housing was bought up. The main conclusions were that staying at the Inn permanently was too wasteful and didn't leave us with any privacy.

Based off that, we also agreed that as soon as we returned from the Caravan guard quest, we would start looking for a suitable building for all of us to live in. Having decided that, even if we weren't officially a guild we could still behave like one and live together in a shared house.

MEETING PETER

The following morning, bright and early, I was up and ready along with all my friends. Each of us admiring the other's new shields and weapons. In particular, Kyle looked impressive with the shield and axe strapped to his rucksack.

We had to leave via the East Gate to get to Peter's Estate, so that meant walking right across town. By the time we reached the East Gate, I had become used to the stares we were receiving from everyone we passed. No one said anything to us, so we were left guessing as to what caused their surprise. Perhaps it was the armour and weapons, perhaps the diversity of our group or maybe even a bit of both.

Leaving through the gate we soon left the town behind us. Now we were passing through an area of open farmland, Here, there were small fields bounded by hedgerows, interspersed here and there with small spinneys and copses. Cottages and farms could be seen now and then and occasionally larger manorial buildings.

We passed by or through several hamlets or small villages during the day and in the evening rented rooms at an inn we came to. Tired out, we ordered food and drink before crashing out on our beds.

The next day was pretty much the same. We walked along the road, bordered by fields and hedgerows.

Now the spinneys were replaced by copses and small areas of woodland. The occasional village strung along the road rather than encircling it, most not even bothering with walls.

Over both days conversation was sparse. Even when stopping for a break, we were out of breath or simply too tired to make small talk.

That evening we eventually reached the turn off that led into the Estate, a ruined gatehouse could be seen off to one side. Now it was getting dark, as we made our way down the lane, towering hedgerows penning us in on each side.

"This isn't creepy at all." Catherine whispered, breaking the silence with an observation that did little to ease our worries.

By this point we were all walking with one hand on our sword hilts. Even Kyle elected to grab his axe from where it was secured to his backpack. Coming around one sweeping curve, the hedgerows ended and in front of us was an old, imposing Mansion. The building was impressive, three stories high and constructed of dressed stone. Decorative crenellations lined the roof, while large gargoyles could be seen at the corners.

"Wow, that is impressive, run down, yes, but still impressive." Groff admired the building.

Walking up to the main porticoed doorway, we knocked loudly on the door while still looking around and admiring the architecture.

Eventually we heard footsteps and one of the double doors opened, revealing a tall, old, gaunt man. Someone who, with pointed ears would have easily passed as an Elf.

"Yes. What do you want?" Scowling at us, he asked the question in a quiet voice.

Feeling slightly silly, I launched into a planned speech.

"Hi, I'm Allycyon, we're from the Adventurers Guildhall. Here to see a Peter about a monster in the basement."

The man cheered up at this and opened the door fully.

"Why didn't you say so straight away. I am Peter by the way, pleased to meet you all."

If he had noticed I was an Elf, he didn't show it in any way.

Entering the building we found ourselves in a large anteroom. Large staircases led to the upper floors and doors were set in all three walls. Lighting several lamps he turned round and started to study each of us in turn.

"You all look really young. Are you sure you are up to this? What guild are you from?" His quick fire questions held a tone that implied he wouldn't like the answers.

Getting angry with the man, I realised why the Guilds had trouble with him, even knowing what he was like.

"Yes, we are relatively young for a group, but we are not without experience and we are not from a guild. We are all outcasts of one sort or another, mostly for not being prepared to follow orders we didn't agree with. None of us fancy joining a Guild without the others and no Guild would take us as a group and leave us as a group."

I hadn't planned the little speech and blushed brightly having finished, while ignoring the flash of notifications I got. Everyone was looking at me now including Peter.

Then he laughed, which made me blush more, this time with anger which only made Peter laugh more.

"Sorry, but you look so childish when you are angry, I could just see you crossing your arms and stamping your foot."

This did little to mollify my anger but bought smiles and giggles from the others. Seeing this he continued.

"My apologies, and welcome to my home, I haven't seen anyone with that much fire and independence in awhile. Compared to the usual Guild fare they send out here, you are a breath of fresh air."

I continued to have notifications flash up but didn't have the time to take notice of them, concentrating my attention on Peter.

"Come, come, we can go and sit in the lounge like civilised people and discuss the monster."

Looking at the others but only getting shrugs in reply, I dumped my bag and followed Peter. He led us through the door on the left and we found ourselves in a well lit hallway, lined with artwork. Opening the first door on the left, he gestured for us to enter. It was a large room laid out as a plush sitting room, soft chairs were laid out around a low table with another chair sat to the side of the fire place.

Going to a glass fronted cabinet, he returned with a tray of seven glasses and a large glass decanter, full of amber liquid.

"High quality Brandy, great for cold nights and telling tall stories."

Pouring a large dash into each glass he passed them round to our bemused group.

Once everyone had a glass in hand he raised his, said "Salute" and took a large swig before putting his glass down. Not wishing to upset the old man who now seemed more than amenable, we all followed suit, saying "Salute" and taking a large swig from our glass. I immediately had a major coughing fit as did Carnelia and Kyle, much to the amusement of the others.

"Never had distilled alcohol before then?" Peter actually looked concerned about all of us.

"No, never had alcohol before a few weeks ago, I just turned eighteen. Fuck that burns." I managed to answer eventually.

The others looked at me in shock, not used to me swearing or using peculiarly human phrases.

"What? It does. It does warm you up though." I continued to sip my Brandy, more gently now though.

Peter began to talk about the noises.

"It began just over a week ago after a major storm. I use the Basement as a food pantry, it's cool and dark. When I went to open the door I could hear scratching and banging noises coming from behind it while every now and then there was a loud groaning sound. Given the well founded reputation this estate has for creating monsters during storms, I thought it wise to leave the door closed and went into town to contact the Guilds. There is no other way into the Basement although there are small skylights along the outer wall, it was originally used as a wine cellar."

With that he collected the now empty glasses and placed them on the tray.

"I will clean these up in a moment, you though must be tired after walking here. I think the monster will wait an extra few hours. If you get your things, I will show you to rooms where you can sleep. Essentially I only use a few rooms in this wing but the bedrooms are all fitted out, although they may be a bit musty."

Getting up we followed him back to the anteroom and climbed the stairs on the left to enter the first floor.

"My room is the first on the left, you are welcome to use any of the other rooms. There is a bathroom at the end, no hot water though."

With that Peter turned around and went back downstairs, leaving us to our own devises.

Catherine looked up and down the hall. "Definitely not creepy." She said.

"Do we all sleep in one room or select a room each?" She continued.

"Happy on my own, I have loads of notifications and need to sit down and go through them all." I answered first.

"One each it is then, see you all in the morning."

Then striking a dramatic pose she continued. "Assuming we all make it through the night, that is."

"Catherine!" Laughing, we all yelled at her.

The room I entered was dark, lit only by the lamp I carried. Against the left wall was a large four poster bed, a huge double wardrobe was opposite it against the right wall, while a large chest of drawers was next to the door.

A comfy looking chair was placed near the window. Now sat in my room, I called up all my notifications.

[Leadership, +2

Perception +1

Charisma +1]

After that I had almost a dozen relating to my and my group's relationship to Peter and the Estate. Adding them up in my head I realised they were the same, five hundred points to each. The relationship which had started off as Neutral, was now friendly.

"All in all not bad for an eighteen year old just starting out in the Adventuring business. I can't be doing too much wrong if I keep getting notifications like that."

Happy that there was nothing negative, I changed out of my clothes and climbed into the huge four poster bed and was soon asleep.

In the morning after getting dressed, we met up at the top of the stairs and all of us then trooped downstairs where we eventually found Peter. He led us in to a huge Kitchen.

"Have to apologise for the size of this but it was designed to feed the entire Mansion. Also, I don't keep a lot here, most of my food supplies are in the basement."

"That's alright, we weren't expecting to get bedded and fed."

Peter went bright red, while Catherine and Kyle burst out laughing.

"What? What did I say?"

In between laughs Catherine managed to gasp out. "Bedded, another word for sex."

Now I went bright red. "You humans are strange, so many words with multiple different meanings."

MONSTER IN THE BASEMENT

After my embarrassment, we created an ad hoc breakfast, a mixture of the rations we had brought with us and food pilfered from the kitchen.

Having finished and tidied up as well, Peter showed us the door to the basement, this was actually in the corner of the Kitchen.

I gave Peter a quick, worried look. "We only intend to take a quick look at first. Do you have any armour we could borrow?"

Peter thought for a moment. "Yes, of course, come this way."

He led us into a different corridor and opened a room which we saw contained racks of weapons and armour, most of the armour consisted of chain-mail hauberks.

"So who wants to go down into the Basement? We only need two at first, just to take a look, nothing else." I was all business like now, keen to get the first peek over and done with.

Unsurprisingly Eldred and Catherine both volunteered immediately.

"Right, let's see what we can find here to protect yourself fully."

Eldred and Catherine spent some time in the room, selecting different pieces and trying them on.

Finally they appeared from the room wearing chain-mail, supported by greaves, vambraces and simple helms.

Essentially they were wearing identical outfits to those we had ordered earlier in the week.

We then had to retrace our steps back to the Kitchen. Ending up with Eldred and Catherine facing the Basement door each carrying a shield and lantern.

"You are only having a look see, try to get an idea of size and shape, those kind of things. Don't take any unnecessary risks." I warned them once again.

"Yes, ma'am!" replied Eldred with a laugh.

Peter unlocked the door and then with Groff standing next to him he opened it cautiously.

As soon as it was open wide enough, Eldred and Catherine slipped through, one at a time. Groff and Peter immediately shutting the door after they had passed through the gap.

Inside the Basement, Eldred and Catherine opened their lanterns and took a look around. They were at the top of a set of stairs and slowly descended them, keeping their shields held tightly against their chests.

Reaching the bottom they could see Peter's pantry on the right. It was a complete mess, flour, sugar and broken jars covered the floor, the smell was nauseating. On top of the smell of this rotting mess was the smell of urine and faeces.

"Judging from the smell there is definitely something living down here. It is not adverse to making a mess either." Eldred was trying to breath through his mouth to avoid the smell but it wasn't working.

Suddenly both of them heard the sound of an animal from further off in the darkness. Something was hissing and spitting, presumably at the intrusion.

"That's a cat" Catherine's voice held a note of panic. Cats came in all sorts of sizes.

"Just a cat?" Asked Eldred, not helping Catherine's unease at all.

Moving further along into the Basement, the noise got louder until all of a sudden a small dark shape flashed past them at high speed. A scratching and screeching sound came from behind them where the door was.

"Well, definitely not just a cat." Eldred commented, his voice not showing the humour of his previous comment.

Turning round they made their way back towards the door. Reaching the bottom of the stairs they were again met by a high speed, dark animal that whipped past them.

"Right, small, fast and cat like." Said Eldred.

"Mission accomplished, time to go back." Replied Catherine, sounding relieved.

Walking up the steps, Eldred knocked on the door which was quickly opened, although only just enough to let them through and once through, it was quickly shut and locked. Groff and Peter leaning against it in relief.

Stood in the Kitchen, we discussed what the pair of them had seen.

"Small, cat like and very fast. So how do you slow down a cat?" I was almost disappointed, our first monster turned out to be a lost cat.

"Hmm, usually you over feed it." Peter sounded as if he was reciting from a book.

"Wild cats will eat as much as they can and then sleep or rest for days."

"Do you have any food in here that a cat would like?" I wasn't exactly sure of this idea but hadn't had any dealings with cats myself.

"l have Sardines, which are small, smelly fish and some milk, that should do it, if it really is cat like."

Going over to a cupboard Peter removed a jar and bottle. Then he moved to a second cupboard and retrieved several saucers. Placing them on a table, he poured milk into one saucer and emptied sardines onto the other.

"You weren't kidding when you said smelly fish." I was now holding my nose and several of the others had edged away.

"Maybe they are an acquired taste, but they are healthy." Peter answered my comment with a bright smile.

All business like again, I picked up the saucers and handed one each to Eldred and Catherine. "You obviously don't need the shields now, you can take the saucers and place them at the bottom of the stairs."

Complying with their orders, the two of them took the proffered saucers and approached the door once more. Peter and Groff opened the door for them and they slipped through the gap for a second time.

Once inside, they again descended the stairs and placed the saucers on the floor before backing up a few steps.

Although they couldn't smell it, the cat like thing obviously could. Within moments it had approached the saucers, cautiously sniffing both before wolfing down all the fish and drinking all the milk.

Having done that it sat still and groomed itself, occasionally looking up at the two people in armour. Catherine slowly backed up the stairs and knocked gently on the door and when it opened, she spoke in a whisper.

"The weirdest cat I have ever seen. It is quiet now, you can come down. I led the way down the stairs. the others following at my heels. Stopping next to Eldred, I starred at the cat intently, and as Catherine had said it was weird.

It was quite small and skinny, with dark grey fur, now matted in places. Like a lot of cats it had the thin black markings of a tabby. In addition this particular cat seemed to flicker and blur around the edges. The cat continued its grooming seemingly unconcerned by all the people looking at it.

Staring at it intently, I received a simple notification, which I repeated out loud for my colleagues.

“Chaos Cat, Female, Young”

"What's a Chaos Cat?" Asked Peter, echoing my thoughts.

"No idea, obviously a tame monster though." I replied before carrying on.

"Right, how do we transport a cat?"

It was then that we all heard loud scratching and moaning coming from the back of the Basement.

Peter didn't look very happy.

"That's what I heard, that is why I contacted the Guild."

The cat had turned sideways on to the back of the Basement and had fluffed out her fur, flattened her ears and was growling quietly. The effect was startling, with the flickering and blurring it was difficult to look at her and she seemed to be covered in black sparks.

"Wow, now that is impressive." Exclaimed Groff.

Eldred and Catherine had started to slowly make their way along the Basement, lanterns held high, the rest of us followed on behind.

The lanterns lit up the Basement, each individual's movement creating wild shadows that danced along the walls. None of which helped calm our nerves.

The walkway was narrow, wine racks running the length of the basement on both sides. Stone arches supported the ceiling and between each a plain stone wall.

"Wish I had my shield now." Whispered Catherine.

When we reached the end of the Basement we stopped, looking around with puzzled expressions.

In the light of the lanterns we could see how the cat had gained entrance. Broken glass littering the floor, where one of the skylights Peter had mentioned had shattered. There were two, side by side at the top of the end wall. Large enough to let in a small cat but nothing larger.

"Please, not an invisible monster." Pleaded Groff as he peered around fearfully.

At that the scratching and moaning started again, this time from our right and much louder.

"It's trying to break in." Carnelia's voice, held a mix of fear and puzzlement.

Peter moved forward and then called for help. "Come here. Help me move this wine rack so that we can see how sound the wall looks."

Groff and Eldred moved forward and together with Peter they shifted the rack to the side. Then we all held our lanterns up and looked at the stone work. The noise kept up as if whatever it was, could hear or sense us.

In the light from multiple lanterns, Peter looked impressed.

"It must be at least as tall as me, listen, you can hear the scratches going down the wall." He indicated with his hands as he followed the noise.

"Not helping!" My reply was louder and more anxious than I intended.

"Guys, we have a bigger problem, it is not trying to break in, it is trying to break out!"

We all turned to look at Carnelia who was studying the wall intently.

"What do you mean" was asked by several as we moved over to where she was pointing at the wall.

"You can see here, look this part of the wall is different. It appears less worn and is made with slightly different coloured stone."

With more light as everyone held up their lanterns, the seam became easier to see.

As one we all turned to look at Peter.

"Don't look at me, it has always been a wine cellar as far as I can remember, with just the pantry at the beginning. Always assumed they ran out of money when they were building the house."

"You mean every archway should have a room, both sides." By the tone of my voice it was clear that I was worried.

"What happens if something breaks out of an archway behind us?"

Now everyone was looking around.

Peter looked amazed, turning to peer down the Basement.

"Wow, I guess so, Basements, usually follow the layout of the building above."

"So, the Basement could be even bigger than this." Groff was looking around and sounded even more worried than I was.

"Yes." Was the simple answer from Peter.

"Can we check some of the other arches first, just to check that they do have walled up alcoves, and then two questions, sorry three questions. What is walled up in that alcove? Who did it and why?" I wanted to get out of the basement as quickly as possible. The Guild Hall Manager wouldn't thank us for leaving without all the information we could get though.

We all looked at Peter who stood quietly for a moment as we all waited for an answer.

"I have no idea about the first, I am guessing it has been in there over a hundred years."

There were gasps from all of us at this.

"As I said it has always been a wine cellar for as long as I can remember, there are no stories about walled in vaults. I can hazard a guess as to who, though not to the why. My great grandfather's older brother was apparently a mage of some renown. He lost a duel to the death, after that the estate passed to his younger brother as he had no children."

"You don't have any of his things, books or journals?"

"No, in a duel to the death, the winner gets to take any small personal affects of the loser that they take a liking to. Anything else must have been destroyed by the family. Losing like that, so publicly as well, it would have been a major black mark and he was essentially removed from the family history. I found his portrait in a storeroom and some letters of condolence on his death, nothing else though."

"Any idea on what is behind the wall and how many others there are?" Asked Carnelia.

"No but you can go count the rooms on the ground floor, there should be an alcove under each one, more in some cases such as the ballroom."

Walking slowly back down the Basement to the door we inspected each archway as closely as we could without moving the racks. In each case the wall seemed newer than the arch.

"I think we should go back upstairs to the Kitchen and regroup" I seemed to be recovering from the shock and wanted everyone out of the Basement quickly.

The others nodded at my comment and followed by the Chaos Cat, we walked up the stairs and locked the door behind us.

Groff was the first to speak as we spread out in the Kitchen.

"What now?"

"First, we need a box for the Chaos Cat, then supplies for the two day hike back to town. We can leave first thing in the morning." I wasn't looking forward to hiking along carrying a cat.

Before I could say any more, Peter interrupted me. "I have a horse and carriage out back, it will only seat four at the most but it means we can make the journey in one day."

I looked around at my friends.

"Right then, if I take Carnelia and Groff with me, we can go with Peter and raise a quest with the Guild Hall. Knocking those walls down safely will require a large, high level team. The rest of you, I am afraid, will have to hike back. Sorry."

Peter was opening and closing cupboards.

"There should be some large picnic baskets around here, ahh, here we go."

He dragged out a large wicker basket and struggling with it's weight, placed it on the worktop.

I looked on amazed. "Don't be ridiculous, I am not going to be able to carry that, you could only just lift it yourself."

"Don't worry, we use them as storage space, it is full of plates and cups, here come and help me empty it."

Followed by the cat, I went over and helped Peter empty the basket and then we made it more comfortable by placing towels in the bottom.

"Now that is done, we just need whatever supplies Peter will let us have."

"Take whatever you can carry, I will be staying in town until the Guild Hall Manager assures me the Basement has been cleared and all the alcoves have been opened. I wonder what it is? It is well over a hundred years old. How has it survived?"

Looking at him, I replied honestly. "I don't know and at this moment I really don't care. It is not my problem any more. If it has survived down there for over a hundred years then I am guessing it is a really high level monster, way out of our league."

"Yes, I guess you are right, no point worrying about it now."

Again I found him studying me but said nothing.

Carnelia came up to the two of us. "Do you have a library here?"

"Yes, quite a large one, like most estates. My ancestors rarely threw anything away. It is not organised in any way though." Groff gave out an audible groan at this, making the rest of us laugh.

Peter looked confused at this. "What did I say?"

"Don't worry, Groff used to be a Librarian, I expect he would be happy to spend years here, cataloguing everything." I gave both him and Groff a broad grin.

Groff was staring off into the distance and was clearly thinking of the joys of cataloguing an unknown library.

Once again I caught Peter starring at us in that worrying way of his.

"I wonder what is going through his mind? He does it whenever something unusual is said. Maybe he just needs to get out more. They did say he has been shut in here on his own for years."

"We can have an early lunch, then we can all look in the library." Having something to do, would keep us from worrying about the Basement.

With that we all got plates, and ransacked the cupboards for food while the cat walked around rubbing herself against everyone's legs.

After lunch Peter led us to a room in another wing, it was double sized and had two doors. Inside, the walls were lined with floor to ceiling bookcases, rows of leather and cloth bound books filled most of the shelves. Parchment, both flat and rolled filled the rest, tables and chairs took up the floor space. Most of the tables were covered in piles of parchment.

Groff looked on in wonder. The rest of us not so much, simply resigned to an afternoon of moving books. A lot of the spines clearly had no titles on them, so having no obvious starting point we each selected a rack and started pulling books out randomly.

"What are we looking for again?" Catherine asked, almost with a whine.

"Anything on this Estate and any type of bestiary."

After that it got quiet as we steadily worked our way along the shelves.

