The three slumbered well into the morning without disruption thanks to the clever positioning of Kismets shelter. He had positioned it with the back facing east so a shadow covered them nicely. Usually Kismet would have woken first but the journey of the night before had worn him out. He estimated that they had walked another ten leagues during the night and their death like sleep clearly indicated how right he had been. On this morning Kayne was the ‘early riser.’ He finally stirred from his rest, not due to discomfort, but from a sound that met his ears in the morning fog. Quietly he crawled out of the structure being sure not to knock it down on the other two like the last time. He could still remember how angry Naia had been after pulling her out of the drift wood pile a day or two before. He stood up, straining his ears for the strange noise in the thick fog. Looking around he couldn’t tell what time it really was because of how heavily the fog hung in the morning. At first he didn’t realize it but slowly his senses warmed to the notion. The temperature was quickly dropping. So fast, in fact, that he noticed a snowflake drifting down to where he caught it on his palm.

He caught the rogue flake and thought to himself how odd it was to see snow in such a tropical region. Again he heard a strange noise, it sounded like a screeching, and this time it was accompanied by the sound of wings beating. He began to look around the circle of trees warily searching for what might make the sound. His search was abruptly halted by the sight of a stream of flames jutting up into the low hanging clouds just to the west of their camp. Without needing to say a word, the other two quickly woke upon hearing the newest sound. Kayne thought to himself that it sounded familiar. But before he could spend long pondering the familiar sound he heard the flapping again. Quickly followed by a screeching white and blue bird-like creature with a long featherless neck and icicles on its wings. It dove down to fling deadly looking daggers of ice at its foe. The thing it had been assaulting was none other than a fire-breathing salamander from before.

Kayne ran to the edge of the circle to where he could get a full view of the onslaught that was occurring outside their camp. The twenty foot long lizard was defending itself against three of the massive birds. One-after-another they would dive bomb the creature, shooting blades of ice at it each time. In defense of itself the lizard would occasionally shoot back flames at the birds, but it was clearly overwhelmed. Seeing the creature's plight Kayne couldn’t simply leave it on its own. The three vulture-like birds would surely kill it eventually. To himself he said, “Oh, I’m surely going to regret this!” And with that he sprinted forward. Before he knew what he was doing one of his daggers had shot forwards at a swooping bird. It barely saw and dodge the blade, but little did it know that Kayne had already drawn the other two and hurled one more towards it and the other towards the two birds still further aloft. The first dagger missed entirely, the second grazed a wing, and the third stabbed directly into a wing of the unsuspecting two other birds.

Seeing the, completely unexpected assistance, coming from the human the lizard formed a defensive posture around Kayne wrapping its body around him facing the two other birds. The one that had taken his dagger squarely in its wing was barely keeping itself aloft and the third was preparing to dive at them. Being a bit more wary now it made a high pass and only shot its icy daggers at them. The lizard shot flames and melted all of them. Kayne double tapped his belt as the dwarf had taught him back in the village faire. As expected the three blades magically returned to it without him even noticing what had happened. He took one in his left and drew Kaybulan. The small blade took the form of a medium length cavalry sword that he was used to. Kayne and the lizard continued to stand there in a defensive position, ready for anything.

From the edge of the camp Naia and Kismet now watched intently. Some of the clouds had parted now in a slight breeze to allow them a much clearer vision. The two stood at the edge of the campsite ready to attack should the fight turn poorly and Kismet said, “I think for now, Naia, we should let Kayne test himself. If he’s ever going to save the world he should be able to handle a few birds.” Gripping her swallow, ready to charge in, she nodded and relaxed a little. Though, she did still stand there with her magic ready to intercept any stray icicles.

