Throughout the darkened halls of the once great dwarven village of Kraken’dous, in the north, bodies stirred in the halls. Bandits of every race and kind played with lives of the animals like they were toys, they ran after each other for practice, and yelled in a drunken stomper. Their hide armor hung loose from their hungered bodies. The quiet archers sipped on tea, which they were made fun of for, but they did anything for a good amount of coin and that is what the leader of the Bandits gave them. They usually searched the ruins for traps, activated them to deactivate them so that the idiots that followed them didn’t kill themselves in the process of running around with the rest of their pathetic lives. The archers truly didn’t like being bandits. Setting fire to houses, raping women, molesting children, and hanging men that refused to join from the nearby trees; was not their idea of fun. They sat back and cooked food for the disgusting people that got drunk and raided houses and destroyed people’s lives for the hell of it. The archers were a pair of brother’s that was employed from one of the raids. They were lanky at best but stronger than most of the bandits here. They were identical twins with scarily; blue eyes, sharp facial features, and both had a long braid to opposite side of their heads. Koh’thyren, the youngest, had a scare from a horrible attack. Koy’herrohn was the eldest and was the calm before his brother, “the storm.”

They watched as their house was burned from the top, down before they joined. They shot a couple of them protecting their younger siblings. The bandits came into their burning house with a grimaced smile on his face. They took out their daggers to protect their sister. They knew what a raid meant. Goodbye dad and hello to another child on the way. “Well, what cute little children. Look at that young girl. Keeping her to yourself are ya? You better be okay with sharing,” he groaned. He shifted his hides to adjust the down under region.

“We’ll share a knife before you take our sister!” The eldest roared. The bandit laughed. He took out his sword and crashed it against their daggers. The boys got angry and killed the mad man with poisoned arrows to each of his sides. The younger, taller brother took the man’s head, lifted him, and threw him out of the house.

“Quick, Loosie!” Yelled the youngest. He took her hand as she stared at the dead body, glad that it wasn’t all over her. She ran tripping.

“Hey archer! What would you like to eat? A crumpet for your tea?” one of the bandits interrupted the youngest memory. The youngest looked up in a threatening way. He stood up towering the man easily. He took out his knife and put it gently to his neck. He gently slid the knife across the bandit’s neck, thinking of how red would look nice around his neck. The eldest stood up and took the knife from the neck. He looked to his younger brother. Then glared at the bandit who now thought about going to change his loincloth.

“I recommend you leave,” he noted quietly to the bandit. The bandit ran away tripping from being intoxication of his liquor and adrenaline. The youngest sat down and continued to slowly taking to his tea again. He knew it was gone but it was the only thing that stopped him from killing every single person that walked by him.

A taller “gentleman” that stood to attention in front of them, greeted them. He quickly smiled, “Good job scaring my troops. Looking for a less gold?”

“No, I was looking to take his share,” remarked the youngest. The bandit roared in laughter. The youngest glared at the other bandit as if he was prey. The eldest was ready to pounce at him. They were lucky to be alive.

“I have a task for you. It’s not simple enough for the idiots behind me,” The bandit stated. The youngest turned his blue eyes to the bandit leader. He always thought that if they were too dumb to do the job they should just leave then again, they were dumb enough to ruin people’s lives why not be dumb enough to walk into a trap the would hang them from a wall due to a spike. The two looked at each other then back to the leader. The leader smiled gingerly at them. He took out a bag of coin and a letter. “Deliver this to the necromancer. This is his gold. Your gold will come later.” The boys looked at him with a glare. Play Messenger? Was he serious? They stood up and bowed their heads. That was their way of accepting a job that they thought was the biggest joke they could imagine. One boy took the gold and the other took the letter.

They walked off down the ancient halls, brass heads shown like gold in the torch lighting. They were symmetrically across from each other and the exact same distance apart, to make it look like they were four people standing in a square on the edges of the hall that was now littered with the remains of dwarves and their trap debris. The boys looked as if they were shadows walking down the halls; their hoods hid their faces except for the sapphire blue eyes that couldn’t be hidden even in the darkest room. When they got to the end of the hallway they escaped into the rainy night. “This is going to be a long walk,” The eldest stated.

“At least we’ll get a bath from the gods,” the youngest retorted. The eldest looked over at him as they walked over to the horse stables. A smirk laid upon his lips at this thought.

“At least mother is still washing us after death.”

“With any luck, father won’t show up threatening thunder and lightning upon us for the trouble we have caused,” the youngest stated. Trying to get the last cynical remark in.

“With any luck the skies will not fall down and will not take us like we took light from the sky,” The eldest had said with a smirk on his face. The youngest got on his horse with defeat.

They rode off into the night the clashing of thunder rolled on but no lightning was to follow never more. The horsed galloped and slashed through the puddles forming beneath their hooves, they didn’t like thunder. They didn’t like that there was no lightning even more. They kept going for they feared the whip. The wild paint and dun colored ‘stangs just wanted to get wherever their masters wanted and get a good spot of hay before the run again. They jumped over the terrain of rocks and tried hard not to step on the rabbits and squirrels beneath their massive hooves. When they arrived at the destination they didn’t feel good news where they were. Then again, they never felt good news with anything. They assumed it was a normal feeling.