We found several bestiaries but none mentioned chaos cats or any other chaos animal for that matter.

The one book on the estate didn't mention basements or mage battles although it did have a detailed fold out map of the Estate. This indicated the locations of the ruins and standing stones. We kept this book out and handed it over to Peter.

As it was getting late we all went to the Kitchen and had something to eat and drink. All that lifting had made us all hungry, while the dust had dried out our throats.

Conversation was desultory, no one having a lot to say. We were all too caught up in our own thoughts about Monsters and the trip back to Grapplington.

Having tidied up we were all at a loose end. Unthinking I picked up the cat intending to put her in the basket. All thoughts about her being a Monster forgotten.

Immediately I touched her, I felt a faint tingling run up my arms and received several notifications. Standing still and holding a calm cat, I suddenly regretted picking her up, calling out to my friends for help.

"Guys, something just happened when I picked the cat up. What do I do?"

Everyone turned to look at me, a mix of emotions showing on their faces, concern and interest being the most obvious ones.

Eldred spoke first. "Put it in the basket as planned."

Doing as he suggested, I placed the cat in the basket and then did up the leather straps.

"Right. What notifications did you get?" Eldred had walked over but stopped before getting too close.

"Let me see, Perception, +1 and another one, You can now see more details about people and items."

"Your Perception hit a breakthrough point, cool." this from Catherine.

"Ahh, good to know for the future. Wait I still have more notifications. Umm, not sure about these ones."

"Would I like to name Chaos Cat? Yes/No and Would I like to bind to Chaos Cat? Yes/No.”

"The first is obvious but what is binding?"

Peter answered before anyone else could.

"It is a way of getting closer to an animal, most riders do it with their mounts, hound keepers almost always bind to the pack leader. In both cases it makes managing the animal easier, you can sense their presence and their emotional state and vice versa. There is no downside apart from having a close animal companion that will need looking after."

I stared at the basket that held the cat.

"Good, so selecting ‘Yes’ in both cases is fine. In that case then, what sort of name would suit you? Nothing pink and frilly obviously, hmm, how about Midnight?" Not getting a reaction from anyone I thought about the notification until it appeared in my sight again and said "Yes".

A second notification appeared

[Name, say each letter clearly.]

Following the instruction, I said each letter out loud and watched as the word Midnight appeared in my view.

[Name accepted.

Midnight, Chaos Cat, Female, twenty weeks.

Would you like to bind to Midnight? Yes/No?]

I said "Yes" again and immediately got a new notification, this time however it was in a pale yellow colour.

[Full, Content, Safe.]

"Well, the cat seems to be happy, got a notification from it, full, content, safe."

Peter whistled. "Wow, that is some crazy, high level binding. Something like that usually takes years to develop, most people start off just getting a feeling, like a hunch, nothing like notifications." Peter was once again staring at me in astonishment, except this time he had been joined by all the others.

“Must be something to do with Midnight then, perhaps she is more powerful than she looks.”

With the excitement now over, we finished tidying up and then retired to our bedrooms. I took the basket with the cat inside, with me it seemed the right thing to do now that we were bonded.

The next morning I awoke with a start, something was in the bed with me.

"I really hope it isn't a rat and if it is, I really hope I don't scream."

Lifting the covers gently I found myself looking at Midnight. The Chaos Cat was curled up in a ball and purring contentedly. Reaching out I started to pet the cat but stopped as a faint tingling sensation ran up my arm again, this time there was no notification.

Then I had a shock, I could clearly remember locking the cat in the basket. Looking over to where the basket was sat in the corner, I could see it was still visibly locked tight.

"Hmm a cat that can escape from a locked box, you are going to be trouble." I said to myself with an ironic smile. She is going to be difficult to look after.

We were all up bright and early and had a large breakfast stood around in the Kitchen. Having packed our rucksacks and watched as I put Midnight in the basket, we brought all of our bags out to the front portico and waited for Peter to bring the coach round.

Moments later, Peter came round the side of the Mansion leading a dun coloured horse pulling a small black four wheeled carriage.

There was just enough room for two on the drivers seat and two on the comfy seat in the rear. The rear seats also had a half cover on, giving them a bit of protection from the elements.

Saying goodbye to our friends, I climbed into the Carriage along with Groff and Carnelia. Groff was sat at the front alongside Peter, while us two women got the comfy rear seats along with Midnight. She was in the picnic basket at our feet, or at least I hoped she was still in there, although I hadn't seen her jump out of the carriage since I placed it on the floor.

Peter flicked the reins and we set of for town. The journey back was dull and uneventful. We only had a couple of short stops whenever necessary and pulled into the Inn as it was getting dark.

Peter had decided to get a room in the same Inn as us. So while he did that I quickly ran to our room followed by Groff and Carnelia. Dropping off our rucksacks and Midnight. We rushed straight back down, and ran up to Peter.

"Sorry I haven't finished sorting a room yet, you go on without me, anyway they are more likely to talk to you than me." Peter seemed quite casual about that fact.

Breaking into a run as soon as we were outside the Inn, we made our way to the Adventurers Guild Hall. Running along in the dark, we received numerous surprised looks, an Elf, a Human and a Dwarf, we were quite the unusual combination.

“I wonder what kind of rumours this will start. A lot of people have seen us.”

We were all out of breath and red faced by the time we reached the Guild Hall. Our entrance caused a bit of a stir in the patrons sat around drinking. Brian and the barman quickly coming over to see what was wrong.

Brian yelled for someone to go fetch the manager, while he led the three of us over to a free table.

"What happened? Where are the others? Are they okay?"

His loud, staccato questions, silenced the room.

The attention embarrassed me again and together with my breathlessness caused me to stutter.

"We found a cat in the Basement. Yes everyone is fine, the rest are walking back We came on ahead with Peter in his carriage, we just ran here from the Inn."

People were laughing now and turning away, I could hear comments about cats and young people.

Brian however still looked concerned and was about to say something when the manager appeared. Waiting for him to come over, Brian finally started.

"Come on, there is no way you rushed back here like that to tell us you found a cat. So what happened and what did you really find?"

"We really did find a cat or a weird cat like thing. There was a big storm and it looks like the cat, kitten really, got caught out in it and fell into the cellar. It seems to have changed the cat somehow." I paused to try and regain my composure, stress raising my pulse rate almost as much as running had.

"You are right though, we didn't rush back here to tell you that. The noise the cat and storm made seems to have woken up a dormant monster there. Given what Peter said we decided it was way out of our league and Peter wants to set another quest to explore and clear his Basement."

"Monster, explore and clear? Come on, start at the beginning and make sense" Brian was more confused than angry.

"Fine, look, we had just found this weird cat and thought we had finished the quest when we heard a loud noise. We followed it to the end of the basement, when we heard it next, we realised it was coming from behind the basement wall. At first we thought it was trying to break in, but in looking closely at the wall to see how strong the wall was, we realised it was actually trying to break out. Turns out most of the Basement in the Mansion is walled up and at least some of the sections still have live monsters in them."

The people who had wandered off had now come back and started asking questions.

"How big was it?"

"Do you know the extent of the basement?"

On and on they went, finally Brian called for quiet and I stopped looking around giddily.

Finally I got a chance to continue.

"We didn't see it, the loud scratching sounds implied it was about human sized, at least according to Peter. Peter also said there were no stories of the basement being walled up, so he reckons it must have been done at least a hundred years ago. He is going to be staying at the Inn with us until the basement is fully explored and cleared."

There were loud gasps at this, followed by lots of comments.

"Liche?"

"No, a Ghoul."

"Count me in", came from several people.

"Peter said one of his ancestors who owned the house was a powerful mage so maybe he did it." I added this helpfully.

The Manager spoke up then, loudly enough that everyone could hear. "Okay, you have said enough, we can take it from here, you and Peter will get the usual reward for reporting a monster. Tomorrow morning we can set up a fire-fighting team and once organised, it can go and explore this hidden basement."

I looked questioningly at Brian, along with my two friends.

When no information was forthcoming, I resorted to actually asking him. "What is a fire-fighting team in relation to monsters?"

"We organise a Cross Guild team containing the highest level adventurers, all volunteers of course. Each guild has to supply at least one person, that way no single guild gets hit badly if everything goes wrong. Usually there are actually two teams, a backup available just in case."

"Oh, okay, thank you for that."

"And I haven't forgotten about the weird cat either." He said in a whisper and winked at me.

I didn't know what to say to that but since we seemed to be surplus to requirements now, the three of us decided to say goodbye and returned to the Inn.

Back at the Inn we all started to chat over an evening meal. It was nice and relaxing after the hike there, excitement over the monster and the rush back here. Peter had been quiet throughout, eating and simply watched the interactions between the three of us. He finally spoke up and gave us quite a surprise.

"I have been on my own for far too long, forgotten what it was like to have friends and be involved in a group. Tomorrow I will have to see about changing that." With that he got up and bade us Good night.

"Not weird at all." Groff commented, which made Carnelia and me laugh. Shortly afterwards, we retired to bed as well.

ARMS AND ARMOUR

The following morning I was up early and went down for breakfast on my own, leaving Carnelia asleep in bed. Having only a couple of outfits to choose from made life easier, today I was wearing light tan trousers and a white to, embroidered in light yellow and brown.

I stood at the bar and ordered breakfast and then chatted to the barman who turned out to be the Innkeeper. Once breakfast was brought in, I sat down and ate in silence while glancing at my breakfast companions

Realising that I was getting more than one look myself, I put it down to being an Elf in a mostly Human establishment. After finishing I went back to the bar and asked if I could go round and look at the horses in the stables.

"Yes, no problem, tell Will, the stable boy on duty that I have said it is fine."

Looking startled, he peered over the bar to get a better look. "What on earth is that?"

Looking down, I realised Midnight had come down and was sat at my feet looking up at me expectantly.

I immediately got a new notification.

"Hungry"

"Oh, this is my currently hungry cat, Midnight. Do you have any fish or chicken you could give me for her? Guessing one of my room-mates let her out. I kind of adopted her yesterday, she is sort of an outcast like the rest of our group."

Looking up and down at the two of us he smiled.

"Weirdest looking cat I have ever seen and the two of you make an odd couple but I will get a plate of meat off-cuts for her and a saucer of milk. I like animals and animal friendly people, you can consider yourself my friend."

He put out his hand and I shook it politely, ignoring the spate of notifications and the few looks I was getting.

Leaning over the bar he spoke quietly to me.

"I will give you and your friends a discount, not much, the Inn still needs to make money but every little bit helps, doesn't it."

He left to get Midnight her meal, returning shortly with two saucers. One held a small pile of chopped up meat and the other a pool of milk. I placed these on the floor and after a cautious sniff, Midnight sat down and started to eat hungrily, purring contentedly as she did so.

Stuck at the bar while Midnight ate, I continued to take sneaky glances at the clientèle. Trying to get an idea of the wealth and status of each of them.

Once the cat had finished, I picked up the crockery and placed it on the bar before walking outside, Midnight following close behind me.

Walking across the yard to the stables, I approached the stable boy, explaining that the Innkeeper had said it was fine for me to have a look round. Will seemed more than happy to show off his knowledge and told me what he knew of each animal and the owner.

Midnight had disappeared the moment we entered the stables but I wasn't too worried, we were staying at the Inn for a few days yet. I could feel a strange sense of wonder and movement which I figured was Midnight enjoying exploring on her own.

Then from Midnight I received a sharp stab of hunger and adrenaline making me jump, this was quickly followed by a notification and a feeling of happiness. Shortly after, Midnight appeared with a dead mouse in her mouth and promptly dropped it at my feet. Jumping back a step, I wasn't exactly scared but didn't want to touch the dead mouse. Laughing, Will picked it up and said he would get rid of it for me.

Followed by Midnight, I returned to the Inn to see if my friends were up yet. Entering the main room I saw Carnelia and Groff sat at a table eating and went over and joined them. Midnight jumped up on to my lap and quickly curled, up purring contentedly.

Groff looked at me and then explained about Peter.

"He went out straight away, said he was having breakfast with a colleague and needed to discuss lots of things with various people. Something really strange going on with him."

Shortly after that, Jamie and the other farmers came in, waved and sat down for breakfast.

Since we had nothing in particular to do we sat and chatted. Jamie came over after awhile.

"Hi, we are all leaving for the border tomorrow. Yesterday we bought two horses and a wagon, together with all the supplies needed to make a go of the homestead. It was agreed that we would split the costs equally and now all of us still have money in the bank just in case. By the way, thanks to all of you for your help in getting us this windfall and good luck in all your adventures." He waved bye to us as he finished and made his way upstairs following his colleagues.

Shortly, we retired to our rooms to freshen up before going out, I took the opportunity to shut Midnight in her basket. Groff was going to go out and look for bestiaries while Carnelia was going to buy supplies. Wandering aimlessly around, I ended up at Lizzie's Spell shop, here I spent an enjoyable hour or so chatting about magic, spells and adventure.

Returning to the Inn, I met up with my friends and discussed the day. Groff had bought two small bestiaries, both had a Chaos animal but just a few vague comments. Both mentioned luck though.

That reminded me of my conversation with the Innkeeper, and having explained it to them I wondered whether that could be down to Midnight.

Groff replied sensibly. "No way of really knowing or finding out. There is nothing in these books really, which shows that they are very rare and therefore probably valuable."

Just then Peter arrived looking very smart in some obviously new clothes. A light grey suit matched with a charcoal grey, coat.

"Hi, I am glad you are all here, I have something to announce. As you may know I have no heirs or close relatives, so when I die the Estate will return to the Baron for distribution as he sees fit, providing he can get some one to accept it. As I am still the legal owner I have decided to lease it out and have also put the terms of the lease in my will. This should prevent the Baron from trying to take it over after my death."

I felt as confused as Groff and Carnelia appeared to be.

"That's good, and I am glad you are sorting out the Estate but why announce it to us?"

"Ahh, getting there, my lawyer is using the map in that book on the estate to draw up a larger version. He will then get the map confirmed or corrected by surveyors. They will also mark out farmsteads of various sizes across the estate. Hopefully all these can be filled and make the estate profitable and friendly again."

He looked around at all of us with a big smile. "I was hoping you would all accept invites to be residents."

He paused to let us take in that news before continuing with an explanation. "l know none of you are farmers, but the Mansion itself needs residents. I have also proposed building a dozen or so houses on land behind the Mansion. The ground lease will be for nine hundred and ninety nine years which is perfectly normal for a ground lease. You don't have to say yes immediately as there is still a lot of paperwork to go through."

We were shocked, I couldn't even begin to think why he was proposing this.

"You're proposing to lease the Mansion to us for a thousand years. Why?"

"I think you're adventurous, intelligent, friendly people, it has been refreshing getting to know you a bit. I know you need accommodation or you wouldn't be staying here at the Inn and I would like to help. Don't worry about me either, there is already a house behind the Mansion which I use in the summer, I intend to retire to that. My mind is made up and hopefully in the near future the Estate will come alive again." He then got up and said goodbye, before retiring to his room.

We sat there chatting and when Jamie and the rest came in for their final night, I told them about the offer and asked them to at least stay an extra day and discuss it with Peter.

"Setting up from scratch here has to be safer than doing the same in the borderlands."

Jamie and the others agreed that getting a legitimate farm was worth waiting a few days for.

Just then Catherine, Kyle and Eldred walked in looking dusty and tired. The three of them went straight to the bar and ordered food and drinks before sitting down and asking for news. We all took to chatting again and the evening passed quickly.

In the morning we all came down for breakfast together and Peter looked surprised at the large number.

"Hi, who are your new friends?" Peter had a confused expression as he queried me about my new look group.

"Oh these are our colleagues, they are farmers rather than adventurers. They helped us on one of our adventures and are now going back to the borderlands to set up farmsteads. I suggested they stay and talk to you first though."

"Farmsteaders all ready, you are quick and efficient."

Peter then turned his attention to Jamie "Do you have any equipment?"

"Yes, we came into some money and have bought a wagon load of supplies and since we didn't have a wagon we have also bought a wagon and two horses." He smiled at his self-deprecating joke.

"Hmm, I am seeing my lawyer again later today, I see no reason why I shouldn't mention your arrival. I am not sure where you would stay but there are plenty of run down farm houses out there. It might take a few days to get surveys done is that fine?"

"Yes, of course. We don't mind waiting although I better go and reclaim our rooms before they are let to someone else."

Jamie got up and went in search of the Innkeeper.

I looked around at everyone. "Don't forget later today we need to go and collect all of our armour."

Groff smiled at her and while bowing said "Yes, our Gracious Leader"

I jumped and swore. "Damn, still making me jump."

The others were now laughing at me. "What did you get this time?" They asked almost in unison.

"Well, I am no longer Head Teacher, now I am Gracious Leader. Thank you Groff."

"I also got some points, Charisma +1, Luck +1 and Leadership +1, Well all of them are useful."

The others continued giggling and laughing at my expense over this.

Once we had eaten and freshened up, we headed out to the Adventurers Guild Hall, to enquire about the fire-fighting team.

Looking around for Brian, we were surprised he wasn't there. Going up to the bar I got the attention of the barman.

"Hi. Do you know where Brian of the Old Grizzlies Guild is, also do you know if the fire-fighting teams have left yet."

"Hi, yes to both. Brian volunteered to lead the first team and since he is well known by everyone it was agreed that it was a good idea. They left early this morning, so unless something goes badly wrong, they should be back in five to six days. They took a pony with them so a rider could get back quickly if there were any problems."

Saying thanks I returned to my friends. "They left this morning, Brian went with them, should be back in five to six days, just before we leave with the caravan."

In the afternoon we made our way to Nick's Emporium. Since we were only collecting things, we went straight up to the counter to speak to the shop assistant.

"Hi, l'm Allycyon, we're here to collect six sets of armour."

Nodding politely, the shop assistant left through a door behind him, but came back quickly with another older man who took over.

"Right, six sets of armour, already paid for. If you would like to follow me upstairs we can get them laid out for you to try on."

Following the old man upstairs we had to wait around for a few minutes. The sound of rushing feet heralded the appearance of a couple of young boys. They started running in and out carrying items wrapped in cloth which they laid in a pile against one wall.

Going over to look at the pile we realised each item was numbered. Having realised this it was easy to sort the packages into six piles, each having four items.

The old man had now returned and seeing we had already sorted out the armour, told us we were free to try it on.

This caused an immediate problem, the armour was designed to go over a thin tunic and short trousers. Neither Carnelia or me wished to get undressed in front of the men even with Catherine pointing out that it would happen eventually on one quest or another. In the end everyone gave in and picking up our armour, we said goodbye to the old man and retraced our steps back to the Inn to try on the armour in private.

I led the other two women into our room, keen to get changed as soon as possible. Midnight took to sniffing at all the new packages before returning to her spot on my bed.

On the way up we had warned the Innkeeper about our intention to try out new armour and weapons in the main yard.

"It is a large area and we will only be trying everything on, we have no intention of actually practising out there."

I had no idea about the fuss we would cause.

The men had simply cut a pair trousers off, so that the legs finished just above their knees, the edges were a bit ragged but serviceable.

Groff looked impressive with his quarterstaff and scale-mail, Eldred looked like an Elf, unsurprisingly and Kyle looked way more adult all of a sudden.

All three of the men whistled when we walked out, looking like three Valkyries. We were all dressed similarly, short woollen skirts below falling to our knees, chain-mail worn over a short sleeved top. The chain-mail was contoured to our figures, or at least it was when we finally sorted out which set belonged to which woman.

Blushing at the sudden attention of the men, I realised we still looked highly feminine even with the armour flattening out our chests The vambraces and grieves worked to highlight our arms and legs rather than hide them. Both Catherine and me also had a bandoleer fastened across our chests, one containing four throwing knives, while the other held four throwing axes.

Picking up our shields and placing our helmets on our heads we spent time just admiring each other and expressing how professional and impressive we looked.

At least we did until a short scream interrupted the mutual appreciation going on. A well dressed woman had come out from the Inn and was staring in shock at the heavily armed group, assembled in front of her.

"Sorry, we were just practising" Taking my helmet off quickly and trying my best to reassure her. The rest followed my example as they also joined in trying to reassure the woman we were not about to attack the Inn

Just to finish things off nicely though, Midnight appeared from the stables and dropped a large dead rat at my feet. I just stood there and shook my head as the woman ran back inside.

"Well there goes our discount."

We were all laughing and giggling as the woman came back with the Innkeeper. Which didn't endear her to us one bit, judging by her expression.

She didn't get the response she expected however. The Innkeeper reacted in the same manner as our three male colleagues, whistling in surprise and appreciation at the three of us dressed in short skirts and armour.

He then clapped his hands and and laughed. At this the woman rushed off, obviously annoyed. When he recovered, he studied the six of us closely, making the me extremely self conscious, looking at Carnelia and Catherine I could see their smiles had disappeared too.

