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By the end of the day, Sascha had finished a round of training.

She had failed big time at first, but then made up for it when she was told by Rei to summon all strength into her hind legs and then make a powerful leap into his center line.

She did so, and beat him down to the ground in one swift movement of her back legs. Rei had also said that when in a real fight and using the skill that Sascha should sink her teeth into her opponent’s neck flesh before even hitting the ground.

That would be a killing blow for her enemies, and she was glad to have learned this helpful move

“Take heed of my word, Sascha,” he had said to her. “This skill, Leap of Agrona, is only used as a last resort and it is viewed as completely disrespectful otherwise. You want to fight with honor and nobility. Understand?”

“Yes, Sir Rei,” she dipped her head.

And now, as she had been granted permission to do so, Sascha padded through the upper city of Windstorm to the lower town, spotting the bridge where she had left Akemi.

She doubted Akemi would still be there, as she had been gone for hours. But she couldn’t have strayed too far, right? It was late evening and it was hard to see, but she could just make it out. Being half dog and all... it really ruined her chances of being a real wolf. She only had some features that wolves had, being able to see in the dark not being one of them.

A dramatic wind as cold as ice suddenly stirred, waving her white fur in rhythm with the breeze.

It felt nice to her, the coolness of the air reaching beneath her fur and caressing her skin. She continued walking until she made it to the little bridge, and then skidding down to the ice cold stream below that was still trickling, and would remain trickling for all of eternity.

Spring was just around the corner, but it was still in the snowy season for now.

Sascha didn’t see her there, and she was not really surprised about this. Who would sit under a bridge for hours? Sascha was able to pick up Akemi’s scent fairly easily, and she followed it in the opposite direction of Windstorm City until it led her back into the Twilight Forest.

The evening was very beautiful; the way the breeze was cooling her of the training sweat, how the moon was full and everything was just peacefully quiet. She could hear the cicadas in the forest which relaxed her.

It had been a horrible day for Titus, knowing that he would be executed that following dawn.

It would be so hot... being burned at the stake. Most of the druids had managed to fall asleep, even the ones who had been sentenced to death after him. He could not fall asleep with this in mind, and instead he attempted to find weak points in the bars for a chance at escaping. But there was no hope in that, so he just laid down for a rest.

His final rest...

Surprisingly, he had managed to fall asleep but at the same time he felt awake. A young maiden’s soft voice woke him from his doze, while she put a key into his cell lock and opened the door slowly and soundlessly.

“Hello,” she said quietly.

She seemed to look scared of him, but at the same time was bracing herself to come face to face with a young druid.

The maiden was carrying a plate with rice and two warm chicken legs. Why was she about to give something so fancy to him?

That meal was fit for a King!

She placed it down in front of him and indicated the wooden spoon that was off to the side of the platter touching the dark golden rice.

Well, this was very nice of the woman... and even though he never thanked anyone for their doings, he would have to thank this young lady.

He knew that she had done it at great risk to herself. “Thank you, my lady,” he said while giving her a soft look.

He brushed his black hair out of his eyes and grabbed one of the chicken legs, beginning to eat the first good meal that he had eaten in a few days. It was dry, but there was some bursting flavor in it.

Certainly enough to excite his taste buds, especially considering he had hardly eaten lately.

When he was nearly finished eating, he heard her start talking to him nervously. “I have this,” she broke in, handing him a dark key. Titus looked up and saw that the key had the House of de Taske crest; the key itself was a dark greenish black, which must have been from generations of use.

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Aerulis had been around for nearly seven hundred years, so it was no wonder this key had lost its color and glory.

Looking back to the lady, Titus tried to see what she looked like; she had beautiful, long, slightly curly light brown hair and the brightest blue eyes. “This will get you out of here. I did not want to do this at first, but… I knew I had to stop the killings of druids eventually,” the young maiden went on.

“Not that I’m the one who will stop it!” She corrected herself. “Your leader spoke of an animal saving the druids, no?”