The boys jumped off the horses. The thunder clashed again and the dun horse couldn’t take it anymore and reared. “Glad you waited,” muttered the youngest. They took to the entrance of the haunted looking shack in the middle of nowhere. The boys knocked lightly on the door that looked as if they knocked on it harder, it would fall. It opened itself and the necromancer mustered from the shadows. They threw him the coin and held out the letter. The necromancer rolled his eyes.

“Well aren’t you happy to be here,” he remarked. The youngest tried not the launch out at him because of the comment. They were soaked, cold and shivering and he didn’t even offer escape from the rain. The necromancer read the note and he smirked.

“Well that makes fifth payment. I’ll do it boys. Let that pathetic dragon hunter know the task will be done in a fort night,” He answered the letter. The boys bowed and started walking off.

“I wonder who that is,” The youngest pondered. The eldest looked at him as if he was serious.

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“Koh’thyren, that is Fari’us the dark. He is the black wizard,” The eldest stated. The youngest looked at him in horror. What were the bandits doing messing with a necromancer of that degree for?

“What is happening in a fort night?” He asked. The eldest shrugged at the boy.

“I don’t care anymore. I just want to live and to live, we must do as we are told until something better comes and then we can kill everyone with the secret way out,” The eldest answered. They galloped away from Fari’us. Both unconsciously feared what was to come.

As they approached the dwarven stables to put the horses away the leader came out to greet them. They got off the horses.

“As you asked. Message was delivered and the money was given,” the eldest stated to the leader.

“And you smell better. You body was starting to reek of tea,” the leader slurred. He was clearly drunk. The youngest didn’t like talking to the drunken bandits, especially the leader. He glared and started to walk towards the entrance. The leader looked at them, “You’ve served your purpose for us. You delivered last payment. Congratulations! You die now!” Yelled the leader. He withdrew his sword the twins’ eyes were wide open. They dodged the great blade that they specially poisoned for him earlier that week. They grabbed for their knives and slashed his sides. He roared in pain. The boys took this time to make their run for the hills. They grabbed for their horses.

“Go! Go!” they both roared. The youngest took to his bow.

“Don’t think about it, Koh’thyren!” The eldest hollered. Not listening to his brother, he shot the poisoned arrow at the leader of the bandits.

“Bastard!” The youngest roared as it landed right in the leader’s chest. He looked at his brother who was lit with anger. He looked at him with the same anger that was slowly turning to non-regrettable bliss. The elder brother sensed relief as well. He took a deep breath in. He finally felt like he could.

They rode the horses until mid evening of the next day. They were fast asleep when the horses came to a halt in front of a large door. They woke up to the blind sunlight encompassing them. When their eyes finally got used to the light they looked to the door they had never seen it. They got off the horses soaked backs and walked, cautiously, up to the door. They raised their arms together and knocked. They felt unwelcome news was behind the door.

When it opened there stood a curious looking old man. “What?” he grumbled.

“Where are we?” asked Koh’thyren. The old man changed his posture.

“My house!” He answered combing his beard to the boy’s curiosity. He was wondering if he was more curious than they were.

“Do you mind some gold for some food?” the eldest asked. The man now looked at the other. They looked the same except for the ill one that was talking. With that thought he noticed the swaying of the young man’s hips and the shaking of the curious ones’ body.

“Come! Explain yourselves for being at my doorstep while you warm yourselves by the fire. I’m a good wizard; witch- whatever you prefer to call me. You know what? Call me J’arrmeklian,” He voiced. They looked at each other. They never knew of “good magic.” They walked into the strange door. They were greeted with a warm fire and a small fox. Their first thought of him was food. Their second thought was that they didn’t care about having food at this point; they just wanted warmth. They tried running for the fire but found they could only stumble and land flat on the rabbit carpet. J’arrmeklian laughed.

“Those with cold feet shouldn’t run, like those with hot feet shouldn’t walk, they should stroll,” J’arrmeklian joked. They took quietly to warming up sleeping against each other once they were comfortable.

“Wife! I need a meal for when two extra mouths wake up to feed,” He panicked. He didn’t like letting his wife know about foreign bodies in the house, much less that she had to feed them. His wife on the other hand sighed, she had foreseen two dark figures of innocence in her dreams the previous night showing up on their door step followed by fire that she wasn’t sure when was going to happen. She wasn’t excited for it. She looked at him lovingly.

“You’re lucky I have a mother’s instinct to foresee this,” she retorted to him with a calm smile on her face but a storm in her eyes. J’arrmeklian sighed relief that she had already started making extra. They both talked for the next few hours while the boys resided by the fireplace. They talked about what they were running from, what they were so worried about. Wondering what they were doing before this, wondering if they were running away to start a new life. If they were would they be the ones to help? J’arrmeklian and this wife had come to an agreement. It would be their last children if they were to ask to stay. They considered all the options until dinner was finished and ready to be consumed. J’arrmeklian went to the living room where the boys had fallen asleep on each other. He touched the back of the eldest. He woke up quietly. His eyes again blinded by light. He looked to see J’arrmeklian. He was quite confused. He looked to his brother who was still asleep.