"Hmm, you need to make some changes if you want to get serious. Take the greaves back and ask them to make allowances for standard leather breeches." He paused for a moment while continuing to study us.

"I would recommend that you women get used to wearing leather trousers as well. Hiking in winter in that outfit will get you killed, hiking through rough terrain wouldn't be that much more comfortable either. Leather trousers should be easy to come by, calf or buckskin if you can afford it. Wow you certainly know how to liven a place up though. The stable hands have also told me about your cat, you get a copper for every mouse or rat it catches, same rate as the boys, l'll knock it off the bill." The last was said as he pointed at Midnight and the dead rat.

He left us to our thoughts after that and with nothing left to do we returned to our rooms. Since it wasn't that late, we returned to Nick's Emporium after getting changed, taking the greaves with us.

The shopkeeper didn't even blink at our request, taking our Greaves while making notes in a ledger. He simply informed us that they would be ready for collection the following evening.

Having finished here, I asked about leather breeches and boots and he directed us to a shop around the corner.

Entering the shop we were directed to, a strong smell of leather and oil but us. Racks of trousers and jerkins filled the room, while the floor space underneath was piled with boots. Walking to the back we found an older looking woman sat behind a counter.

Getting the slightest of nods from the others, something I was getting used to, I introduced us to the woman.

"Hi, l'm Allycyon and these are my colleagues, we are shortly going adventuring where we will be guarding a caravan. We would like to get two pairs of trousers each, with matching jerkins plus a good pair of boots each please."

"That shouldn't be a problem, I will be delighted to help." Getting up, she came round the counter, picking up a tape measure, pencil and paper as she did so, making me groan alongside Carnelia. Catherine simply laughed.

She measured all of us quickly and then asked what type and colour we wanted.. The men all went for tan, Catherine and Carnelia also both said tan. I was undecided and eventually asked to see both black and ran, as for type, the shopkeeper replied that she had buckskin in both but only calf in black.

Sorting through the racks she brought trousers out for everyone and then stood watching.

I groaned again as did Carnelia while Catherine simply shrugged her shoulders.

"Damn, I am not sure how quickly I am going to get used to this changing with the men lark."

Catherine and Carnelia both had skirts on and simply pulled the trousers on under their skirts before removing them. As usual, I was wearing trousers so had to remove those first before pulling on the new ones.

The men had been too busy getting changed themselves, to stop and watch us. Now having finished they were stood up and all three looked surprised, Eldred and Kyle were openly staring at the three of us.

Not surprising really as we had forgotten about them as well in the moment and now all three of us were wearing tight buckskin trousers. In addition we were also holding our shirts up, showing off our midriffs as we studied ourselves and each other. Finally realising the men were quiet we looked over to see them staring at us. Blushing and laughing we dropped our tops and turned around. Catherine complaining as she did so. "Men, huh."

After a few trials we each had some clothes we felt comfortable with. I had finally decided to follow the other two women and picked tan coloured leather. Afterwards we returned to the Inn again for an evening meal, before retiring to bed.

Early the next morning, we had another practice in our new outfits. Although we were without the grieves we were all wearing our new jerkins over chain-mail plus our new trousers and boots.

"Well at least we look professional now." I hoped looking was at least as important as being professional.

"It is strange to think we might be living in a mansion soon." Carnelia sounded as if she were daydreaming.

"Don"t tempt fate by dreaming about it, if it falls through though, we should have enough money to rent somewhere comfortable." I had never been one to tempt fate by talking about any future dreams.

I was now getting used to waking up in the Inn with Midnight curled up with me. Now I could see the attractions of having a pet. Today we had to collect our greaves again.

Breakfast was over and I was back down in the main room of the Inn waiting for the others.

We were collecting the greaves early as we had paid for a training session at the Guild Hall. It cost two silvers to hire for the morning but was better than upsetting the guests at the Inn.

Eldred drilled us all in how to stand and march as a group. We had fun at first, laughing at every misstep and fumble. but it quickly became repetitive and tiring. Once our time was up, Eldred led us back to the Inn, where we once more spent an enjoyable afternoon and evening chatting, eating and drinking.

Things changed the next morning.

As usual I was the first one down for breakfast walking down the stairs with Midnight trying to trip me up.

Midnight had finished her meal before me and disappeared off to wherever she liked.

I hadn't had time to train on our bond yet and was struggling to think of a way to utilise Midnight and her strange ability.

Shortly I was joined by all five of my friends and also Peter. We were sat around a table eating when Lizzie came in, looking excited, more like a young teenager rather than the twenty year old she was in reality. It looked like she was trying to be professional today. Instead of her usual print dress, she was wearing a plain, dark grey skirt and white top, hair pulled back and tied in a ponytail.

"Hi, I thought I would find you here if I came over early enough."

"Please tell me you have found a mage who is willing to work with us."

"Yes, of course I have, I did say I knew one or two, didn't l."

"Yes, so where are they?"

"Here." Said with a flourish, as she held both arms spread wide.

"No games please Lizzie. Where is the mage we requested?" I was getting exasperated with her, a simple introduction would be sufficient.

"Here in front of you" Lizzie no longer looked excited, she still looked like a young teenager but now, one whose favourite toy had just been taken away.

"You're our Mage? What level are you? What skills do you have?"

"I am only a Beginner Level 2, but I find it difficult to train and also run a shop. Anyway my friend said she would come along and help me. She is at a much higher level than me."

"Oh, a second mage was not really on our agenda but we do know you, so that would be easier than getting someone completely unknown."

The others nodded their agreement with this.

Lizzie's mood changed again to that of a bubbly excitable teenager.

"Good, I will go and get her, she said she would rather wait outside in case you said no."

"A shy mage, heard everything now, although the excitable Lizzie will no doubt make up the difference." Groff looked as surprised as the rest of us at first, but we all laughed at the end.

The others looked up in surprise when the door opened. I was the first to speak, standing up when I recognised the person walking through the door.

"Magdalena, what a surprise to see you here."

Lizzie was looking from one to the other and was starting to look angry.

"You two know each other? How long have you known each other? Where did you meet?" She now sounded more like a jealous lover, while we were giving each other startled looks and shrugs.

Trying to calm down Lizzie, I concentrated on wording my answer carefully.

"We met a few weeks ago, in the woods after we killed some giant spiders. Magdalena advised us on the value of the potion components we had collected."

Lizzie looked mollified at this, while Magdalena smiled thankfully at me.

"Clearly not the first time Lizzie has reacted like that."

"Groff, Allycyon, nice to see you again. I hope you don't mind me tagging along with Lizzie, the opportunity to go gathering components somewhere new was too good to turn down."

"No, you are more than welcome, although officially you will be a caravan guard."

"That's fine, I can throw a fireball with the best of them."

"In that case welcome to the group both of you. Do you want to join us now? We are just having breakfast before going out."

"Thank you but no, I couldn't afford to live here." Lizzie's emotions were clearly highly volatile, as she now sounded sad.

Given how little we were paying for our rooms and meals, this came as a shock to me.

Then I realised that Magdalena didn't have a regular income and Lizzie was probably on a considerably less than the average of a silver a week, considering she worked for a family business.

"Consider breakfast as a joining gift from me. If you wish to move in here with us for the next few days you can have an advance on your wages if you like. You will both get a silver a week for four weeks."

Lizzie squealed in delight and quickly grabbed two chairs, while I introduced them to Peter and Carnelia. The two of them ordered breakfast and then we all sat and chatted for longer than intended.

Lizzie and Magdalena managed to get a room for the four nights left before the caravan quest began and I requested that the Innkeeper add it to the overall bill as the two women had joined our group.

The rest of the day was spent idly wandering around town.

At breakfast the next day I broached the subject of arms and armour with Magdalena and Lizzie.

"Well traditionally, Witches and Mages never go armed or armoured, bad for your image, says you have no faith in your abilities. Most of my clothes are hard wearing and I always wear decent boots as I do a lot of hiking looking for components for potions. Lizzie here though needs boots at the very least."

"Good then, a girly shopping spree today, the rest of us, all have matching outfits and we will get the two of you kitted out as well."

The men looked disappointed at missing out on seeing women getting changed again but didn't say anything. Angering a Mage was never good for your health.

That evening we all came down in our matching leather outfits of tan buckskin trousers and boots, woollen tops and tan leather jerkins. The odd one out was Magdalena, who was outfitted in black and in addition had a full length leather trail duster and her normal black hat. The men whistled as we walked over and sat down with them.

I caught the men glancing at the two mages more than once while we were eating. Lizzie in particular seemed to have several admirers. The other men in the hall, seemed to be equally taken with them or their outfits.

CARAVAN GUARD

The next day was spent training and in the evening we were all tired and cranky, most of us simply retiring to bed early.

We had seen the teams arrive back from Peter's Estate that evening but had left them to get settled down, especially as we were all tired from training. Peter had gone over to talk to them as it was his Estate and home that was involved and he hadn't taken part in the training.

In the morning, after breakfast, we trooped over to the Adventurers Guild Hall and sat down at a table. Drinking and chatting while we waited for Brian to arrive. When he did he looked very tired as he walked over and sat down with us.

"I suppose you want to know what happened."

There were nods and comments from all of us at this.

"Right then, the two teams left the day after. Having settled down at the Mansion, the first team went into the Basement while the second stayed outside, just in case, although in the end they weren't needed. We took four mages, two in each team, together with a load of knights. Starting at the entrance we knocked down each wall and examined the cell thoroughly. I won't bore you with the details of each cell, but it was certainly a gruesome prison, each one must have held at least one animal or person."

There were grimaces at this from all of us around the table.

"You would have to be slightly insane to do all that." The thought of all those people and animals being bricked up alive was nauseating. I wondered at how many people were involved.

"Yes, certainly, from the skeletons and other remains it looked like someone had tried to capture every type of monster known. Maybe he was experimenting on them, we will never know for sure." He ran his hands over his cheeks and sighed.

"We have asked the Mage Guild to see if they have any records or whether they can trace whoever won the duel but I am not hopeful they will come up with anything. It is a bad news story for them and they won't want to advertise that they missed a rogue, people will start asking how many more are out there."

"So, in total we found thirty seven monsters or remains, including four that were still alive. The one you heard, a ghoul as it happened, would have been difficult to beat in full health, level eleven. Fortunately it was almost dead, as were the other three. Now the good point, some of them must have been large, very high level or both as we found twenty three cores in total, some of which were larger than the queen spider one you brought in."

Everyone had perked up at this news, with Carnelia getting in first. "Can we see them?"

"Only if Bob hasn't sold them yet, we had a very late night discussing these and their value. It was decided to sell them straight away, especially as they had to be split so widely. Bob was here anyway, so we decided to sell them to him for speed and convenience, he will now be drowning in customers."

I didn't know whether to laugh or groan. I wanted to see the cores but also had to laugh at Bob drowning in customers again because of us. Lost in my thoughts for a moment I returned to the present as Brian continued on with his explanation.

"We finally agreed on thirty five gold as a price, with the manager acting on your behalf, Peter couldn't as he also had a claim. In the end we settled on a quarter each for team one, team two, Peter and you. So between you, you have seven gold, eighty seven silver and fifty coppers to distribute. Plus five gold for completing the original quest and half the five gold reward for reporting the monsters. In total that comes to a massive fifteen gold, thirty seven silver and fifty coppers."

We just sat there open mouthed as for the second time in several weeks, we received more money than most people earned in years.

I was working out sums in my head and also using my fingers. Others were doing the same, but I was first to answer.

"So, divided by eight that is one gold, ninety two silver and eighteen coppers each plus a few coppers left over. I think we will all definitely have to visit the bank again."

There were a few muted gasps at that especially from Lizzie and Magdalena. They had a quick, whispered conversation after which Lizzie spoke up.

"Why have you included us in this ? We weren't part of the group when you were at Peter's Estate. It seems wrong to be taking your money.

I got up and went over to her, kneeling down to give her a hug.

"It would seem wrong not to include you now and no you weren't there. Now though you are a part of our group and to be honest, we won't miss the small amount we would gain if we excluded you."

Groff, smiling at the women joined in." Speak for yourself."

Lizzie was almost in tears and returned my hug.

"I have only ever seen that much money once before, when you all came in to get your new titles. I thought my Grandfather was going to have a heart attack when I showed him the books that night."

Brian started again. "Well, if you have finished sorting out your money, I will go and get it. Allycyon would you like to come up and get it with me?"

"Yes, I will be right there." Turning to the others I called out, that I would be right back.

Brian had walked to the bar where he was waiting for me. "Before we get to the money. What is it with that weird cat of yours?"

"Yes, I suppose I owe you an explanation about Midnight." I looked around and then in a quiet voice explained about the cat.

"Midnight is a Chaos cat, although we have no idea what that means in practice. We do know two things about her though. One, she is bound to me and two, she can walk through walls."

Brian went to say something but I quickly shushed him.

"We already have problems at the Inn with Midnight dropping off dead rats and mice most days."

"My, you do lead an interesting life." With that he called over the manager and asked him to fetch the coin purse containing the reward.

Once I had it, Brian suggested that we should all drink up and go straight to the bank, something I was more than glad to do.

The short walk across the square was pleasant and we entered the Bank with a jaunty step, everyone pleased about the unexpected reward.

At the bank, I went up to one of the Clerks to ask them to split the money so that we could each deposit our share.

His reply was short "If you are all depositing this individually then there is no real need for me to split it down."

"Really, then I guess we just form a queue here and I will give you the lot."

"Yes please, that is certainly the easiest and quickest route."

"So, the total is fifteen gold, thirty seven silver and fifty coppers, giving each of us one gold, ninety two silver and eighteen coppers plus six coppers over." At the same time I handed over the purse to him.

The clerk wrote this down in his ledger, then he clearly did the maths himself before counting out six coppers and handing them back to me.

"Who is first?"

"I am, Allycyon, and we all have accounts here."

"Good, that makes things easier, please sign here against the amount."

I did so and then got up, making way for Groff.

Lizzie and Magdalena were hanging back by the door looking worried. Seeing this I went over to them to see what was up. "Hi, what's up? Why are you looking so worried?"

It was Lizzie who again spoke up for the two of them. "Ahh, we don't have accounts, I only get paid coppers a week, as food and board is included. Magdalena generally trades for anything she needs."

"I'm so sorry, I just assumed when I told the clerk that we all had accounts. Never mind he has almost finished now. Come on he can open accounts for you two."

Saying that I dragged the two women to the Clerk who looked up in shock at seeing the witch.

"The last two then. Who is first?"

"Sorry, I made a mistake, these two don't have accounts yet." Apologising in public is always an embarrassing thing to do and in the process I went bright red.

Shaking his head, the clerk got out another ledger. "You are depositing the same amount though aren't you?"

Both women nodded as Lizzie sat down at the desk.

"Name?" asked the clerk

"Lizzie, I mean Elizabeth"

"Do you have an occupation and address?"

Lizzie gave him those details and then signed where he indicated before getting up and letting Magdalena take her place. The clerk didn't ask her for her occupation, unsurprisingly.

Lizzie was smiling and almost jumping with joy as we all left the bank. "I have so much money, I will never have to work again."

Smiling, I burst her happy little bubble. "If you are frugal it should last a few years but don't advertise it so loudly. You don't want to make a target of yourself."

Lizzie calmed down at that comment. "You are right, I should just carry on as normal."

We returned to the Inn afterwards, where we discussed our good fortune late into the evening.

The eight of us spent the last day getting supplies and packing our rucksacks. In addition to this, we visited the Mercenary Guild and payed the thirty silver as the fifty percent due the day before. Peter dropped in to say hello but had no additional news for us other than that he was now moving back to the mansion.

That evening I sat in my room and ignoring the two other women concentrated on my status screens.

[Allycyon of Clan Beech

Race - Elf

Title - Gracious Leader

Previous Titles - Head Teacher, Outlaw Leader, Beast Rider, Dancer

Female]

[Status

Age

18

Level

3 (36/70)

Health

20/20

Stamina

22/22

Mana

20/20

Strength

12

Agility

15

Dexterity

15

Intelligence

15

Perception

16

Charisma

16

Willpower

15

Luck

13

Skills

Dance

Beginner 4

Acrobatics

Beginner 3

Horsemanship

Beginner 3

Improvisation

Beginner 4

Swordsmanship

Beginner 3

Knife

Beginner 1

Stealth

Beginner 2

Beast Rider

Beginner 5

Leadership

Beginner 7

]

"The only thing letting me down is my strength and beyond training there is little I can do about that. I am a female Elf for crying out loud, not a Dwarf or an Orc."

Finally giving up, I got into bed and went to sleep.

Waking up early in the morning, I could feel Midnight curled up next to me, purring away madly. I was getting used to finding Midnight curled up beside me now, even though she was locked in the basket every night.

"Not really sure why I lock you in the basket, I know you can get out. I just need to figure out a way to make use of your skill."

Getting dressed, I went downstairs followed by Midnight, who had become used to our regular meal times.

As the Innkeeper was there, I informed him that we were leaving for four weeks but would need similar rooms when we returned. Having made a note in his ledger he beckoned me to lean in, while keeping his voice to a whisper.

"Between you and me, keep an eye on your weird cat. It is doing wonders for business here and if word gets out, there are more than a few businesses that would desire it."

Following his example, I kept my voice down.

"How is Midnight helping your business?"

"Guests have started talking of a ghost cat walking in and out of their locked rooms. Personally I don't believe in ghosts, but we have had more than a few people come in here to stay, just to get a view of this friendly ghost." With that he tapped his nose and went off to serve someone else.

I was left there shaking my head and decided to return to our room with Midnight and wake my friends up.

Entering the room, I found both Carnelia and Catherine sat up in bed chatting.

"Hi, we wondered where you had got to" Catherine said, while pouting.

"Just went downstairs for an early breakfast but ended up having a weird conversation with the Innkeeper. Seems Midnight has been walking in and out of people's rooms and they have been telling their friends about a friendly cat ghost, so his business is up."

"Why would they think Midnight was a ghost if she is walking in and out of open rooms?" Carnelia looked and sounded puzzled.

Now I looked embarrassed and started to mumble a reply before being asked by Carnelia to speak up.

"I may have missed out mentioning a trick of Midnight's, she can walk through walls."

Both women jumped out of bed at this.

"What?"

"How"

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"Show us"

They hit me with a barrage of questions.

"I didn't want to draw attention to myself or Midnight, as to how, I have no idea, I have never seen her do it. she is put her in the basket every night, I lock it and every morning she is curled up in my bed. I have left her shut in here and then seen her downstairs shortly after."

"Wow, a real magical cat, Chaos animals are cool." Carnelia sounded amazed, while Catherine looked more thoughtful before replying.

"Do you think you could do the same if you were holding midnight?"

I looked surprised and then stared intently at Midnight.

"I really have no idea, I don't know how she does it so I have no idea how to trigger it. If I am holding her, and if I did somehow trigger it, wouldn't she simply fall to the floor?"

Now we were all staring at Midnight and all three of us jumped when there was a knock on the door. Eldred calling out, "Are you three up and decent?"

"Yes, you can come in." I replied.

Eldred opened the door but looked at the three of us in surprise. "I thought you would all be dressed by now, Groff and Kyle have gone downstairs to bag a table. Are you coming?"

"Yes, we will be down in a minute, just give these two time to get changed."

Nodding, Eldred shut the door behind him as he left. Once he had shut the door, Catherine and Carnelia quickly got dressed and then ensuring Midnight was still in the room, we left, carefully locking the door behind us.

Going downstairs we joined the men at a table and ordered breakfast, but had to quickly order a small plate of chopped meat as Midnight quickly jumped up onto my lap. The men seemed surprised at the excitement this caused but I informed them that I would explain it later.

We had hired a small horse drawn wagon for all our gear and also as a shelter at night. In addition we had also hired two small ponies to allow someone to ride on ahead as point and another to fall behind and ensure we weren't surprised by a rear attack.

After breakfast, we collected all our bags and dressed in our armour we left the Inn. The walk through town was a foretaste of the weeks to come. It was hot and uncomfortable.

Approaching the North gate, we began to hear the noise of a large group of people. Passing through the Gate we now saw wagons of every shape and size lined up in rows. There seemed to be a lot of children running around as well, which added to the overall noise level.

I was looking around, desperately seeking signs of a group of mercenaries. I finally spotted them, they were lined up with a pile of bags sitting next to them. Walking over with Groff and Eldred I realised there was an officer inspecting them so I waited for him to finish before making introductions.

"Hi. Are you Lieutenant Treddian of the Wild Boars Mercenary Guild?"

"Yes, and I am guessing you are Allycyon. I did think the commander was joking at first when he said the commission was from a young Elf woman not associated with a Guild."