Kayne saw the blaze shoot out to melt the daggers of ice and he responded by lodging another blade directly in the chest of that bird. Like he’d known it would land, a second dagger flew out of his hand again oddly far to the left in a trajectory that he thought very strange. Until he saw his first bury itself in the creature's breast causing it to dive. Its dive lined the body right up with his next wildly flung dagger. In that moment he had almost recalled it to himself but waited as it cost him nothing and simply drew the last, slightly awkwardly as he kept it on the right of his belt. So now he would be ready for the next onslaught. Without warning another of the foul birds dove at them coming much closer this time. Again Kayne acted, much faster than the lizard, jumping in front of it not even needing to think how to act. He reached back with his blade in his right hand beginning to swing towards the bird in preparation for its icy attack. The bird had yet again launched icy daggers towards them. But in the middle of its wing beat, to do so, one of Kayne’s daggers jaggedly sliced through its left wing causing it to harshly veer off course into the ground. The right hand he was already in the process of swinging came forward in a sweeping gesture. A form Kayne hadn’t seen yet burst from his hand. A giant fan, three feet across, swept through the air wafting away the ice.

Two of the assailants were now earthbound, limping or simply rolling, on the ground in pain. Kayne once again gave his belt a double tap and he felt the comfortable weight of the daggers slip in again. In the instant that he performed this, now habitual motion, the bird to their left screeched in its death throes horridly. Kayne had just removed what might have been keeping the creature alive. The other that was on the ground now stood facing off with the lizard. Kayne saw this and turned his back to the unlikely companion then looked to the air. That last lightly wounded fowl was high above the camp site and was clearly preparing something they’d not seen yet.

With a mighty screech, obviously angry that the other two had been so grievously injured, it took a few extra flaps and dove at them with a ferocity they’d not seen yet. The bird had clearly been up above them drawing in as much of its magical powers as it could. Seeing this Kayne prepared the only spell he truly knew. The familiar white circle sprang up around his left arm and when the vicious carrion approached him he saw what it had been preparing. A single oblong ball of ice hung in its wake. Beside him the lizard was rearing back to unleash a jet of flame at its opponent and so Kayne saw his opportunity. Applying his spell, everything around him slowed to a crawl, as it had before. He took a short run towards the body of the lizard and the screeching fowl, all of which was moving at a snails pace from Kaynes perspective. He lept into the air with a silent scream and nearly flew. Then with Kaybulan grasped between both hands over his head, with all his strength he swung. Rather than a large blade or spear Kayne once again formed a weapon he’d never seen before. It had the blade of an axe on the back side and an overly large maul on the other. He slammed against the entire body of the creature and using the impact of the hammer to propel himself into another flip he continued striking the large ice ball in a similar fashion.

Everything, aside from Kayne himself, was frozen in time so his actions had yet to catch up to him. So, that second strike had allowed Kayne to flip over his target as if he’d struck something solid yet springy. This is where things went somewhat wrong for Kayne. The world around him was still crawling along at a pace he could barely even recognize. So he really didn’t even see what the results of his attacks were. After his second strike on the ice ball he continued to flip like the first time but was out of solid surfaces to work with. His eyes went wide as he looked down and saw the fifteen foot drop below him. He began windmilling his arms midair due to his now uncontrolled descent. He tried to scream but in the midst of the spell nothing was heard. After a fall that felt like it took an eternity he slammed to the ground somewhere just in front of Kismet and Naia. When that happened it knocked the wind out of him and apparently the spell as well because every began moving very quickly as he coughed and choked on air he couldn’t gather into his lungs.

From where the two onlookers watched this is what they saw. From where they were standing they were able to truly take in the whole scene. The lizard cocked its head back and promptly incinerated the bird that had been pitifully squawking on the ground. While Kayne had turned into a nearly invisible blur. That blur had sprung into the sky and become a spinning ball of force. The bird which had been streaking towards them evaporated into a mist of dirt, blood, and feathers which was now on the ground. Then almost immediately after the ice ball it had prepared shattered into a fine sparkling haze. Then almost at the same moment that they felt the pleasantly cool shower of ice they’d also felt, more than seen, Kayne hit the ground flat on his back. What truly surprised the three after all this occurred was the eerie echo of what must have been Kaynes voice screaming from a distance a few seconds later.