“Dinner is ready if you are,” J’arrmeklian stated calmly. He then walked away to let the boy recoup his memory. He shook his brother awake who did the same thing as his brother. They looked at each other trying to remember what had happened. They then remembered that they were running from the bandits. They remembered getting on their horses, the leader’s death then he remembered that they woke up here in front of this houses door. They got up and started walking towards where the old man had come from. They were confused about where the food was. Then a little boy came running and paused. He had never seen such tall people. They almost looked like giants to him. His hair stood on edge. He wasn’t sure what to say. He could only see the blue eyes underneath the hoods of black and the seamlessly skintight clothing showed that they were limber and nothing to mess with. One of them kneeled and still was taller than he was. He backed up a little bit. He wasn’t sure who was in his house.

“Your father invited us to dinner, where is the dining hall?” the youngest asked. The boy calmed down a bit to hear that they weren’t going to hurt him. He walked by them quietly as an urge for them to follow him. He went to the dining hall and found that there were two extra spots at the table. J’arrmeklian was in his regular seat and oddly, his wife sat next to him. Shear’kinish sat next to his mother and the boys sat across from the both. They both started eating. J’arrmeklian looked as the boys ate their plates in a graceful and quick manner. He was surprised. The family looked at each other and then started eating. The boys finished their food and waited until the family was done. J’arrmeklian stopped in the middle of his meal.

“So, what is the plan for you boys?” he asked. The boys looked at each other. They had no idea.

“In all honesty sir, we have no idea,” the eldest stated. The youngest looked down at his plate. He was so hungry he could’ve had more; he was too shy to ask because he didn’t want to have them starve to feed him. J’arrmeklian saw the look of hunger and smiled that they cared about such trivial things that he never had the slightest worry about.

“Eat boy!” He stated joyfully. The youngest looked up in surprise, “If you are hungry you should eat. You have had a long journey I can tell. I wish to know more and to keep you at the table we must eat the food while it is warm.” The boys both got up and went for seconds. This time instead of eating in silence the boys told their story to the wizard. The family was in awe to find out about their family. In awe that they had no one besides each other, Awed that they lived through a strike of a poisoned great sword. ‘They looked happy for a moment’ thought J’arrmeklian. J’arrmeklian finished the last of the food. The son had gone to sleep at the table from the story, his wife was in tears, and J’arrmeklian was pleasant through the thing.

When the boys finally ended the story, they couldn’t continue to stay awake much longer either. They took care of the table and helped Eathora in the kitchen. J’arrmeklian walked with his son in his hand towards the boy’s room. When he came back, the boys were about to walk out the house. Eathora begging them to wait until J’arrmeklian had come before they made their leave.

“Just in time J’arrmeklian!” Eathora voiced. She rushed the boys to their side. J’arrmeklian smiled.

“Sorry to see you both go so soon. You are always welcome in this house,” J’arrmeklian stated. The boys looked at each other.

“But we killed a dragon, Dragon wizard. His soul, you have it,” The eldest stated.

“Young man I have learned a great many of things. I think if their pride as dragons they know many more,” J’arrmeklian voiced, “I think that you both will be fine men someday however, you may need something more then just your poor old horses to lead you to that place in time. Come stay here, you’re not intruding on this giant house. There is space, there is food, and there is small game to hunt. Help Little Fox grow in hunting. Help my son learn to battle with iron, teach my boy to shoot a bow. What would you say that your newest employment wouldn’t require raiding villages, pillaging, and burning something to the ground? How about an employment where you grow yourselves, plant seeds in the young, and empower yourselves with knowledge that you both can clearly handle? You can be just like Little Fox.” The boys laughed because that fox was begging them not to go as well. They then looked at each other. It was something new, something, worthwhile. They both nodded just as J’arrmeklian had hoped. J’arrmeklian clapped and with that there was some shaking. Everyone held onto each other quickly for the moment. The boys looked around and as they did they saw a door appear in the living room.

“Your room is that way. Whatever you think of while walking through will be as it stays so think carefully,” J’arrmeklian stated with a wink. He took his wife’s hand and courted her to bed. The boys were left in the middle of the living room staring at one and another. They rushed to the door and they opened the door. When they did they saw a passageway with a light flowing from the top, they flowed the corridor into a large room that had a more natured look to it. Herbs sprang from rock edges. Two hammocks hung from the ceiling and laid down right were there feet could touch. They could feel the warmth of the fire from the fireplace of their new room. They looked at each other. How could they think of this room? They know they did but how did the wizard know. They took to their hammocks that had a pillow and a deer hide in each bed. The boys undressed and felt a sleep in the warmth of memories from home.