I took the time to study him as he spoke, he couldn't be any taller than my five foot eight. With dark brown hair and blue eyes, I guessed he was in his early twenties, not exactly handsome, but good looking.

"No, we are not a Guild but Eldred and Catherine were both guards and hopefully you can guide us if we look like we are about to make a really big mess of things. We did manage to kill a brood of giant spiders and their queen a few weeks ago though."

"That was you then, I had heard Bob had bought a load of high quality spider parts. How many altogether and how big?"

I explained to him about our fight with the spiders while leaving out our reason for being there.

Having sorted out our party, I led Groff and Eldred over to where I could see the Caravan Master.

"Hi, I am here with my group as agreed." Remembering how brusque he was before, I decided to emulate him. I received quick startled looks from both Eldred and Groff but neither said anything. Looking round he quickly caught sight of the mercenaries and the rest of our group.

"The woman in black, is she your mage?"

"Technically, she is a Witch, her friend there is the official mage."

This had caused conversations around them to stop as everyone stared either at Magdalena or me.

"A witch, they are not very common. Is she powerful?"

"I don't actually know. Would you care to ask her, I know I wouldn't."

The man looked at me and smiled. "No, dare say I wouldn't. Do you have a Wagon?" At my nod, he continued.

"Fine, you can take lead with that then, I will give you directions each morning but if you forget or get confused, just stop and yell. How you set your men up, is up to you but the crews feel less anxious if they see regular patrols. Is that good with you?"

"Yes, that's fine."

"Good. Well in that case, place your wagon at the front of the first row. I will come over with a sheet of directions in a moment." Standing up, he held out his hand. As before I shook it automatically, noting again how direct and brusque he was.

The three of us went back to our group and then we all helped the mercenaries load their rucksacks and bags into the wagon. Ensuring the basket with Midnight was not covered up, and then we led the horse and wagon over to the front of the first row.

Lieutenant Treddian tapped me on the shoulder to get my attention. Turning round to face him, he asked me if he could have a quiet word together away from the rest of the group. Not sure what what was going on, I nether the less agreed and followed him as he walked off, to stand still a few dozen yards away.

"Always difficult to talk shop in front of the men. They expect quick straight decisions even if that is not always possible. Anyway I thought you might like to talk tactics away from everyone, being new to all this."

"Thank you, that was very considerate of you. I have no real idea about how to guard a large caravan beyond the obvious front, back and middle split. We have two ponies so that we can have a rider out front and one behind us but beyond that I am out of my depth and was going to approach you for help."

"Well that is a good start, knowing your limitations. Next we need to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of our team. I know my squads obviously, all good soldiers, no trouble makers and more than half have been on Caravan duty before, which leads us to your group. How do they match up?"

"Let's see, Groff is good with his quarterstaff but lacks experience, he drives the wagon. Eldred and Catherine were both guards, both are good archers and clearly experienced. Kyle is young and lacks experience, but he is keen to learn and fights with a large double headed axe. Carnelia is in the same boat as Kyle, inexperienced but keen to learn, sticks with sword and dagger."

Pausing for breath, I noted that he wasn't looking bored with my explanation. "Magdalena the Witch, I imagine she is quite powerful, Lizzie admits she is a low level mage with little experience. Which leaves me, officially I am a trained dancer but I seem to have picked up sword and dagger easily enough, I have also bought some throwing axes to practice with."

"Thanks for that quick rundown. Place Kyle and Carnelia in the middle, it is generally safer. Raiders normally try to get away with the first or last wagons. The rest is up to you, personally I would have three mercenaries at the front and three at the rear, the remaining six I would have patrolling the sides."

I thought for a moment and then agreed with him, seeing no reason to argue for the sake of arguing. Just then we saw the caravan master waving at us and hurried over to him.

"Here you go, directions for the day, and the location of our night stop. If you get ready now we can be off shortly."

With that he was off again, leaving Treddian and me to get our teams ready. Treddian quickly took charge.

"You go to the wagon, I will go sort my men out, we can arrange everything else once we are moving."

Nodding at his order, I moved over to the wagon where I rejoined Groff who was just climbing up into the drivers seat. Magdalena and Lizzie were sat chatting on the back board. Climbing up I sat down next to Groff and gave him the sheet of directions.

"Here you go, the caravan master gave me these directions, said we should be off shortly."

At that moment there was a loud shout and looking back along the line, I could see the caravan master waving at me to get moving. I waved back and then turned to Groff and told him to get the wagon moving.

"Yes Ma'am." Was his sarcastic response but he flicked the reins anyway and the wagon started moving, the others all following suit behind him.

Over the next few days we settled into a regular routine. Groff would stay with the wagon regardless of whether or not he was driving it. The rest of us would take turns riding in the wagon in between bouts of walking or pony riding.

In the evenings we had taken to practising with our swords and sometimes with the bows we had brought along. Within a few days most of the mercenaries who weren't on watch had joined us, including Lieutenant Treddian.

We also had an admiring fan club of youngsters who would sit and watch us and occasionally play with Midnight. The audience especially liked Catherine and me who would take turns throwing our axes and knives at targets.

Each morning I would find at least one dead animal lying near my sleeping bag, a present from Midnight. During the day Midnight slept in the wagon, either in her basket or curled up on top of the bags.

Lizzie and Magdalena tended to keep to themselves, riding in the wagon most of the time, but would join up with the rest of us for meal times. Magdalena would sometimes wander off on her own, collecting samples was her usual response to any questions of where she had been.

One thing I noted was that my stamina, swordsmanship and shield all crept up, I also had a new skill, throwing axe.

After awhile the days blurred together as we neared Huneddton, the Capitol of Kirkluk. Here the Caravan would lose some wagons but gain others.

The Caravan stopped in the sprawling suburbs of the capital, the city walls couldn't even be seen from here. Several small groups of wagons broke away and headed off in different directions.

We were only supposed to be stopping for a few hours, not long enough to wander off anywhere but too long to just sit around. In the end we took to sparring again , attracting the usual crowd plus some locals as well.

I was the star of the show though, having taken one of my standard dance routines and utilised it to practice my throwing. As I ran round, producing leaps, spins, cartwheels and flips I would throw my axes from impossible positions. Usually I would hit the targets placed at one end away from the watching crowd. The routine would always get a round of applause when I finished.

We were just finishing when a group of well dressed Elves turned up, with their noses turned up in the air, they studiously ignored Groff.

"Allycyon of Clan Beech?"

"Yes, who is asking?"

Groff had moved close to me and I put my hand on his shoulder for support. A move that clearly upset the group, by then the rest had formed up behind me as well.

"I am here as a representative of the High Queen through the ambassador to the Court of King Laurent"

Eldred interrupted before he could go any further.

"Are we supposed to be impressed by that." The crowd that had watched me had stayed to watch the new entertainment.

"We heard through our sources that you had joined this caravan, as someone who has insulted the Queen we are here to take you back to face your punishment."

I didn't look too concerned at this, much to his annoyance. "I am aware of the terms of my banishment, arrest is only possible if I am on Elf Territory, which clearly I am not."

Groff stepped in front of me then, holding his quarterstaff horizontally in both hands.

"Sorry but to get to her, you will also have to go through me and that will start a war when word gets out."

The Elves seemed to suddenly realise they faced a well armed group in front of a large audience.

"This is not the end, we know the route and destination of this caravan. You will return home to face justice!" With that final threat, they turned around and stormed off.

"My guess of years before the story was widely spread was a bit of an over estimate. Now any hotheads around here will be after me, keen to please the Queen and get whatever reward she feels fit to bestow on them."

Magdalena looked impressed as she turned to look at me.

"What did you do? Even I didn't manage to piss the Priestesses off as much as you have them."

Lizzie scowled at her but let it go otherwise. She had made it plain enough that she didn't approve of swearing.

Eldred seemed to be on the verge of saying something. He clearly didn't know who to question first, torn between his desire to learn more about me and the Queen and Magdalena and the Priestesses.

The Caravan master saved him from choosing by yelling for everyone to get ready.

Groff grabbed me by the hand and dragged me to the wagon. "Up you get, you can ride with me for now."

"Thank you Groff, you know I think of you as a close friend don't you."

"Yes, I do, I am the same, I think my actions today should have confirmed that."

"Yes, of course. Would they really start a war over you?"

"Not me per se, just a dwarf defending someone from a group of Elves. They would feel compelled to do something just to save face and control the hotheads who are always calling for all out war."

"Thank you again anyway." I sat there next to him as he got the wagon moving, all the other wagons falling in behind us.

That evening I explained what had happened to me as we sat around eating our evening meal.

Magdalena and Lizzie looked horrified.

"That is certainly worse than me and the Priestesses" Magdalena replied.

This time Eldred couldn't help himself. "Come on, you can't keep teasing us like that. What did you do to upset some Priestesses?"

"My high perception comes from training as a Priestess since childhood. They would take in orphans to train. We would study paintings all day and get asked to describe what was happening, and after awhile it becomes second nature. What would you think if you saw a group of birds rise from a distant copse?"

"I don't know, something spooked them, Eagle maybe."

"See, I would be asking whether they were circling or flying off and if so in which direction. How big a group could the copse hide? How fast could a group get to us? Plus a hundred other questions. Studying paintings day in day out, just so you could study people when you graduated, that drove me wild. I started deliberately saying stupid things just to get a reaction, which worked a lot of the time, I ended up spending a lot of time in the gardens on my own.” She paused for breath and to look around at her audience.

“That was when I noticed the gardeners, all old men, it looked like they were deliberately setting a trail for me. Eventually I decided to follow it, and found that it led me to a corner where a hedgerow met the outer wall, a tree nearby looked climbable if you wanted to take a big risk." She paused for breath again, her audience now wrapped up in her story.

"I decided I did, eventually realising I could jump to the wall from the tree and from there jump down outside and escape. It took me weeks of planning and stockpiling food and other supplies but I eventually did it. Once I got out though, I found out there was very little work for a highly perceptive young woman. So I lived on my own and just sort of drifted into becoming a witch. Then I met you and you just piqued my interest, I am even more interested now, as a group you just ooze power and intrigue."

"I am not too sure how we just ooze power and intrigue but thank you for sharing that, another outcast to add to our group." It was becoming apparent that I attracted outcasts.

"You're welcome, it is nice to finally find a group I feel I can become a part of."

Groff spoke up then, concerned for my safety. "How can we protect Allycyon? She can stay with me on the wagon for most of the day but what happens when we reach our destination or even when we return home?"

It was Kyle who spoke up. "We keep taking quests and grow stronger."

The others nodded their agreement at this.

After that the meeting broke up and those who had night duty went out while the rest of us snuggled into our blankets.

ROCCNIA

It took another three days to reach the border with Gerussia. By then, our nerves were shot, constantly on the look out for Elves rather than raiders. This even leached over to the mercenaries to the point where Lieutenant Treddian asked what was up once we stopped one evening.

"Come on Allycyon, if you are keeping information back, that is both unprofessional and dangerous. If you have information on an attack, the least you can do is share it, I won't expect the details of your source."

"Sorry, no, no attack, at least not in the manner you imagine. I had a run in with some Elves who wish to arrest me, something that is illegal outside Elf Territory. So we are worried they will attempt to kidnap me."

Treddian looked startled for a moment. "What did you do? You are quite young to have an arrest warrant out on you."

Not having a lot of choice, I gave him a shortened version of the birthday events.

"Wow, that must have taken some guts to just walk out like that." He was studying me more intently now which started to make me feel uncomfortable.

Looking away, he looked around at the camp.

"I don't think they would do anything here, too open and obvious, they would most likely try to take you in a busy street or market. I will let my men know and we will keep a look out just in case. In future though, remember, we are a part of your team so please keep us informed of anything important like this."

Maybe because of this or Magdalena's talk of perception but two days after crossing the border we tripped an ambush early.

Catherine was riding point when she suddenly wheeled around and started racing back towards the wagon, laid flat against her pony.

Without even thinking I stood up and yelled "Ambush!" back towards the other wagons. My cry was quickly picked up and passed on.

Groff pulled our wagon to a stop off to the left, the following wagon pulled up level on the right and then they alternated like that pulling up nose to tail. The idea of this was to present as solid a wall as possible and therefore make it as difficult as possible for raiders trying to cut out any individual wagon.

By this time a large group of men and women had appeared out of ditches where they had been lying down waiting. They were racing after Catherine, several had bows and were trying to loose arrows as they ran, something that is very difficult even with lots of training.

As soon as the wagon had stopped, I leapt down, helping to form a skirmishing line with the three guards. All three of them had their bows drawn at first and were loosing off arrows, slowly and steadily, but hitting their targets every time.

As the group approached, the guards dropped their bows and drew their swords and along with me, we prepared to meet the onrushing attackers.

Once the attackers reached us, the two sides were fairly evenly matched. The Bandits had higher numbers but as defenders, it was soon clear we were better trained, armed and armoured.

I quickly realised that choreographing dances was no where near the real thing, even practising with my friends didn't come close. The realisation that my opponents would kill me if they had the chance gave me a major boost and had my heart racing even before the adrenaline kicked in.

I slashed at the first man who came close, quickly stepping past him and spinning round, stabbing him in the back before turning to face the next person. Catching his sword high with mine, I used my dagger again and quickly stabbed upwards into his stomach.

"No time to think of what I am doing or dwell on the lives of the men and women I am taking."

I managed to grab a breather and looked round, seeing my colleagues in trouble I ran over to them. One of the guards was struggling against two larger men

Running the nearest through with my sword from the back, the sight of this caused his friend to pause and look round, a fatal mistake in a mass brawl as the guard quickly took the opportunity to finish him off.

Groff who had followed me down off the wagon was now finding himself struggling against several opponents as well. Swinging wildly with his quarterstaff to fend them off, he stumbled backwards and fell to the ground.

Before any of the attackers could react though, a dozen fireballs flew from the first wagon causing everybody to stop in shock as fires blew up all around Groff. A number of fireballs hit a single man who screamed in pain as he burst into flames, several more of the attackers were also hit and were now rolling around on the ground trying to put out the flames.

At this, the remaining attackers broke and ran. The three mercenaries with me took the opportunity to grab their bows and began picking off one or two of the escaping attackers. This allowed everyone else a chance to calm down and inspect the rest of the caravan.

Now that everything had quietened down, we all realised that Lizzie was still stood on the front seat of the wagon. She was now crying freely, tears flowing down her cheeks. sobbing uncontrollably, she cried out repeatedly, "l killed someone."

Quickly running over to the wagon, I climbed up beside her and hugged the clearly distressed woman. "Don't worry, you did it to protect us."

"They were going to hurt Groff, I couldn't let that happen."

"Come on, calm down, you did really well, we have all killed someone today, that is what we are getting paid for, come on, come down and see Groff."

I led Lizzie down off the wagon. Once on the ground she quickly ran over to Groff and gave the surprised Dwarf a big hug. At that point Eldred and Kyle arrived with the rest of the mercenaries.

"Is everyone okay?" Eldred asked.

"Yes, apart from me" answered Catherine, Kyle immediately rushed over to help her, at which point we all realised she had an arrow sticking out of her side.

I answered for the distraught Lizzie who was still hugging Groff.

"Lizzie is in shock, and Catherine clearly needs a healer."

Eldred looked at Lizzie with a puzzled frown and asked what had happened.

With a sweep of my hand, I indicated the smouldering grass in front of the wagon.

"She launched a load of fireballs to protect Groff, lucky not to have burnt herself out. She caught one man several times, killed him. It was a bit of a shock to her."

"Ouch, well your call caught a second group by surprise, instead of hitting the rear of the caravan they hit the middle. The six guards, Kyle and Carnelia did really well, by the time we joined in from the rear it was all but over. I think we accounted for all of them."

"Some that attacked the front managed to get away, unfortunately.

"Not to worry, we won with only two light casualties, that is a good win in anyone's books."

After a quick headcount the caravan moved forward a few miles before making an early camp. A group of men armed with spades and shovels was then tasked with returning to the battlefield and giving the dead a decent burial while ensuring the fires started by Lizzie were fully out.

Settled down in camp, Catherine was now laid out on a blanket next to one of the camp fires. One of the mercenaries brought over a rucksack, explaining that she had experience as a healer. She began to take items from it, including a very small thin knife and a small saw. Both Catherine and Kyle looked surprised when they saw her pick up the saw first, together with a small vial of liquid.

Seeing our look she explained what she was going to do.

"Sorry but this is going to hurt, I have to cut the arrow down as close to your chain-mail as possible, then we can take that off so I can get at the arrowhead underneath. Here drink this." She said the last as she handed Catherine a small vial of reddish liquid.

"It should help with the pain and speed up healing."

Catherine drank the liquid and then grimaced, although whether that was from the taste or the arrow in her side was difficult to tell, at least at first.

"Gods, that is awful stuff."

The mercenary smiled.

"Right, here we go." Taking up the saw she began to cut through the arrow's shaft, holding the base still against the squirming Catherine.

"Good, now we can get you undressed." With Kyle helping they lifted the halberd and chain-mail off her. Underneath she was wearing a plain linen shirt, now stained red. The mercenary pulled this up, giving Kyle a good view of her midriff up to the swell of her breasts. One thing we noted were two scars, a long slash, diagonally across her stomach and a small vertical one on her left side.

The mercenary noted them as well. "You were lucky that that one didn't kill you.

Through a grimace at her pain, Catherine answered. 'He was unlucky about that, managed to kill him before he could follow up with anything else. Got to a healer before I lost too much blood."

"Good, well now, I need to carefully cut out the arrow tip, otherwise it will become infected and likely kill you."

Holding the knife, she heated it in the fire until it glowed red, cooling it with neat alcohol taken from a small bottle. She also poured a small amount on the wound which caused Catherine to cry out in surprised pain. Taking the knife, the mercenary used it to cut into Catherine on each side of the arrow,once she could feel the arrowhead with the knife she slowly pulled it free. Having removed the arrowhead she threw it on the fire and then cleaned the wound with more neat alcohol, causing Catherine to scream out this time.

The healer took a needle and fine thread and put some stitches in to hold the wound closed before placing a pad over it which she fixed in place with a bandage wrapped around Catherine's waist.

"Don't do any lifting or bending for the next day or two and drink these, one each morning." She handed Catherine two more vials of red liquid. Catherine quickly handed the vials to Kyle who put them in his pocket.

That was when we realised there was a party going on. Someone had started playing a violin and before long several others had brought out instruments out and joined in.

Two large trestle tables had been set up near a large fire. Food and drink had been laid out on these and people were stood around chatting, eating and drinking. Before long, helped by the freely available alcohol, couples began to dance to the music.

Kyle refused to leave Catherine's side, so together with Groff, I went up and got both of them a plateful of food and a mug of beer.

Eldred then asked me to dance. After the song had ended, Treddian came over, bowed politely to me and asked for a dance. Producing a quick curtsy, I answered yes.

We received more than our fair share of curious glances but ignored them all. During the rest of the evening we both danced with various others although Treddian had more than one or two with me.

Magdalena had been out on one of her trips, foraging for items for her potions when the attack happened. Now she refused to leave Lizzie's side and during the evening the two even danced together. This caused even more raised eyebrows and stares than did Treddian dancing with me.

As for Midnight, she had been enjoying the longer than usual evening stop. The children had been playing with her, getting her to chase twigs, leaves and bits of leather twine.

Once they had all gone, she explored away from the fire, catching several mice during the night, which as usual she dumped by my blankets.

The following day was slow and clear, everyone seemed quiet and withdrawn. That evening, round our shared camp fire, Treddian started to ask us what we all thought about the action the previous day.

"I know some of you might wish to forget yesterday ever happened but if you are serious about taking on jobs like this then you need to learn from every experience. Discussing it quickly helps, as the actions, mishaps and surprises are all fresh in your memory."

Being the de-facto leader, I kicked off the discussion. "As a first action, I think we all did reasonably well. Having someone riding out on point worked well, except for Catherine getting hit of course."

I smiled at Catherine as I said this, looking surprised before looking away. A few glanced at Catherine but not knowing her story didn't find anything surprising in Kyle having his arm around her waist. Anyway most people were too busy taking sly glances at Lizzie and Magdalena who sat close together with their arms round each other's waists.

"Fighting was completely different to training, the thought of getting killed was very present in my mind but that seemed to give me more energy and speed." I continued with my thoughts on the fight, as it could hardly be called a battle.

"I didn't see the action in the middle of the caravan but from my point of view at the front then, two things stand out. Well one actually, Groff and Lizzie both need individual training, although I am guessing Kyle does as well. Myself and Carnelia can simply practice together. We also need someone to act as a healer, if we had been on our own then Catherine's wound could have killed her."

Turning to Lizzie and Magdalena, I then said something I had previously said I wouldn't.

"Magdalena, if you are going to be joining us on jobs we really need to know how powerful you are and what skills you have."