“Thank you again, my lady,” Titus smiled, his eyes reflecting with the real emotion of appreciation.

He was truly thankful for her doing this, but just didn’t know how to express it properly. “And don’t believe what my King says, we all know animals can’t help us. I mean, can you imagine a wolf beating up all the knights? It is completely ridiculous. That is actually insane. Either we die or do not, and I’m not afraid to die!”

Titus took the old key from the woman’s soft hands and, seeing that he was just about done with his food, he stood up.

“I think I’ve memorized the palace, at least the important parts,” he stared down at her. “I’m sorry; I did not get your name.”

“Millie, sir,” the young serving girl answered humbly. “And yours?”

“Titus, warrior from the druid clan,” he smiled.

The druid warrior began to walk out of his cell, but Millie stopped him. “Titus,” she started, paused, and then seeing him turn his head back to her she went on, “Come back.”

He knew what she meant by that; she wanted him to stay safe, and alive. The druid rushed back to her abruptly, and kissed her quickly on the lips.

“I will live,” he promised her softly and then finally rushed away from her.

Out of friendliness and selfish fear, he unlocked Zachery’s prison cell so that he could accompany him while he tried to find a way to get the druid clan out of the House of de Taske. Zachery was grinning as he stepped out of his cell, following at Titus’ pace.

“Titus has a girlfriend,” Zachery laughed heartily, but tried to keep it quiet so no one would hear them.

“Shut up,” he growled in return. “Let’s just get the hell out of this death trap, okay?”

The two druids, both physician apprentice and warrior, escaped with ease as they tested their magic abilities.

There were two guards that were on sentry, and due to Titus’ and Zachery’s swift agility they were able to surround the guards with a tall ring of fire.

They would never be able to leap over the scarlet flames, until of course someone came by and put the fire out.

It was a perfect trap really, and a perfect way to slip past the guards without anyone getting hurt.

It didn’t take them long to find a dungeon window with bars. They used the power of force to break them, and climbed out. At this point the castle was a top a tall green hill, and luckily for them was not overlooking the kingdom of Aerulis in this direction.

In fact, what they saw was overlooking their homeland; Rosewood Forest.

The two warriors dashed as far away from the Castle of Xanthus as their energy would allow them. They didn’t even pay attention to their physical pain while they ran.

Well, Titus didn’t.

He didn’t know what Zachery had been feeling, but he had certainly ignored the pain. When they were a decent distance from the castle, they rested. It was conveniently on a slope, with the castle somewhat visible in the white distance. A few bright birch trees with dark brown stripes on their white bark were blocking the view, but Titus could still see it. It was taking them a while to regain their breaths, but hopefully they could set off again soon.

“Just because we’ve escaped doesn’t mean they won’t kill our clan,” Zachery pointed out.

“I know,” he said, standing up. “I was just about make a Wish on Aerulis, until we come back!”

A Wish was a power that only the druids could use; they simply wished hard enough in desperate times, and their wish was granted. It had its limits though, dependent on one’s strength.

“Is that so?” Zachery inquired teasingly.

Titus was thinking about the safety of Millie just as much as he was thinking about the druid clan. He had a good idea of what the Wish would be; at first it had been to cause a horrible blizzard, to delay the execution.

But Titus knew that probably wouldn’t work for long.

Xanthus would most definitely kill them inside the dungeon if he had no other choice. And so, he decided that he would make everyone in the city of Aerulis fall into a deep sleep. It was completely harmless, and it would only last until he came back to rescue the druids.

“I wish that this kingdom will fall asleep,” he said. As of now, hopefully, the King and all of his men and the rest of the city would be in a deep slumber.

But what would they do to rescue the druids? They hadn’t really thought about that. And the only thing that they had to go on was Avyrus’ insane wolf tales. The story of a white wolf that would rescue them all from death; but surely no one would believe such ridiculous nonsense!

And so the two druids set off in search of a way to save their clan.