Magdalena looked like she was going to get up but Lizzie said something to her quietly that seemed to calm her down immediately.

"You really do like taking risks with witches and wizards don't you? Well as before I suppose I only have myself to blame for the question. I asked to come along, knowing it was work for you, not a trip out, so it is only fair you know at least some of my skills. As to my skills, I am a high level novice in fireballs, I can also help heal although I have had no practice. I have a certain amount of skill with a knife but I have never had to cut out arrowheads. Other skills include herbalist and alchemist, I like to tinker with everything, as to my level it is still relatively low at four.

I smiled at Magdalena as I thanked her for being open with us.

Kyle then spoke up, describing the action in the middle "I have only just started using the axe but I like the feel and balance of it. We simply followed the mercenaries who were with us in jumping down and engaging the attackers who jumped up out of ditches. They seemed as surprised as us. I think if they had been wearing armour it would have been more difficult, but I guess you are right, training from someone who knows how to fight with a shield and axe would be very useful."

"See I said it would be useful. We don't have any axe masters or mages in our Guild so I am guessing you will have to pay at the Guild Hall for that, but it will be well worth it."

After that, we all retired to our blankets to get some rest.

After several days of uneventful travel, we had finally arrived at Roccnia, the capital of Gerrusia. As with the Capital of Kirkluk, the city had expanded far beyond it's walls.

Since we had two days to kill, we decided we might as well visit the City itself. As we started to walk in we were passed by a covered wagon, filled with benches and people. The driver stopped and asked if we wanted a lift into the centre for a copper each. Looking at each other we all said yes and then clambered up inside to find seats. I asked the driver if I could sit up front with him and chat, something he readily agreed to as he would welcome the company.

"Do you run in and out of the City all day?"

"When I can, during the winter there is little traffic so I have to make up for that during the rest of the year."

"Is this your wagon and horses then?"

"Yes, my own little business, can be quite profitable, especially when caravans leave or arrive like today. I am seriously considering buying a second but that brings additional costs and responsibilities as well as income. Difficult to know whether I should or not."

"Well whatever you decide, I hope you have a successful future."

He then explained a little bit about the City to me and altogether I had an enjoyable ride into the centre.

Stopping in a cobbled square, he pointed to the towers we could now see.

"Temple is about a ten minute walk away. I stop and start from here all the time from dawn to dusk, so if you want a lift back just wait here."

We thanked him and then informed him we would be staying for two nights before returning early the following morning.

"Right then, first thing first we need is accommodation, so yell out if you see a decent looking Inn." I was in command as usual.

We started walking towards the towers they could see over the rooftops. The Temple here was massive, four huge towers covered in statues, crenellations ran around the top of each tower and also along the sides of the building in the middle. The main building ran north/south, with smaller wings running east and west, but all four towers were the same.

Midnight, in her basket, was being passed from person to person to share the load. She had grown a bit since we had found her and filled out on the regular meals she was getting at the Inn.

Groff who was currently carrying her was moaning as usual. "I think this cat needs to go on a diet."

"You all like her really and there was no where to leave her." I was laughing at his comment.

"Nether the less, she is a pain to carry around. Can't you teach her to walk on a lead like posh dogs?"

"I expect I could given our bond but that would hardly be keeping a low profile now would it."

The conversation was stopped by Catherine calling out to get everyone's attention.

"How about trying that one?" She was pointing down a side road where a large sign could be seen. It had a large green dragon painted on it and in large letters underneath was written "The Green Dragon Inn".

"No harm trying, we can dump our bags and Midnight if it is any good."

Entering the Inn, I enquired about rooms, unfortunately they only had three which meant more sharing. Rather than hunt through the City for more Inns, Lizzie and Magdalena agreed to share a room with Carnelia and me. The prices were higher than they were in Grapplington but that was only to be expected given the size of the City. So we took all three rooms and after getting the keys followed a waitress upstairs, dumping our gear and Midnight.

Leaving immediately we made our way to the Central square. Here there were shops, Guild Halls and taverns, together with people, lots and lots of people, most were human, but Elves and Dwarves could be seen occasionally. We received quite a few looks of surprise as people realised that there was a group with Elves, Dwarves and Humans in it, which caused Catherine to comment.

"If those Elves passed on a description of our group we are done for. There can't be too many groups wandering around that have both Elves and Dwarves in it."

"You are right of course, but I don't like being bullied and have no wish to split the group into two."

I must have sounded as stubborn as I looked but we were all now taking a more active interest in the people around us and Eldred and Catherine in particular had a hand on the hilt of their swords.

Magdalena pointed out that she would like to wander off and look at spell shops with Lizzie. Carnelia and Catherine wanted to look around the market they could see off to one side, so in the end our group did split up. This made my group of four much less noticeable in amongst the large crowds.

We moved from shop to shop and market stall, browsing more than actively shopping. I fell in love with an ornate scarf which I decided to buy, the rest picked up little things as well.

By then it was getting late and we found a small Inn tucked away in a side street and decided to have a meal. Inside, the main room was dark, with a low ceiling, featuring thick wooden beams. It was also noisy and smoky. A large fire place to one side dominated the room but although it had a pile of logs set up, it was unlit. On the other side a small stage currently had a singer and violinist performing on it.

Managing to get a table, we then ordered food and drinks. A lot of the patrons seemed to know the artists and their songs and it made for a pleasurable evening.

Even though we occasionally got startled looks as people realised a Dwarf was sitting drinking with two Elves, it didn't ruin the atmosphere.

When I made my way up to the bar to order more drinks the Inn Keeper came up and asked me about my group and it's unusual make up.

"Hi, I hope you don't mind me asking but how did an Elf couple end up travelling with a Dwarf and a Human?"

"No, I don't mind, although first off, Eldred and I are not a couple, we are all just friends visiting this city. We are part of a bigger group, the rest are out shopping on their own, we all met on the road and just seemed to click as a group. Getting used to the stares and comments now." I gave him a severely abridged version of our meeting but was happy and smiling as I did.

"Sorry about the assumption that you two are a couple but nice to meet you and enjoy your visit to this establishment and the wider City."

Returning to our table with the drinks, Eldred asked about our conversation.

"He wanted to know how a we met up, as we are such a diverse group."

The others smiled, and returning to our drinks enjoyed the rest of the evening. Returning to the Inn where we had rooms we all went straight to bed.

I found that my three room mates were already in bed and asleep but before I joined them I checked the notifications I had seen flash up in the Inn.

[Charisma, +1

Luck, +1]

Happy with both, I undressed and got into bed and was quickly asleep.

In the morning we visited the Temple, marvelling at the size and all the statues. Inside, the smells of incense and food competed with the noise of people praying and chanting to overwhelm our senses.

The main central aisle was huge and lined with alcoves holding altars to the various Gods of Helven.

The strangest was clearly not human but didn't look like anything I had ever seen before. On an alter was a strange statue. It combined a tall straight body, carved with a spiral pattern twirling around it, together with six spindly legs that had no feet. On top of a tiny neck was a large stone, cut to represent a multifaceted crystal. Around the neck was a ring of short spindly arms, matching the legs. There was no inscription or decoration and the statue looked quite old. Seeing no one around I placed a copper in the corroded votive cup, feeling quite strange as I did so. Groff made me jump then, as he tapped me on the shoulder.

"We're all leaving now, you coming? Wow, what an odd statue, not seen that one before but this is supposed to be the biggest Temple around. Do you know anything about it?"

"No just seems odd and old, no inscription or anything, I left an offering as it seems to be a little different, like us."

"As good a reason to leave an offering as any. You done now?"

"Yes."

We left the temple and spent the day wandering around before going back to the Inn.

In the morning we roused early and hitched a lift in the wagon to the edge of town where the Caravan was already assembled. Throwing our bags into the back of our wagon, I followed Groff and climbed up onto the driving bench and waited for the order to leave.

CAPTURE

On the trip back we forgot about the threat from Elves and became too complacent. About a day short of the border we paid for it.

The caravan had stopped for the night as usual, the only difference was that I had started to take night watch duties again.

The whole day had been grey and dreary, no rain but continuous cloud cover. Now, after sunset it was still cloudy and therefore very dark, with no moonlight or starlight, the only illumination came from the various camp fires and lanterns.

Patrolling outside the camp, I was almost in a daze when I heard hurried footsteps behind me. Turning I had no time to react as two Elves barrelled into me and dragged me to the ground.

Pinned to the ground by the weight of the two men, I struggled to throw them off me. My quick yell was instantly muffled when one of my attackers stuffed a rag in my mouth.

Within moments they had dragged me back on to my feet with my hands tied behind my back. Two very happy captors walked me away from the camp, shortly meeting up with eight others. Some of these I recognised from the altercation on the outward leg of our journey.

"Damn, Groff will be so angry at me for leaving the camp on my own."

"See, we told you it wasn't over. In a few weeks we will present you to the Queen ourselves. It will be a great accomplishment for our clan, I can already see our rewards."

I was screaming against the gag and struggling to get free from the ropes binding my wrists but to no avail. The men who had noticed my struggles simply pointed and laughed.

Something had heard my short yell though.

Midnight had been hunting mice and anything else small and furry out in the dark beyond the edge of the camp. Her hunting was interrupted when she was suddenly startled by a sharp stab of fear and pain. She didn't have to be a super intelligent cat to realise this had come from her bonded companion but she didn't know what it meant beyond her own experience of fear and pain, mostly dogs and rats.

Midnight had followed the bond link easily enough through the dark, quickly catching up to me, but in reaching me she clearly became confused and then angry. There were no dogs or rats just people in a group, none of whom would allow her to get near her bonded companion.

Several yelled at her and when one tried to kick her she became really angry, hissing and spitting at the group.

Her anger was being aggravated as she could sense the fear coming off of me, much clearer now that she was almost in touching distance. It was also now clear to her that I was terrified of these people.

The sudden change in the weather was almost palpable. Unseen in the darkness, a massive thunder-head cloud, developed rapidly overhead and then it started to rain.

The rain was not a surprise, after all, it had been cloudy all day. The ghostly blue lights of Saint Elmo's fire were a surprise though, flickering on and off, all around, they provided an eerie spectacle.

I was as shocked as my captors appeared to be, until I received a familiar tingling sensation. This time not just confined to my arms but all over, I also started to get notifications, my mana was being drained along with my health and stamina. Off in the distance I could hear yelling, which presumably meant my disappearance had been noticed.

My disappearance had been noticed, but the yelling was from the wagon owners who were now faced by a sudden storm which was not only bringing rain but Saint Elmo's fire. This was seriously spooking not only the animals but also the humans, the shouting was as much to raise up everyone else's spirits as it was to raise their own.

Everyone who had touched or been touched by Midnight started to get the same tingling affect and notifications as I did. Midnight was drawing power from everyone and everywhere.

Eldred, Groff and the others had been woken by one of the mercenaries who had been on guard duty with me. I had forgotten about her in the scuffle but she had heard my startled scream and raced over, only to see my captors join up with eight others.

Being outnumbered she had done the sensible thing and returned to camp, marking her trail as she did. Once in camp she reported first to Lieutenant Treddian and then roused the rest of the group.

My friends left the camp to track me down, while the mercenaries stayed to help with the animals and the people who were all starting to panic.

"Come on they can't have gone too far." Eldred led the group, closely followed by Groff.

Following the trail marked by the returning mercenary, they made easy going at first but by then the rain had started in earnest. It was eerie seeing flickering blue lights flashing everywhere, but they were slowly fading away. Suddenly Lizzie, shouted out and started swearing.

"Oh Gods, I just realised what this is, I knew everything seemed familiar. It is a Mage storm, I read about them in a book on old wars. Loads of mages and their acolytes would band together to create a storm."

"We can't have upset that many mages, besides how are they hitting our mana,health and stamina?" Groff again picked up on any issues with a statement.

Eldred started laughing and then answered.

"It's obvious really, a magical cat, Allycyon said she felt tingling in her arms when she first picked up Midnight. I expect pretty much everyone in the wagon train has either petted Midnight or had Midnight brush up against their legs. We are all Midnight's acolytes."

The rest looked around in awe.

"Midnight is doing all this?" Carnelia asked in hushed tones.

"Probably not intentionally, just a reaction to her fear or the fear she can pick up from Allycyon." Magdalena was the first to answer.

"Remind me not to upset Allycyon or Midnight, and must make sure I have a good stock of fish." Groff again made a flippant comment.

There was some giggling at this at least until the first thunderbolt, the flash and crash were instantaneous, showing how close it was. The friends were momentarily stunned by how loud it had been but recovered quickly and started moving as fast as the conditions allowed.

With my captors, I had been watching the blue flickering lights disappear. I didn't know what that meant any more than my captors appeared to but I had heard stories about them and the violent storms they usually presaged.

Not wishing to get struck by lighting I simply stopped walking and lifted up my legs. The sudden change in weight caused the two men guiding me to lean over and all three of us tumbled over on the on the slippery track, lying down in the mud.

Then everything vanished in a bright flash of light and the loudest noise I had ever heard.

When I came to, there was a ringing noise in my ears and I quickly realised I couldn't hear properly. All of my captors were lying on the ground, the two nearest were clearly still alive and looked like they were coming round.

Struggling to get up I was relieved to see Midnight approach and then even more relieved when Eldred and Groff appeared, followed by the others.

Eldred quickly dispatched the two Elves who were still clearly alive before checking the others. I didn't say anything as I saw this, recognising it for the necessary evil that it was.

Once they had cut my bonds, I picked up Midnight and held her tight, finally undoing my Jerkin and covering her with it. While I was doing this, the others dragged the bodies off the trail into the undergrowth. The hope being that they would be eaten by the local wildlife before anybody found them. Then we all returned slowly to camp through the rain and thunder.

Getting back to camp, we found the place to be ordered but frightened. The storm was moving away now and although it was still raining it wasn't the downpour it had been earlier.

Making our way to our camp fire we met up with Lieutenant Treddian and a few of his mercenaries and explained what had happened. Leaving out the part played by Midnight in creating the storm, seemed like a sensible thing to do.

I caught Treddian staring at the sodden cat I was holding and realised I would eventually have to say something to him. Not tonight though, all I wanted now was to dry off and get some sleep.

The mercenary who was also a healer, came over with her rucksack and gave me a quick check over including looking at my wrists for signs of rope burn. As the rain eased off, everyone got back to bed but most only got a few hours sleep.

In the morning everything was damp and everyone was cranky, several fights broke out but these were quickly dealt with.

Both Lizzie and Magdalena appeared to have been put on a blacklist of some sort, as people avoided them at breakfast. It was also clear that a few of them were openly glaring at the two women, whilst small groups could be seen talking and pointing.

It didn't take long for all of us to pick up on this.

"What's happened, why the sudden dislike?" I had called our group together for a quick discussion.

"I am guessing a few of them have come to the same conclusion as Lizzie but with a different focal point. If it was a Mage storm then we are the most likely candidates either for causing it or being the target." Magdalena answered me, looking immensely sad as she did so.

"That's crazy, they requested we bring a Mage along with us."

"It is true though, even when people need a Mage they don't really like or trust them, they just fear the consequences of not having one more." Lizzie sounded as sad as Magdalena.

"That's so sad." I walked over and gave both Mages a hug.

"Regardless of that you are a key part of our group and more importantly our good friends."

The rest of the trip back passed by in an uneventful, monotonous blur.

During this time, Lieutenant Treddian had started to teach me about tactics. Often he would use his men as an example, splitting them into offensive and defensive teams designed to show how the different tactics worked in various situations.

This resulted in the two of us spending a lot of time together which caused more than one raised eyebrow.

Eventually though, we made it back home, tired and dusty, we bade farewell to the caravan master and the mercenaries at the North gate before walking to our usual haunt the Horse and Groom Inn.

BACK IN TOWN

Our room requirements had changed somewhat since leaving. Lizzie and Magdalena were now clearly a couple and both wanted to remain close with the group.

Kyle and Catherine had now become a firm if somewhat odd couple as well. Catherine was loud and commanding even though, like Carnelia she was only five feet tall. That left Carnelia sharing a room with me and Groff and Eldred sharing another.

Entering the Inn we requested four rooms and were lucky enough to get four spread out on the second floor. The Innkeeper had apparently been keeping an eye on the dates and shuffling people around to keep some rooms spare for us. Picking up our keys we retired to our bedrooms, glad of the chance to sleep in a comfy bed for the first time in four weeks.

I awoke early in the morning, feeling the comforting warmth of Midnight against my legs. Not wishing to get up or disturb Carnelia I decided to look at my status and see how my stats had improved over the last four weeks. I remembered seeing lots of notifications after the run in with the Elves and the attack by raiders.

[Allycyon of Clan Beech

Race - Elf

Title - Gracious Leader

Previous Titles - Head Teacher, Outlaw Leader, Beast Rider, Dancer

Female]

[Status

Age

18

Level

3 (45/70)

Health

22/22

Stamina

26/26

Mana

21/21

Strength

14

Agility

16

Dexterity

17

Intelligence

15

Perception

17

Charisma

18

Willpower

16

Luck

14

]

[Skills

Dance

Beginner 6

Acrobatics

Beginner 5

Horsemanship

Beginner 3

Improvisation

Beginner 5

Swordsmanship

Beginner 7

Knife

Beginner 4

Stealth

Beginner 2

Shield

Beginner 8

Beast Rider

Beginner 5

Leadership

Beginner 8

Throwing Axe

Beginner 4

Archery

Beginner 4

]

I was quite happy with my tally and how they were developing.

The training we carried out each night had built up my strength and Leadership qualities. I had even been bold enough to ask Magdalena what level she was.

"It is strange to think of Lizzie and Magdalena as a couple. Elf society is very strict, in many ways it is very similar to Dwarf society, people who deviate from the accepted norms are quickly ostracised. I guess it would be different for Elves living in the Human Kingdoms, as humans seemed to be far more liberal in their ideas and customs in general, maybe that came from living slightly shorter lives."

We had so many things to sort out, from accommodation to training, as well as securing new jobs. The next few days were going to be very busy and interesting.

"First things first though, I really need to get a handle on Midnight. Is she just a weird looking group mascot or could she really be useful. At the very minimum, having a pair of eyes that could go anywhere had to be worth a bit of trial and error."

Deciding that now was as good a time as any, I got up and quickly dressed in my trail leathers. After four weeks, I was now used to walking around in the form fitting buckskin trousers and jerkin. I still wore a long sleeved top underneath the jerkin, some things never changed. Pulling the bedclothes down I uncovered Midnight and stared at her intently, her details coming up quickly.

[Midnight, Chaos Cat, female, 25 weeks old]

Beyond that nothing else appeared and I guessed my perception and bonding would have to increase to see more.

"So how do you increase bonding? Peter had said horse riders and hound masters used bonding to improve their control over the animals, so that implied giving instructions." Taking a deep breath I tried to give myself a confidence boost.

"It's only a cat, I give orders to people on a daily basis, I can do this."

Concentrating on Midnight I thought through my order.

"Midnight, go to Groff and wake him up."

I repeated this several times while staring intently at Midnight, finally I received a notification in yellow so it was clearly from Midnight.

"Hungry"

I laughed quietly, bargaining with a cat, what a start to the day.

Concentrating on Midnight I again thought through my demand, this time adding food as a reward afterwards at the end.

This time it seemed to work and I got to see Midnight walk through a door. She didn't fade through it though, one second she was stood in front of the door the next she simply wasn't there.

Opening the door woke up Carnelia who asked what was going on. I simply told her I was going down early for breakfast before leaving and shutting the door behind me.

Walking down the hallway to Groff's bedroom I kept listening for a disturbance and finally heard one as I reached his door.

Groff could clearly be heard yelling at Midnight.

"Midnight, stop it, bloody cat, get off."

Laughing to myself, I knocked on the door, at which point Midnight appeared at my feet, rubbing against my legs, unsurprisingly I also got an immediate yellow notification.

"Food!"

Laughing out loud I again knocked on the door, calling out at the same time. "It's me, Allycyon, come on, open up."

Groff opened the door, wearing only shorts, and then looked at Midnight in surprise.

"How did she get out? She was biting my toes inside just now." Eldred was sat up in bed but he didn't get up, just calling out.

"What's going on?"

Still laughing, I didn't explain yet. "I am going downstairs, I will explain everything over breakfast."

With that I turned round and walked downstairs followed by a happy Midnight.

When the others turned up I couldn't help but laugh at the grumpy expression Groff had. Like me the others had taken to wearing trail leathers all the time, it was just easier.

The exception was Lizzie who still liked to wear dresses whenever we were not on a quest.

"Your damn cat woke me up, biting my toes." Groff was still annoyed.

"I know, I told her to."

Groff and the others sat up and looked intently at me now.

"What? How?" Groff was more interested now than grumpy.

"Well, I didn't exactly tell her to bite your toes, I gave her an instruction to wake you up. Had to bribe her with the promise of food though, which is why I came down for an early breakfast."

"Fine, but how did you get her into our room and how did she get out before I opened the door?"

"Ahh, I never did get round to explaining that did l."

Lowering my voice, I continued in a whisper.

"Midnight has a little trick, she can walk through walls."

"Don't be silly, nothing can do that" Groff's initial reaction was quick and heated, then he stopped and looked at Midnight.

"She was in our room with the door locked, and then outside before I unlocked it though." Looking at me he asked for more information .

"How long have you known? Why today and why me?"

I replied while still struggling not to laugh.

"Since the first night we picked up Midnight, I would lock her in the basket at night and each morning she would be asleep in my bed with the basket still locked. Today has been the first morning I have had a chance to sit down and think. As to why you, I didn't want to disturb the couples and I know it is normal for Elf men to sleep naked, which left you, of course you could have been naked too but I had to choose someone."

The others laughed at my reasoning before asking how I got Midnight to do it and why.

"She has a useful skill and I wanted to see if I could utilise it. Catherine started it off by asking if I could walk through walls if I held Midnight."

Groff looked startled. "Wait, how long has she known?"

This started me laughing all over again.

"Since before the Caravan job, I was supposed to tell you but there never seemed a time when we were all alone."

Magdalena was looking at the cat intently, now. "She is already valuable as a unique tame monster, if this were to get out people would probably kill for her. Can you sense what she feels or sees yet?"

"Not really, I get notifications, hungry, full, sometimes I get flashes of emotions but usually I have to be really close to her for that."

"That will improve over time. I have heard that if the bond is really strong you can see and hear what the animal sees and hears. Not very useful if you are a horse rider but for a hawker, you could see miles of land laid out below. For you, being able to instruct Midnight to go anywhere and then see what ever is there could be invaluable."

"I hadn't thought that far ahead. I just wanted to find a use for her ability." Now I looked worried.

"How many people can bond with an animal?" I asked the question even though I guessed what the answer would be.

"None of my friends have said anything about getting a notification to bond with Midnight and they have all touched her."

Lizzie confirmed my worry. "Only one, I am afraid."

"So if someone wants to use Midnight's talent, they need me along or need me out of the way."

I gave a big sigh. "I seem to be piling up trouble for myself."

"Don't worry too much, just don't sleep alone or go out alone. We are all here with you." Groff smiled at me, then got up and gave me a hug.

"Fine. In that case business as usual until something happens. Today we need to do a number of things. Collect our pay, arrange to buy the wagon and horses we keep hiring, pay the Mercenaries and hopefully meet up with Peter."

"Quiet day then" Eldred replied with a laugh.

"If Groff and Catherine come with me, we can pick up our pay and then pay the mercenaries. Between the rest of you, you can arrange to buy the wagon and horses, we can then meet up later at the bank. Then we can have dinner in the Guild Hall while we enquire about trainers for Groff, Lizzie and Kyle. We also need to enquire about a healer." Ignoring Eldred's remark, I carried on.

The rest nodded or said okay, at which I received another notification.

[Leadership, +1]

I smiled to myself, at least I have stopped jumping every time I get one.

FINDING A HEALER

Setting off to the North gate area, I was accompanied by Groff and Catherine. Our first port of call would be the Caravan Master to pick up our pay.

It was a blustery, sunny day, gusting winds pushed at us as we walked along. Scudding clouds helping to give the impression of a building storm.

Arriving at the Inn where we had first met the Caravan Master, we walked in, far more confidently than we had the first time. He was again sat at a table surrounded by a large number of people. As usual I spoke for our little group.

"Hi, we are here to collect our pay for guarding the caravan."

Looking up, the caravan master smiled at me.

"Ah yes the young Elf group. Actually you acquitted yourself really well. We counted twenty three dead raiders, including the one your mage incinerated. You get a two silver bonus per head as agreed." He leaned down and picked up a small wooden box and a small book. Opening the book he made some notes and then looked up at me.

"It was twenty one men altogether, wasn't it?"

I simply nodded, not wishing to get into an argument over the fact that I was clearly a woman or his brusque manner.

"Good, that is eighty four silver for the trip and forty six silver for the bonus." Opening the box, he counted out the coins into a leather coin purse.

"Here you go, it was a pleasure doing business with you." He stood up, gave me the coin purse and then held out his hand. I shook it politely before dropping a quick curtsy and turned to leave with the other two.

Once outside I stopped and swore. Groff and Catherine giving me sharp looks.

"He doesn't get any easier to deal with does he? Right, hopefully the mercenaries will be less stressful to deal with, let's go and get that over with now."

We started off to the nearby Mercenary Guild. Again I was struck by how plain the building looked. Entering the building, I was surprised to be met by Lieutenant Treddian. Like the Old commander previously, he wasn't wearing a uniform. Instead he looked smart in grey trousers and a white shirt.

"Hi, what are you doing here this early?"

I blushed as I answered him although I didn't know why.

"Nothing interesting, we came over to pay the remaining half of our bill, we just received our payment from the caravan quest."

"Right, if you come through here, I will sort out the paperwork."

He led us into a small sitting room where four comfy chairs sat around a low table.

Having ensured we were sat down comfortably ,he left to go and fetch the paperwork.

Coming back a few minutes later he brought with him a small ledger. "Right, here we go, sixty one silver to pay in total, thirty one paid, thirty left to pay."

Counting out thirty silver from the coin purse the caravan master had given me, I quickly handed them over to Treddian.

Taking the coins, he wrote paid in the ledger and then signed the book before asking me to sign as well.

Having signed he asked whether there was anything else he could do for us. When I replied "No", he stood up and said bye, holding his hand out for me to shake. I did so and again dropped a small curtsy before turning and leaving, Treddian politely holding the door open for us.

"Right, now to the bank and meet the others, I make that six silvers and eighty coppers each. Is it worth putting those into our accounts? We will need to change some of the silvers into coppers though."

Both gave me different answers, Catherine wanted to keep hers as she wanted to buy some clothes, while Groff was happy to put his in the bank.

"Fine, up to each person to decide for themselves, we are all adults, just remember this money came from four weeks work and so should last that long."

The walk back was pleasant, the worries about meeting the Caravan Master and the Mercenary Leader were gone. Reaching the bank we found the others stood around outside, waiting for us.

Carnelia explained that she had bought the horses and cart. Arranging to have them stored at the Horse and Groom, although that would cost us additional rent until we found somewhere permanent to stay.

After that short catch up, we all trooped into the bank as a group, as I didn't want to count out coins on the street.

Once inside I counted out six silver to each person, giving them the same speech about making it last. Those that wanted to save at least some of the money formed a queue at the only manned desk.

Jumping the queue, I explained that I needed to split some coins down to distribute coppers. Sitting down at the desk I also explained this to the Clerk.

"Hi, I have an account here, but at the moment I just want to change seven silver into seven hundred coppers so that I can distribute them equally to my colleagues here."

"Thank you, can I have the seven silver please?"

Handing over the coins to the Clerk, he got up and went downstairs. A few minutes later he came back up carrying a small leather coin purse.

"Would you like to count it?"

"No, no that will be fine." I stammered at the implied distrust.

"Good, if that is all then, please sign here" The clerk turned the ledger he had been writing in around and handed me his pen. I signed it quickly and then went along the line of my friends, counting out eighty seven coppers each.

I included my admonishment about making it last again and then we split into two groups, those wishing to deposit some of the money and those wishing to keep it all.

Once we had all finished, we left the bank and walked over to the Adventurers Guild Hall. The Hall was becoming a home from home for all of us. Walking in we found a suitable table and then looked around trying to find Brian, finally spotting him sat with a group of older men in a corner.

A waitress came over and took our orders while we were sat chatting. Brian had finally noticed us, walking over and sitting down by me.

"Hi, how did your trip go?"

"As well as could be expected, I suppose. We got jumped by raiders once, Catherine here got hit but fortunately one of the mercenaries was a healer and was quickly able to help her. Lizzie helped as a mage but also went into shock after killing one of the attackers, both of them are fine now though. In return we accounted for a total of twenty three of the bandits. We also had a run in with some Elves as well and and learnt a few things about each other and our cat." I answered before anyone else could.

"Hmm, well getting jumped by raiders is never pleasant, I am glad you are all fine, the rest sounds personal so I will leave it. Do you need anything else?"

"Actually yes, we need some proper training. In particular Groff needs quarterstaff training, Kyle needs training in how to wield an axe and shield and Lizzie needs mage training. Do you know where we could get these?"

"Quarterstaff, Axe and basic Mage training you can get here, for a fee of course. Come back this afternoon and I should have arranged trainers for you. Anything else?"

"Yes this one is harder though, we need a healer, although Magdalena has some of the skills needed, it would be unfair to make her concentrate on healing."

"Well I can ask around the other Guilds to see if they have any healers wanting a change or waiting to join. No guarantees though, there is also a hospice on the edge of town near the East gate, you could try there."

"Thank you, I don't know what we would do without your knowledge and contacts, you have certainly made our lives here a lot easier." I leaned over and gave the old man a hug.

Brian went back to his friends and I returned my attention back to mine.

Magdalena was looking at me strangely so I expanded on the reasoning I had given to Brian.

"As a Mage, Herbalist and Alchemist you are incredibly useful to our team. We wouldn't expect you to be our Healer as well, it would be a waste of your skills, but as a Potions Master you would be more than useful."

Magdalena seemed to stop in thought for a moment before wrapping both arms around Lizzie.

"Thank you Allycyon, I knew my life would change when I met you, I just didn't know how. We are both grateful to be included in your group and being your Potions Master sounds great." She then jumped which made Lizzie jump as well.

I wasn't the only one who laughed at this. "At least it isn't only me who jumps at notifications. What did you get?"

"Would you believe, Potions Mistress. How did you do that?"

"I don't know, I seem to have a knack for titles. Nice to know I can give them out as well as accept them. Interesting to see it changed the gender of the title to match you though."

"Who wants to come with me to visit this hospice and see what the healers there are like?"

Unsurprisingly Groff immediately offered to accompany me as did Carnelia and Catherine who seemed to have become firm friends.

"Can the rest of you sort out the training please?" There were were plenty of nods at this.

Setting off later, it took us some time to reach the East gate. Then we took even more time walking up and down leafy lanes trying to find the building, which we eventually found, tucked away behind a high hedgerow.

Entering the property, we were amazed at how ordered and tidy the gardens were, it seemed more like a Lord's mansion than a hospice. The driveway led along another hedgerow before depositing us in front of a large three storey building that did indeed look like it belonged to a Lord.

Knocking on the door we were met by an older woman when it opened.

"Hi, welcome to the Grapplington Hospice. How can I help? Are you here to visit or do you wish to have someone moved here." She then seemed to look at our little group for the first time, realising how young we were and that one was an Elf and one a Dwarf. Coughing to hide her discomfort, she started again.

"Hi. How many I help?"

Now used to my role as leader or spokesman, I spoke up. "Hi, we are interested in hiring a healer either permanently or for whenever we go out on a quest. A friend suggested we should visit here and ask. Ideally we are looking for someone young and adventurous."

"Young and adventurous eh, well that doesn't really describe someone who wants to be a healer, you have to be stable and dependable." Seeing the looks on the our faces, she stopped and smiled.

"Don't worry, not all our students are here voluntarily. We run a small orphanage as well, we train them in healing to give them a skill for when they become adults. Not all of them take to this so well though, we have one who is particularly rebellious, we never throw any of our youngsters out but we have been sorely tempted by her at times. Here let me call her and she can show you round the hospice while you talk to her."

She then turned around and walked through a door on the left, leaving the four of us, stunned and standing there not knowing what to do.

She came back a few minutes later, leading a teenager by the hand. The girl had her head down but must have been around five foot six, with dark brown hair cut short, she was wearing a knee length pinafore dress with a white apron over it.

"Hi again, this is Charlie, she doesn't like Charlotte, which is her real name." The young woman didn't look too happy but she refrained from saying anything, dropping a quick curtsy to us.

The older woman continued. "Charlie, please show these people round the hospice and be kind enough to answer their questions."

With that she walked off, leaving five startled people behind. I took the initiative, starting off by introducing everyone.

"Hi, I'm Allycyon, this is Groff, Catherine and Carnelia. How old are you exactly?"

"I'm sixteen, nearly seventeen although they don't know my exact birthday, they told me I was brought in with my mother. She died shortly afterwards, I survived although I was weak and sickly for awhile and now here I am."

She smiled at this last comment while I was staring intently at her, no notifications or additional information appeared, so I went back to asking questions.

"How good are you at healing?"

"I am passable, I know how to set bones and splint limbs. I can clean and tend wounds, including stitching, I have helped with other tasks too, restraining patients, dispensing potions, all sorts really."

Charlie had been leading us down a short corridor while we talked and now opened some double doors which opened up into a large room. Beds ran down both sides and all of them were occupied, healers who seemed to be mostly women, moved at random around the beds. The smell was the thing we noticed most, incense not quite masking the smell of decay.

Looking at our faces, Charlie smiled.

"We change the incense regularly but no matter which one we use it never quite hides the smell and we never seem to get used to it. Good in a way I suppose."

Charlie was a good host and answered all our questions as she showed us round the hospice, the top two floors were living quarters and offices and workrooms.

Sat down in a rest room I asked her whether she would be interested in leaving the hospice.

"Well yes. Unlike some of the people here I don't see this as my life. It wasn't my choice to be left here and although I am thankful for their help and training I want to see something more than these rooms and the nearby streets."

The four of us looked at each other before Catherine explained why we were here and then asked the obvious question.

"We are an adventuring group and we really could do with a healer. The healer would be expected to go on quests with us. We all have our own place within the group but we also help out in anything else when required. Would this sound like something that would interest you? Allycyon is our leader, but both Allycyon and Groff are only eighteen, not much older than you."

Charlie looked around at each of us and seemed openly shocked. "I thought you were looking to become healers yourself. You want me to leave here and join you on quests? Where would I live? Would I get paid?"

I was almost laughing and the others were all smiling at her sudden enthusiasm.

"Yes, definitely although we would like to talk to the lady about your training and what equipment and supplies you would need. As to the others, at the moment we are living at the Horse and Groom Inn, although that should be about to change."

I paused as I thought about pay for Charlie. "Payment might take a bit of finessing, in general we only get paid when we complete quests, but that would mean leaving you without money, potentially for weeks. I am sure we can work something out, at least to give you something, at least a silver a week."

Charlie's mouth hung open in shock. "I get ten coppers a week here, although I don't have to pay for food or accommodation."

"Basic monster quests usually pay out five gold but that has to be paid out between all of us and may have to last you half a year but there are other perks such as the travel and we get to sell anything we can take from the quests."

"You're really serious about me joining your group?"

"Yes, we don't have a healer at the moment. Catherine here would have likely died after being hit by an arrow. We were lucky someone nearby was a healer but we can't rely on luck in the future."

Charlie jumped up and hugged me. "Yes of course, I would love to join your group. When can I move? Do I have to wait until I am eighteen?"

"No, of course not, maybe tomorrow, we can return and discuss everything then if that is fine with you? It will give you time to sit down and think about it first, while we sort out a room at the Inn for you."

"That would be fine."

The old lady returned then and Charlie ran up to her crying and smiling, while in between sobs she explained the offer she had received.

"I don't think I have ever seen Charlie this happy or excited, thank you."

She saw us out of the building and agreed to meet us the following day with a list of things a good healer would need and with Charlie washed and packed. Leaving, we returned to the Adventurers Guild Hall and met up with the rest of our group.

A New Home

We were all sat in the Adventurers Guild Hall. "Where would Peter be?" I asked of no one in particular .

"Back at the Inn" suggested Groff." We have nothing else in particular to do today, so we might as well go there anyway."

"Well, as good an idea as any. Are the rest of you coming or do you have other plans?"

Catherine looked at Kyle and shook her head. "I am going shopping with Carnelia, so we will meet you at the Inn later." With that the two women got up and headed out the door.

Back at the Horse and Groom, Groff selected a table and then ordered drinks while I asked at the bar if they had seen Peter. They had but he had gone out in the morning and had said he wouldn't be back until later in the evening. Hearing that, we decided to wait for him here and spent and enjoyable afternoon/evening chatting about anything and everything.

When he came in, Peter looked happy and on seeing me stand up and wave him over he quickly joined us. He had a large satchel with him which seemed to be bursting at the seams.

"Hi, how are you?" He then seemed to catch on that there was something different.

"What happened to the other two women, are they alright?"

I laughed at his comment. "Nothing, don't worry, they are out shopping although they should have been back by now. We should also be getting a new member for the group tomorrow, a young female healer."

At that point Carnelia and Catherine came in. Catherine had clearly changed clothes and the new look clearly shocked Kyle as he almost fell backwards over his chair in his rush to get up and say hello with a kiss to her cheek.

Catherine was now wearing a short dark green skirt, coupled with a short tight top of the same colour. The affect was to highlight her figure, red hair and bare midriff. She may have aimed the affect at Kyle but it clearly took in all the men currently in the Inn. They were either staring openly, Groff, Eldred and Peter or else taking quick glances when they thought no one was looking.

Kyle got two chairs, forcing everyone to shuffle round, and then sat down next to her, he then went to put his arm round her waist before stopping himself. Catherine and Carnelia had both obviously been drinking as well as shopping with the result that they kept giggling and laughing throughout the evening.

Peter seemed excited when he sat down and opened his satchel.

"Right, I have all of the documents for the Mansion here, I just need all of you to sign. In general in return for a lowered rent you will be expected to patrol the Estate and keep it free of monsters."

There was some general grumbling about this, but Peter ignored it.

"There are twenty rooms on the first floor which can be utilised for bedrooms, how you allocate them is up to you. Rent for the Estate will be three silvers and seventy five coppers a week, in total while I am alive. Going down to one silver and twenty five coppers once I die, essentially then, just paying for legal costs."

"There will also be twenty houses built around the pond to the rear of the Mansion and each signatory will be entitled to one, which will be free of rent for their lifetime."

This cheered everyone up and we were all now listening attentively. "I have come to an agreement with the surveyors and lawyers over the plan for the Estate, which is this."

He then proceeded to get a thick piece of parchment out of his satchel, which unfolded into a large map of the Estate. Numerous blocks were marked out on it in blue or red shading.

"As you can see we have marked out fifty, twenty acre homesteads in blue, some are based on existing buildings, others will have to have buildings constructed. Whether you build first or rent first is up to you. Rent is payable to an account at the bank and the signatories will all have access to it. I should add that the bank will have strict instructions over how they can pay out, that includes having at least two signatories at a time and having to provide detailed spending accounts. As with the additional houses out back, what you charge for rent will be up to you."

I was now open mouthed and almost in shock, staring at Peter alongside all my friends. Several were clearly trying to work out rent income in their heads. In the meantime Peter was oblivious to all this and carried on speaking.

"Your homesteading friends have taken the four sites nearest the Mansion, only two have buildings though."

"My lawyer is preparing some papers which aim to give you an idea of farm rent and expected production. Having talked to your friend Jamie, you might want to make him the Estate Manager, he seemed to know his stuff."

He looked around seeming to defy us to contradict him.

"As you can see we have marked some areas in red, this is where the ruins and standing stones are. Given the stories, the surveyors predictably refused to go there. If you wish you can explore those when patrolling for monsters. You will also have to Beat the Bounds at least once a year, this means walking around the boundaries of the Estate and checking boundary stones and fences. Several fences and hedgerows had been moved inwards by neighbours and these are currently being moved back and letters and bills are being sent to the neighbours." Peter again paused to look around at all of us.

"As soon as you sign you can move in. My lawyers have authority to change signatories but you will have to provide reasons. I have set the limit at twenty as that is how many bedrooms and houses there are. I hope that is all clear."

There were nods around the table.

"Good, then can you all sign this document and I will deposit it with my lawyer tomorrow." Peter then produced another large parchment sheet filled with legalese. Opening a bottle of ink he wrote his name out and then signed next to it, passing the pen to me, I wrote my name down and then signed next to it. The page and pen was then passed round the table before ending back at Peter.

"Right, that is all done, and as I said you can move in whenever now. I look forward to seeing you all at the Estate and seeing new life breathed into it. Oh, by the way, there is one more provision, Groff gets to be Estate Librarian, providing he undertakes to immediately find and train a replacement and also undertakes to catalogue the contents."

Groff looked stunned. He eventually managed to mumble out a shocked "Thank you."

"No problem, night all." Peter got up and left to return to his room. Leaving us to stare at it and each other in shock.

Eldred stood up. "This requires Brandy, everyone in?"

We all nodded, so Eldred went up to the bar and ordered a shot of Brandy for everyone, he came back with the drinks on a tray and once we all had a glass in hand he gave a toast.

"To the future and to Allycyon who seems to hold the group together. Salute"

With that he took a swig of the drink and everyone followed suit, I didn't choke this time and smiled at Eldred.

"Thank you, but we all make a great team."

Raising my glass, I copied Eldred.

"To a new home and a new start. Salute." I took another swig of my drink with that and everyone followed suit.

The toasts then flowed freely as did the brandy, meaning it was late before all of us made our way to bed.

Rising for breakfast in the morning, I was unsurprised to find the others were as hungover as I was. Peter had left before we got down for breakfast, with most of us settled for bread and fruit juice.

I was holding my head. "Ugh, I am never drinking again."

Catherine laughed. "Everyone says that when they wake up with a bad hangover, it will clear in awhile."

"Good, as we need to go and collect Charlie and then get her kitted out for travel. I also want to go shopping."

It then went quiet as everyone concentrated on eating breakfast or nursing their hangover.

CHARLIE

"Who wants to come with me to collect Charlie?" I enquired after finishing my breakfast and recovering enough to want to go out.

Unsurprisingly Groff said yes but this time Catherine grabbed Kyle as she also said she would like to come along.

"Right, I guess the rest of you get a free morning, just make sure you have everything you need for tomorrow."

Setting off together, the four of us made our way to the Hospice. The blustery winds of yesterday had abated leaving behind, calm if somewhat cloudy weather.

Walking along we found ourselves looking at the buildings in a different way. We wouldn't see them again so regularly now, so we found ourselves pointing out features or buildings we found interesting or had noticed for the first time.

Reaching the hospice we were surprised to find a distraught and tearful Charlie, sat with boxes on the front portico. Seeing us walk up, she ran up and gave me a big hug and amongst the sobs managed to explain herself.

"I got up this morning and packed, I have been waiting out here since, I thought you had changed your mind or it was some kind of joke at my expense."

I wasn't sure how to comfort the girl but hugged her back and tried to be sensible about it without sounding like I was dispensing a telling off.

"That's fine, don't worry, we were later than we expected, we had a late night after agreeing to a new home. We still need to see your guardian though as you are not eighteen yet."

Cheering up and wiping her eyes, Charlie pulled away from me. "You still want me then?"

"Of course, didn't I just say that." I was smiling broadly at Charlie.

"Oh, okay, thank you, I will go and get Sandra, she wanted me to wait in my room but I just couldn't."

She quickly ran inside and a few minutes later reappeared with the old lady.

"Hi, it seems that Charlie has slept on the idea and is still clearly interested in our offer. Is that fine with you? We still need a healer and we have now arranged proper accommodation. We have just accepted an offer on an Estate forty miles from here, she will have her own room in a shared house and when they are built she will also have a house for her lifetime." I tried to sound as adult and confident as I could.

Charlie gasped and then started crying again before rushing over to give me another hug while she sobbed into my shoulder.

Sandra simply smiled and shook her head.

"I couldn't compete with an offer like yours and to be honest I wouldn't want to, she clearly doesn't fit in here and your offer sounds amazing. We would like her to come back every twelve weeks or so for more training if that is okay with you? At least for a few years or until we both agree she has nothing more to learn from us."

"No, that is fine, it fits in with the training we have arranged here for others in our group, we are aware we are young and inexperienced."

"In that case I give my whole hearted support to the idea."

Charlie gave a squeal and raced over to hug Sandra. "Thank you, thank you, you don't know how much this means to me. I won't let you down, I will be the best damn healer ever."

Smiling she chided Charlie lightly. "I am glad, you have a lot of potential, but watch your language and behave yourself, these people are putting a lot of trust in you. You could be the difference between them living or dying."

"I know and I won't let you or them down."

Turning around, Sandra handed me a sheet of paper.

"I have written down two lists, one is for a rucksack she can take with her when you go on quests, the other is for a base, somewhere she can treat people for days or weeks. If you are really serious about going on quests regularly then a base is something she will eventually need. Most of the local Adventurer Guilds bring their seriously wounded members here."

I gave the old woman a hug.

"Thank you, we will take good care of her and to be honest we hadn't thought about looking after any wounded beyond needing a healer, so thank you for this."

We made our goodbyes and then helping Charlie with her boxes we made our way back to the Inn.

Charlie kept looking around at all the buildings as we walked along and kept stumbling and knocking into people.

After a while, Groff could stand it no longer. "Are you alright? You keep stumbling and knocking into me."

"Sorry, I have never really been out of the Hospice. Everything is amazing."

Groff just groaned. "Ugh, the trip to the Estate is going to be a nightmare."

I laughed at his comment. "Don't worry she can walk with me."

Saying that I walked over and held hands with Charlie.

Reaching the Inn, we went inside to see if any of the others were there. All four were sat at a table with Midnight sat on Carnelia's lap. Going up to them I was just about to introduce Charlie when Magdalena spoke up.

"Hi Charlie, thought it might be you but I don't know all your names. How are you?"

"Fine, thank you Mistress." Charlie dipped a little curtsey.

"None of that nonsense now, we are in the same group, friends."

Getting up, she walked over and took her hand and guided her to a seat as the others sat down.

Feeling a bit put out, I turned to Magdalena. "Do you know everyone around here?"

"Not everyone, but the hospice buys a lot of my potions, Charlie here stands out a bit from the others there."

That seemed to be enough to mollify me and Lizzie and I continued on. "Anyway, I am taking Charlie shopping. Does anyone else want to come along? Women only I am afraid."

Only Carnelia said yes, with the others going shopping on their own.

Going over to Carnelia, I picked up Midnight and then called Charlie over. "Come on Charlie, you can dump your stuff in my room."

I took Charlie up to our room and she quickly dumped the bags on the floor while I placed Midnight in her basket.

"You can sleep on the bed over there tonight, these rooms are designed to sleep three people. I will clear it with the Innkeeper later. For the moment we need to go out and get you kitted out as quickly as possible."

Locking up the room and again leading Charlie, I headed back downstairs. Going up to the others who were still sat around the table I grabbed Carnelia.

"Come on Carnelia, bank first. I have some things I need to do."

Holding both by the hand and smiling broadly, I walked out of the Inn.

Walking to the centre of town, Charlie kept up a string of oohs and ahhs, as one building or another caught her attention. Once we got to the Centre square though, she just stopped, open mouthed, staring at the buildings.

I laughed at her expression. "This is nothing compared to Roccnia in Gerrusia, the temple there is as big as this square."

Charlie looked at me in surprise. "You've been to another Kingdom?"

"Yes, you will too, if we take another caravan quest. Now for the bank, which is that building over there." Pointing it out, I again grabbed both women by the hand and led them in to the bank. Walking up to a free table I addressed the clerk.

"Hi, I would like to withdraw some money and set up an account please."

Carnelia and Charlie looked startled but kept quiet.

"Good. How much would you like to withdraw?"

"Two gold please but in silvers and could you split it into three purses as well."

"Certainly How many would you like in each purse?"

"One hundred in one and fifty in the other two please."

I had sat down by then, with Carnelia and Charlie stood behind me. I

Carnelia leaned down and whispered to me "What's going on Allycyon? What are you doing?"

For the moment I simply ignored her as I concentrated on the clerk. He had produced a ledger and had just completed writing in it. Spinning it around he asked me to sign my name, once I had he went downstairs, coming back up with three coin bags which he handed to me. I took them all and got up, looking at Charlie I indicated the chair.

Charlie sat down and I asked the clerk to open an account for her.

"Okay, full name and occupation please."

"Charlotte, healer."

"Thank you, are you depositing any money?"

Before she could answer, I did.

"Yes, twenty silvers." Saying this I put down twenty coins. Charlie started to get up and protest but I quickly stopped her.

"Don't worry about it, think of it as an advance, you can pay me back out of your first earnings. Here, this is the remaining thirty."

Handing over the purse from which I had taken the coins. The clerk had finished, and as with me he asked Charlie to sign the ledger. Once she had, she got up and gave me a hug.

"I don't know how to thank you?"

"Just be a very good healer. Actually you need to work with Magdalena as well, get to know what she can make easily and what needs some work or special ingredients. No point in asking her for a potion if she can't make it."

"I will do that, but what now, I have more money than I know what to do with."

"Most of it will go on clothes and supplies, come on."

Dragging the two women behind me, I led the way to the leather shop first. "First stop, decent hard wearing, trail clothes. Would you prefer tan like us or black like Magdalena?"

"I think black, that will mark me out as different and make it easier for you to notice me if you need me."

"Good, here we go then."

Entering the shop I continued talking and seeing the shopkeeper, dragged Charlie over to her.

"Hi, could we have some clothes for our friend here, she needs two pairs of black buckskin trousers, a decent pair of black boots and a matching jerkin."

"I don't have that in buckskin but I do have it in calfskin. Will that do?"

"Yes , that should be fine."

With that the old lady came round the counter with a tape, pencil and paper.

Charlie stood there while she was measured and then looked at me for guidance when she was handed trousers and jerkin.

"Try them on. No point in leaving before we know they fit you."

Charlie undid her dress and took it off, revealing that she wasn't wearing a bra or top underneath.

"New rule and probably more shopping, always wear a bra and top underneath, whatever you decide to wear. We often get changed or washed with the men."

Charlie coloured at this."Really?"

"Yes afraid so, does take a bit of getting used to though."

The clothes fitted reasonably, but the lady said not to worry as there was no point in getting something tailored as Charlie was still growing. She produced some boots and once Charlie was fitted out completely, I had her pay for the clothes. Charlie then got changed back into her dress.

Leaving the shop they followed me to Nick's Emporium.

"What are we buying here?" Asked Charlie looking around in amazement.

Laughing I replied "Everything."

Going up to the counter I asked the young man if we could put down the goods we had brought in with us and then have those and whatever was purchased here delivered to the Horse and Groom Inn that night. He agreed readily and so I led them into the room with shields.

"Right, you need a small round shield, don't worry about not being able to use it yet, you will get lots of practice. Carnelia here can be your partner to start with. I know I am rushing you but we only have today to sort everything out."

After a a bit, we had helped Charlie pick a shield that we all felt was suitable.

Then it was on to chain-mail where they ran in to the problem of clothes again. The assistant measured Charlie but then said it would be better if she took the dress off to judge the fit. I explained to him that she couldn't do that. So we helped Charlie with the chain-mail knowing it wouldn't be a perfect fit.

"Don't worry, you are still growing so you will need it adjusting anyway. Now you need a sword and dagger, as well as a belt."

We selected a hand and a half sword, similar to the one I was wearing as she had a height advantage over Carnelia who was wearing a short sword on her belt.

Vambraces and Grieves were easier and soon there was a pile of weapons and armour at the counter. I had Charlie pay for this as well causing her much grief as she realised how little of the thirty silvers she had left.

"Carnelia, if you take Charlie around the market, find whatever you think she needs clothes wise. I have a bit of personal shopping to attend to. I will see you back at the Inn later."

I waved goodbye and set off on my own. I headed for Bob's Trading Post, going inside without looking at the displays in the windows and calling out as I did. "Bob, hi, it's Allycyon, I have a question for you."

Bob appeared from behind his counter and offered his to shake which I did. "What's this question then?"

"Do you have any full length mirrors. That is something I miss from my home."

"Not much call for them and they take up a lot of room to display. I might have something in the stockroom out back. Would you like to come through and check?"

A look of panic quickly flashed across my face and my hand moved to my sword of it's own accord sword before I shook myself and replied

"Yes, thank you." If Bob noticed my reaction he kept that information to himself.

Leading me through the door behind the counter, we found ourselves in a small cobbled yard, at the back of which was a large barn. Bob opened the door and then unhooked and lit a lantern before gesturing to me.

"Afraid it is not very clean, this is where things I can't sell or barter come to die. Usually I end up breaking them down, either to repair something else or sell on as parts. Right the bigger stuff should be down this end." said as he walked off to the right.

"Here you go, I actually have three, and two empty frames, guessing I used or sold the glass in those two. Which do you like? I could probably swap the frames but that might take several days."

In a rack were five wooden frames, three of which still had glass. The middle one was slightly more ornate and had an iron horseshoe fitted to the top. I decided that I would take that one, it was easily seven foot from top to bottom.

"How much is the middle one with the horseshoe?"

"For you, twenty silver, the glass alone is worth more than that."

I looked at him but could only see an honest trader. In all honesty I had expected to pay a lot more, hence the reason for drawing out one gold for this purpose.

"Right, probably against my better judgement but can you have it packed up safely, and delivered to the Horse and Groom Inn by this evening? If so, I will pay thirty silver, twenty for the mirror and ten for the packing and delivery."

"No problem, I will get it out and packed up straight away. If you would like to follow me back to the shop we can sort out the payment."

Back behind his counter he produced a ledger and wrote down the details, once he had finished he flipped the book around to face me.

"Look, that is thirty silvers and could you please sign here"

I signed the ledger and then counted out thirty silver and quickly handed it to Bob.

"Nice doing business with you, keep me in mind if you come across any more monsters."

I replied that I would as I walked out of the shop.

I was contemplating the future as I walked back to the Inn. Lost in my own thoughts I hardly noticed people or streets and was surprised to suddenly find myself outside the Inn with no recollection of the journey.

Going inside I quickly spotted some of my friends and sat down with them. "Have Carnelia and Charlie returned yet?"

Eldred replied to my general question, he had been sat with Groff and Kyle when I walked in.

"Yes, came in a while ago, they went upstairs taking Catherine with them when a load of shopping was delivered. Lizzie and Magdalena are out somewhere."

I had been sat down drinking and chatting for awhile when the three women came down the stairs. Charlie had clearly changed and had her hair done as well. She was now dressed in her black leather trousers and jerkin, underneath she had a dark purple top on and this was matched with a similar coloured band in her hair. She looked slightly self conscious as she walked across and sat down. Eldred got up and asked what they wanted to drink.

"Right, drinks anybody? Sorry Charlie, fruit juice for you, at least until you are eighteen."

"We would have light ale at the hospice at times, especially during the summer, safer than fresh water and no one wants to tend a fire, just to boil water when it is hot."

"Right, I will remember that when we are on our way, but in here now, you are stuck with fruit juice."

He came back with our drinks and had just sat down when Lizzie and Magdalena appeared.

"Would you two like drinks, I just bought some and don't mind getting yours as well."

"Thank you Eldred, that would be great, two wines please." Lizzie answered for the pair of them.

Eldred quickly got up and ordered their drinks.

Sitting down together we all chatted about the day and what the future might bring.

I finally spoke up about my idea.

"I drew some money out of my account today and will go and settle with the Inn Keeper, we can sort out what we owe individually later. We could really do with a Group account at the bank to cover Inns and such when we are on quests and maybe add another split whenever we get paid. For the moment I will keep a second purse and we can all add into it regularly."

The rest of them nodded at this.

Getting up, I walked up to the bar asking for the Innkeeper, so that I could settle our bill.

The Innkeeper came through from a back room and on seeing me smiled happily.

"How can I help you today?"

"I am afraid we are checking out, although no doubt we will be back at odd times depending on what quests and training we need."

"Ah well I will be sad to see you go, you certainly livened the place up."

He produced a ledger and totalled up our bill, passing me a slip of paper with the amount written on it. I counted out the coins from my purse before whispering to the him.

"Would you like us to drop off our cat in the stables now and then to help control the mice and rats? We wouldn't expect any payment."

The Innkeeper smiled again.

"Yes, that would be great, I will let the stable boys know so that they can keep an eye out for her."

I returned to my friends after that to chat long into the night.

Retiring to our rooms, we packed our things ready to leave in the morning.

MOVING IN

In the morning we were all up early and dressed in our trail clothes ready for the two day journey to the Estate. Everyone that is except Lizzie and Magdalena.

Eldred and Groff went round to the stables to fetch the wagon and horses, everyone else went to their rooms to pick up bags and goods.

Coming back down we waited out front for the horses and wagon.

Eldred and Groff appeared, leading the horses. A large but thin wooden crate was lying on it's side in the back of the wagon flush against one of the wagon's sides.

Eldred came up to me and pointed to the crate.

"This was apparently delivered here last night and is for you. Any idea what it is?"

"Yes I do, it 's a mirror, I bought it yesterday at Bob's Trading Post."

Eldred just smiled but Catherine and Carnelia looked shocked, Catherine replied first though.

"A mirror that big, it must have been expensive."

"Not really, he can't sell them and also gave me a discount."

"He has more then?"

"A couple and some spare frames. So he could get more made if there was a demand."

"Do all Elves have such large mirrors?"

"Most, if they can afford them."

As we were talking, we had been packing our things into the wagon.

I checked the basket to make sure Midnight was actually still inside. Once we had all finished packing Eldred stated the obvious.

"We are still waiting for Lizzie and Magdalena."

Smiling, I walked over to Catherine.

"Come on Catherine you can help me wake them up."

Shrugging helplessly at Kyle, Catherine followed me into the Inn and up to the room the two women shared.

As I was reaching for the door handle, Catherine grabbed my wrist and stopped me. Putting a finger to her lips she leaned over putting her ear next to the door.

With better hearing than her, I didn't need to do that, I just needed to concentrate, otherwise I just ignored background noise.

Now I could hear faint moaning coming from the room and looked questioningly at Catherine. Catherine just smiled and shook her head before leading me back downstairs.

Outside, Catherine was almost laughing as she went over and whispered something to Kyle. His eyes went wide and he stared intently up at the Inn, which earned him a friendly slap from Catherine. It was this that finally put everything together for me and I blushed bright red as I realised I had almost walked in on the two women having sex.

"Right, I am not willing to stand here all morning waiting for those two." Walking off into the Inn, I left the others behind. They looked at each other and just shrugged their shoulders. Catherine was now laughing and Kyle looked surprised before saying "She wouldn't, would she?" No one got a chance to ask him what he meant before I reappeared.

"Settled then, the Inn Keeper is sending one of the stable boys round and he will sit here and mind the horse and wagon. Cost me a few coppers but we can now go inside and have a drink."

Eldred smiled. "See, that is why you are our leader, the rest of us would have stood around here for the next hour or so getting bored and angry."

For some reason this made Catherine laugh again which earned her a stern look from me and again had Kyle staring up at the Inn. Groff had caught on that something was up but didn't know what so turned to me.

"Okay, so what is going on and at whose expense is the joke?"

"No joke, Lizzie and Magdalena haven't got up yet." Catherine was now laughing and crying, which made me blush. Not really knowing what to say, in the end I just blurted it out.

"We almost walked in on the two of them having sex. Catherine stopped me just in time. Not sure how long they will be."

Eldred and Groff had now joined Kyle in looking up at the Inn, Catherine was now bordering on hysterical laughter which was only made worse by Charlie.

"How do two women have sex? I know the basics of how men and women have sex and I have seen enough naked bodies at the hospice."

Looking shocked, I recovered quickly. "I think that is a conversation for another day, once you are eighteen."

At that point a young boy came out of the Inn and said he had been sent out to look after a wagon and horses. I thanked him and then led the others inside. There we sat around a table and ordered drinks.

Everyone was still obviously thinking of Lizzie and Magdalena and conversation was slow and desultory until I slammed my hand on the table making everyone jump.

"Enough, we know they are a couple, you have no problem with Kyle and Catherine, there should be no problem with Lizzie and Magdalena." There were nods and quiet agreements to this, before Eldred spoke.

"Sorry Allycyon, I let my imagination get the better of me, won't happen again."

l received several notifications at this but ignored them.

"Is there anything we might need, anything anyone can think off that might be useful. It looks like we will be here for a while, we might as well make use of the time and go shopping." With that I got up and looked at the others. Eldred and Groff got up and followed me out.

"What is it with the thought of two women having sex that made you men go so crazy?"

"Guess it is the thought of actually being there with them more than the act itself. Never had to analyse a thought like that before though, so not entirely sure."

"I can kind of understand that but they are our friends and a couple, so they are as off limits as Catherine and Kyle."

Groff, smiling replied "Yes, ma’am."

Walking around we didn't actually enter any shops, just enjoyed each other's company as we walked along until we eventually found ourselves back at the Inn.

The boy was still sat in the wagon although he now had a very attentive Midnight sat next to him. I tipped him a few coppers and said we shouldn't be much longer before entering the Inn and rejoining the rest of our friends. Lizzie and Magdalena were now sat down with the others and both looked sheepish. When they saw me, Magdalena apologised.

"Sorry about that, we didn't realise there was a fixed time to get up and we had a bit to drink last night."

I smiled and tried to reassure her.

"It's nothing, we were all up, that is all. You are right there was no fixed time. Right are we all having one final drink, if so I am buying."

Making my way to the bar, I didn't wait for any answers. Coming back a short while later with a large tray of drinks for everyone, including a small glass of light ale for Charlie as I didn't want her to feel left out. Once everyone had a drink I gave a little speech.

"It has been fun living here but a new life awaits us at Peter's Estate. I have no idea what life holds in store for me but I am confident I can face anything, especially as I have such good friends around me."

Everyone clapped or said cheers at this and then they were all quiet for a moment as they thought of the future and maybe the past.

Once we had all finished, we left the Inn, I again tipped the boy, this time with a silver and thanked him for his patience. He ran off smiling, while Groff shook his head, climbing up to take the young boy's place.

As usual Groff was driving the wagon and for awhile I sat quietly next to him, content to let the world take me where it would.

The journey to the Estate was as uneventful as it was the first time. With the wagon and no rucksacks we made better time and it was still light when we arrived. Peter must have heard the wagon or seen us from a window as he opened the door and came out before anyone had the chance to knock.

"Hi, glad to see you finally made it here. Do you want to take your things upstairs first or would you rather have a drink and something to eat?"

I looked round at everyone and answered for them. "Given that we have been walking for two days, I think food and drink first although we need to sort out the horses as well."

"Well, if you unload the wagon here, Eldred or Groff can take it round the back, the barn is clean now and has plenty of hay and water."

Everyone agreed to this and quickly started to unload the wagon. Seeing Eldred and Groff struggle unloading the long wooden box, Peter enquired about it. "What is that? It has to be nearly seven feet long."

Grimacing, Groff replied. "Ask Allycyon, it belongs to her, we apparently, are just porters."

Peter turned to me and having heard the conversation, I straightened my back and looked stubborn. "It's a full length mirror. I bought it for here just before we left Grapplington."

Peter looked surprised and then amused.

"Sorry, I have been on my own and living in the East Wing for too long. You should have said something. The master bedrooms are in the main block. The West Wing was for family and Adult guests, the East Wing was for Children. My parents died when I was seventeen and I never moved out of my room, just redecorated it. The master bedrooms all have full length mirrors in their changing rooms , there are six of them altogether, four overlook the front and two overlook the courtyard."

Before he had finished all of us women were racing for the stairs. When the men reached the main corridor we had all vanished. I then appeared out of one of the rooms.

"This one is mine." It was one of the four facing outwards.

Hearing my voice the others came out. Lizzie and Magdalena had the two rooms facing the courtyard, the others had the rooms alongside me.

I continued speaking after looking around.

"I think I will still get my new mirror fitted here, the old one can be removed and fitted into one of the other bedrooms. Peter , we really don't know how to thank you for all this. I really hope we make a success of your Estate, it is the least we can do."

Going back downstairs, Eldred and Groff led the horses and wagon around to the barn. The rest of us carried all the bags into the hallway, apart that is from the wooden crate. Eldred and Groff brought that in once they returned.

Grabbing our bags we carried everything upstairs to our selected rooms. The men selecting rooms for themselves, before following Peter down into the Kitchen. There we helped ourselves to bread, cheese and cold meat.

Once we had eaten and cleaned up, Peter led us down to the Basement. The change was dramatic, it was much lighter and spacious, the wine racks had gone as had the walls, lanterns were hung between every alcove and Peter lit these as we walked along.

"As you can see every alcove has been cleared and also the two corridors that match the wings above. There is a lot more room down here now." He paused for a moment as we all wondered around, looking into the various alcoves and wondering about what type of monster it once held.

"You need to think of staff and their requirements as well. At the minimum I expect you will need a cook, handyman and maid as well as the Estate manager and assistant librarian I mentioned before. Anyway I think I have wasted enough of your evening and will be off now. I will see you in the morning." Peter had led us back to the entrance hall before heading upstairs."

We slowly drifted off to our individual rooms.

Alone in my changing room, I unpacked some clothes ready for the morning, everything felt different now. Even though I had stayed here once before this, it was now my home for the foreseeable future, even if I was only renting it, it belonged to me.

"I will have a house as well, soon and will be able to plant a beech tree as was fitting in setting up a new home. Maybe I could also plant a beech grove somewhere on the Estate, after all it is big enough."

Undressing, I stood in front of the full length mirror and examined myself for the first time since my eighteenth birthday, which was only a few weeks ago.

Most of the changes were internal, invisible to anyone who saw me. I was now stronger and more independent, the leader of a group of friends, more by accident than design but still a leader. My life was so different to what I had envisioned waking up that morning on my eighteenth birthday.

First of all I studied my screens which honestly hadn't changed that much from the last time I looked.

Then I studied my body, trying to compare it to the memory from my birthday.

I was definitely more muscular, not masculine, just that my muscles were more clearly defined and visible. I was certainly leaner and stronger as well. Putting shorts and a top on I went through to my bedroom, a room that was dominated by a massive four poster bed with dark red drapes, a set of matching curtains framed the window.

Looking around quickly, I finally got into bed, the last word I remembered before sleep overtook me was ‘Home’.

EPILOGUE - THE BEGINNING

PETER'S ESTATE, HELVENHOLME

EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS PRIOR

TO ALLYCYON'S BIRTH

The Programme Manager was staring up into the night sky with tears in his eyes. They were not for him but for his wife and children. He had waved them into the shuttle and watched it depart, now he had no idea whether the ship had made it out of orbit, let alone cleared the system.

Up above him, lights flickered in the night sky, the smaller ones were missiles and rockets exploding in their hundreds. The larger ones which occasionally flashed brighter than the sun for a fraction of a second were ships, hundreds, sometimes thousands of crew members perishing in seconds.

It seemed fitting that a war that had started here should end here. The ship's fighting to the death up above, no quarter being asked or given, were the last belonging to both sides. A war that had raged for nearly twenty years had in reality ended some time before, in a final desperate act of a Government facing total defeat.

Like a lot of wars it had been brewing for years. After exploding into space, the human race had settled on hundreds of planets in the surrounding star systems.

In time most joined a newly created Terran Federation but those further out stayed independent or joined several other smaller Federations.

Over the years the Terran Federation grew in size, absorbing those independent systems and Federations, one by one. Eventually only one was left, a mish-mash of systems banded together in their dislike of the expansionist Terran Federation.

Things came to a head when news of secret experiments on the populations of whole planets leaked out.

The Terran Federation declared these to be crimes against humanity, something the governments of the systems involved ignored as they weren't part of the Terran Federation. This resulted in an ultimatum, shut down the experiments or have them forcibly shut down, as they refused to do the former the Terran Federation declared war a few weeks later.

Eighteen years on and Terran forces were steadily grinding out a victory system by system. They had more systems, and more importantly more and bigger shipyards. With each system they lost, the independents realised they had to do something different and desperate or just accept defeat. When they lost their last remaining shipyard they came up with a desperate action that sealed the fate of billions.

They assembled a large fleet in blazing publicity, advertised as a fleet designed to carve a route all the way to Sol and Earth and end the war in their favour.

Their first target was a random Terran system. As expected they were met by a huge Terran fleet and although the Terran losses were high they carried the day.

This was just a cover though, dozens of smaller fleets each consisting of Q-ships, freighters packed with missiles, rockets and mines.

Thrown together with small attack ships, these had been quietly slipped into dozens of systems, anywhere that had or was rumoured to have a shipyard, space station or space based industry.

At a specified time they launched combined suicide attacks on every shipyard, space station or moon habitat they could see. They were immensely successful, but not content with that, the plan called for planetary attacks too, nuclear warheads were primed to explode high above the surface, causing large EMP spikes, blacking out entire continents. Other warheads were filled with explosives and shrapnel, these were detonated in key orbital zones, shredding satellites and destroying communications.

The aim was to essentially kill the Terran Federation and in this it succeeded. Millions died in the initial attacks, hundreds of millions died in the ensuing chaos. Debris from the destroyed space stations and satellites rained down on the surface of each planet targeted, causing widespread damage, which added to the spreading chaos.

Generations had lived safe in the knowledge of readily available food, energy and security. When the food, water and energy supply was removed, the descent into savagery was rapid.

Security forces were quickly overwhelmed as people with no future, facing starvation or freezing to death fought to get at what ever resources were left. With no food, water, light or heat, violent gang warfare developed quickly, as millions starved or froze, populations shrank rapidly and quickly reverted to feudal style societies.

The remaining ships, with no orders or Central Government to follow, quickly dispersed to their home planets and with no spare parts, most only operated for a year or so. A small fleet followed the trail of ships to finally make the system where it had all started and eke out their revenge.

The Programme Manager, slowly working his way through a bottle of Whisky without the aid of a glass, had spent fifteen years on this project, his whole career was spent in the building.

This was the origin point of the the rumours of experiments on whole planets. Helven or more precisely the continent Helvenholme housed the only known experiment using nano technology to monitor and control humans.

The experiment did have its drawbacks though.

Since it was set up, only beamed data had left the surface. There was no test accurate enough to pick up single nanites. So to keep them confined to the experimental planet, no one or anything could leave. The men and women monitoring the experiments were as trapped as their test subjects.

To save their families they had finally broken their own cardinal rule, no ship landed and no one and nothing was supposed to leave the planet.

There was no way of knowing whether any of the men, women and children who had been evacuated were infected. Nor did they know what the future consequences would be if they were and then successfully escaped the battle and made it to a new planet. All could be infected with the self-replicating nanites.

Here and now though, that was irrelevant, the others who had remained behind had left hours ago, and soon they would be nothing more than grub farmers. No different to the hundreds of thousands of subjects they had been studying for decades.

The nanites used, were an amazing blend of engineering and biology, essentially a virus, modified to run like a computer. The virus shell had been strengthened and altered with metals and organic compounds, to produce what was essentially a small part of a computer. The RNA had been completely rewritten, now the virus could replicate itself within a cell or the bloodstream without killing the cell or host. When linked to tens of thousands of others it operated as a single machine hard-wired into the subject's brain and body.

It was also capable of being reprogrammed and this is where the experiments came in. The nanites could cut or add DNA anywhere in the body, they could also be used to stimulate or suppress hormone production anywhere.

This gave the Programme almost complete control over every subject in the experiment. In addition once a body contained enough nanites an emergent property allowed them to monitor all the health statistics of the person and present it in a formatted manner both to the individual and to the Programme. The amount of data the Programme was generating was colossal, it would have taken decades just to sift through what they already had and the Programme was designed to run for hundreds of years.

The building behind him was the centre of that research, twenty stories high and boasting ten basements full of supercomputers and high density storage clusters.

All of this was designed to store, manage and sift the data coming in as well as manage each individual subject on a daily basis, following one of thousands of pre-programmed scenarios.

The settlers had all had their memories wiped. As the basis of the experiment they had been split into four groups, two groups had been set up as antagonistic settlers in prime farm land. The other two groups had been set up similarly in mountains to the east of the first two groups. As an experiment in social science, it had all the bases covered other than Government stability as it turned out.

His life and all that work would end tonight and the nanites would be cut free to evolve on their own in conjunction with their hosts.

Inside the building, quietly ticking down the seconds was a fusion bomb. When it went off, all that would be left behind was a large crater.

ALLYCYON'S FINAL STATS

[Allycyon of Clan Beech

Race - Elf

Title - Gracious Leader

Previous Titles - Head Teacher, Outlaw Leader, Beast Rider, Dancer

Female]

[Status

Age

18

Level

3 (45/70)

Health

22/22

Stamina

26/26

Mana

21/21

Strength

14

Agility

16

Dexterity

17

Intelligence

15

Perception

17

Charisma

19

Willpower

16

Luck

14

]

[Skills

Dance

Beginner 6

Acrobatics

Beginner 5

Horsemanship

Beginner 3

Improvisation

Beginner 5

Swordsmanship

Beginner 7

Knife

Beginner 4

Stealth

Beginner 2

Shield

Beginner 8

Beast Rider

Beginner 5

Leadership

Beginner 9

Throwing Axe

Beginner 4

Archery

Beginner 4

]

ADDENDUM

MAIN CHARACTERS

GUILD

Allycyon, Elf, female 19, slim, light brown hair, green eyes, five feet 8, chainmail, Sword, knife, throwing axes

Groff, Dwarf, male 19, black hair beard, four foot 6, Scalemail, steel shod quarterstaff

Eldred, Elf, male, 26, six feet, slim dark brown hair, dragonscale chainmail, recurve bow, sword, knife

Carnelia, human, female, 25, five feet, black hair, chainmail, sword, knife

Catherine, human, female, 25, five feet, red hair, chainmail, recurve bow, sword, knife, throwing knives

Kyle, human, male, 21, five feet 8, average, Brown hair, chainmail, sword, knife, large double headed axe

Magdalena, human witch, Potions Mistress, female 24, five feet 6, Brown hair

Elizabeth, (Lizzie), Shopkeeper, Mage, human female 21, 5 ft 4, blonde hair.

Treddian, male, 23, 5' 8" with dark brown hair and blue eyes,

Charlotte (Charlie), Healer, five feet 6 , short, dark hair, skinny 17

Mikhail, six foot six, broad across the shoulders. 28, long light brown hair and a trimmed beard. In essence he looks like a giant Dwarf, if you could have such a thing.

"Evangeline, Eva. dark skinned and dark haired. She was short but not particularly petite, somewhere between Carnelia and Catherine."

Adaline, Ada was about five foot eight, statuesque with long black hair and light brown skin.

Daniel, Dwarf, black hair, black beard, 4ft 6, stocky.

Kay, (Kaatje), Elf, 18 female, light brown skin, brown hair, eyes, 5'8" slender, mage, sparks

Lianna, Human, 18, mage, 5'5" light brown hair blue eyes, average build

Elijah, Dwarf, 22, 4'6", stocky, beard, black hair, blue eyes, brother to Verena

Verena, Dwarf, 20, 4'6", stocky, black hair, blue eyes, sister to Elijah

Rhoda, Human, 20, Berserker, 5 '6", light brown hair, brown eyes, average build

Joost, Human, 24, 6'6", broad shouldered, stocky, brown eyes, light brown hair.

NON GUILD

Midnight, Chaos Cat.

Peter, Estate owner, human male, 61

Bob, owner of Bob' Trading Post

Brian, Leader of The Old Grizzlies Adventurers Guild

Other Outlaws, Richard and Sarah, Peter and Annette, Justin

Baron François, A young looking man, dark complexioned with a mass of black curly hair. 5ft6 , 30 years old

Lady Meline, A young girl, dark complexioned with a mass of black curly hair. 11

"Mary, 20, blonde haired, blued eyed, young woman, five feet four", curvaceous. Maid

"Holly, 21, five feet four" stocky,dark skinned, with brown eyes. black hair cut shoulder length. Maid/Groom

"Sharon, 19, slim, five feet six", with light brown hair and blue eyes. hair in a braid. Assistant Librarian

"Julie, 20, stocky tall five feet eight", with light brown hair and blue eyes, hair cut short. Cook, has young child

William, A young boy, companion to Lady Meline. 11

Ray, Head Groom.

Jill, wife of Ray. Head of Household

Paul the Blacksmith

Fyodor, main blacksmith, Forrst.

King Piotr of Sibelowe (Cam)

King Laurent the third, Kirkluk

Sebastian, aka, my favourite Knight.

Elaine, leader of ex-wives group from Attid

Dan, leader of Knights from Baron

Robert, leader of Archers

Lauren, leader of first set of prisoners rescued

Megan, leader of ex-prisoners group, now mercenaries, redhead, green eyes, petite, 5'3'

David, lawyer, Business Manager

Jerome, Mercenary, gambling ring leader

Geography

Planet - Helven

Continent - Helvenholme

Kingdoms

Elf Kingdom

Dwarf Kingdom

Human Kingdom (Split)

Orc Kingdom

LEVELS 1 - 10

1 (10)

0 - 10

2 (20)

11 - 30

3 (40)

31 - 70

4 (80)

71 - 150

5 (160)

151 - 310

6 (320)

311 - 630

7 (640)

631 - 1270

8 (1280)

1271 - 2550

9 (2560)

2551 - 5110

10 (5120)

5111 - 10230

Subsequent Levels are double the previous one.

Achieving a new experience level results in plus one status point and plus one skill points, every 5th level results in plus 2 status points and plus 3 skill points

Achieving a new skill level (Novice etc) results in plus one skill point.

Achieving a status level of 10 or a multiple of 10 results in plus one status point.

Mana Increase, +1 point for every +2 in following, Intelligence, Perception

Health Increase, +1 point for every +2 in following, Strength, Intelligence.

Stamina Increase, +1 point for every +2 in following, Strength, Willpower

Mana, Strength, Health Increase +1 point for every +1 in Level, +2 for multiple of 5

NORMAL BASE LEVELS

Strength

10

Agility

10

Dexterity

10

Intelligence

10

Perception

10

Charisma

10

Willpower

10

Luck

10

Relationships

Hated, Loathed, Disliked, Unfriendly, Neutral, Friendly, Liked, Loved, Exalted

SKILLS

Beginner, Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, Skilled, Master

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

At school I enjoyed two things, reading and chemistry.

My career was originally in chemistry, working in a laboratory, testing paints and resins. I came to dislike the constant mess and smells though.

Never be afraid to switch careers. I changed to working with databases, spreadsheets and reporting to management. Something I found I liked. It involved lots of writing.

My favourite author has always been Mary (Andre) Norton, Terry Pratchett is a close second. Mary wrote under the pen name Andre, as Publishers didn’t think women were capable of writing science fiction in the 1950s and 60s.

Although I liked reading at school, I disliked English lessons and writing. Oh how things have changed.

All of those lessons now come in useful as I sit down and write fantasy adventure novels.

AVAILABLE BOOKS

Fornesia Adventures

Hellena, A Werewolf’s Tale; 2021

Hellena And The Dungeon; 2024

Hellena, Orcs, Elves And Dryads; 2024

Helven Adventures

Allycyon, Exiled Elf; 2019

Allycyon and the Wolves; 2020

Allycyon, The Raider; 2024

Allycyon and The Boar Hunt; 2024

Allycyon At War; Due 2024

Maëlys, The Unlucky Adventurer; 2021

Maëlys and the Rogue Mage; 2024

Tatiana, Dreaming Of Freedom; 2020

Tatiana And The Midnight Serpents; 2024

Helven Short Stories

Groff; 2024

The Baron's Offer; 2024

Murderers; 2024

Lizzie; 2024

Gregory; 2024

Meline; 2024

Princess Ellena Stories

The Bored Princess; 2019

The Princess Ellena Gets A Cat; 2024

The Princess Ellena And The Bucket; 2024

The Princess Ellena And The Maze; 2024

The Princess Ellena And The Party; 2024

The Princess Ellena And The Angry Servant; 2024

In Collaboration With Real Kingdoms

Troll Quest; 2023

Dragon Quest; 2024

All the above books are available to purchase from the Real Kingdoms Website.

Real Kingdoms Website: https://www.realkingdoms.co.uk/ross_kitchen_author

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rkitchen.author

HELLENA

A WEREWOLF’S TALE

I am, was, a Dairy Maid on a farm just outside the town of Burchell.

Being a Dairy Maid wasn’t as good as being a Princess of course. I was contented though, if not happy. I had a steady income, a decent boss and a roof over my head.

All of which were important considerations for an orphan.

All of this changed on my eighteenth birthday but not in a good way.

Waking up in a forest, when you went to bed in your home is confusing at the best of times. Finding yourself naked, covered in blood and lying next to a dead animal, doubly so.

With no memory of the preceding hours, I embarked on a journey of discovery.

Not everything I discovered was pleasing though. As the issues steadily mounted up, I found that my options were steadily shrinking.

MAËLYS

THE UNLUCKY ADVENTURER

Just how unlucky could I become? Apparently the answer was very!

Like all teenagers, I was looking forward to my eighteenth birthday, a day when my status screens would switch on.

Unfortunately, I had forgotten my clash with a mage, years before. He had promised to make me rue the day I had crossed him.

Unlike most teenagers, I screamed the house down when I saw my status screens. Being listed as Half Elf/Half Human when I had two human parents was the least of my worries.

I had negative stats! That was something I would have said was impossible if asked only moments before. Now sat studying them carefully, I quickly came to the conclusion that leaving home and town was the only option for an even vaguely normal life.

Leaving letters for my parents, I enlisted the help of my friend Mary and escaped into the Countryside. Vowing vengeance on that long forgotten Mage, I embarked on my new life.

TROLL QUEST

Adventure awaits Jake and his friends in Real Kingdoms. A Troll is on the loose, ravaging farms and villages alike.

Jake wanted nothing more than to be a Ninja Warrior, wielding two swords with deadly intent. So he jumped at the chance to become a warrior in an early medieval fantasy world, filled with Saxons, Vikings and more.

Although Ninja isn’t a class available to him, Jake gets as close to his ideal as he can, a dual wielding Ranger, wearing leather armour and chain-mail.

Alongside Kate and Mo, and their other school friends, he will have to ensure they all work together to complete the Quest set for them by the Village Jarl. Together with Brenna, a local Shield Maiden, they set off on an adventure of a lifetime.