From across the impromptu battle field the third and final bird made a pitiful squawk, spitting up blood as it did so. It limped forward and swept it's one intact wing at them in a last ditch attempt to harm its enemies with yet more icy daggers. Sprinting towards the meager attempt, Naia turned the ice that had been forming around the white winged creature into steam with barely a hint of her mana. Then jumping into the air she slashed across the bird's body to finish it and end the confrontation with a finality that none questioned.

Kismet finally moved out from his spot, where he had been leaning on a tree, like a casual observer. He walked up to where the one bird had been pounded into dust by Kayne. Kismet then took his foot and shuffled around some of the feather strewn dirt. There really was almost nothing left of that particular bird aside from feathers. He uncovered a small white glowing crystal in the dirt, reached down, and picked it up. Kismet held it up, inspecting it for a second, before something made him jump. The twenty foot, fire-breathing, lizard had run over to where Kayne was still coughing on the ground. Kayne was grasping his chest still trying to get air into his lungs when the creature had once again wrapped itself around him in a defensive posture. As it did this it also fired a weak stream of heat around the circle it made with its body before laying down around him.

Kismet was so surprised by this he spun in a circle and as he fell over from being off balance he flung a small dagger haphazardly into the ground as a reaction. Landing on his butt he saw what the lizard had done and began laughing. His laughter halted momentarily when he looked down to see his own dagger inches from his foot. “Oh boy, I almost got myself that time! And look, Naia, I think Kayne has made a friend!” She looked up to see what Kismet had been referring to. Similarly to him she had found a gleaming white gem in the skull of the bird she had just slain and before he caught her attention she was inspecting it. Grasping the gem in her hand she sauntered over to Kayne where the lizard was wrapped around him. It growled at her as she approached though not terribly emphatically. “Kayne, call off your guard… uh…. Lizard. I’m not sure it likes me.” Naia said. Smoke once again began pouring from its mouth as it growled.

With a groan and a few more coughs Kayne sat up. Seeing nothing but the body of the lizard around him he was momentarily concerned but then seemed to realize what was happening. He worked his way up to one knee and the beast noticed. Breaking off its defensive posturing at Naia it turned in towards him and used its long snout to help lift Kayne. In its effort to help him the thing lifted him off his feet causing him to stumble a bit and it took him a moment to realize that the lizard had been attempting to help and, in some way, show gratitude. “Alright alright, I’m up ya silly creature! What do you want from me?” he said when he’d finally regained his legs.

Seeing him regain his composure the long lizard stepped back to stare at him, its hind in the air and its front crouched down in what could be considered a bow. Kayne looked at it and stepped over to Naia and said, “So I guess we got them all?” Naia nodded and showed him the crystal then replied, “And it seems like they all carried one of these crystals. They seem similar to the sea stones but far more jagged and rough.” He took the gleaming gem from her open palm to look at it. Some idea just came to him as he stared at it. So he said, “And where were you two! I fought off three of these hideous creatures and you two did what?” Naia avoided his gaze pointedly and noticed something interesting over where Kismet knelt exhuming another crystal from the third bird.

“Yeah, about that, Kismet said we should let you have your fun with them. Seemed to think you could uh…. ‘Handle it’.” Hearing this from Naia he frowned. Just then the lizard came over behind him clearly tired of being ignored. It nudged his arm from behind and Kayne let it slide on top of its head where he tentatively patted the creatures. “You’ve got my back right bud? And what do you think of these bird things eh?” As a response the lizard shot a jet of flames from its nostrils. “Yeah, me too.” And he patted its head affectionately again. “Well, I guess we should get on the road before more of these things show up right?” Naia muttered an agreement at them and walked towards the two. Again the lizard puffed some smoke at her. “Hey now, she’s ok.” And he pushed its nose down a bit to indicate not to shoot flames at her. Ignoring its attempts at defending him she walked right past. Kayne followed to where their bags were and they both picked theirs up off the ground.

The lizard stood there confused for a moment and then trotted over to the bird that Naia had put down. It looked at it for a moment then proceeded to scorch it to a blackened crisp. When it was satisfied with its work it began tearing into the meat happily. Every few bites it would scorch the meat a bit more. From their position in the camp they could smell the cooking meat which made them realize how hungry they had been. “Hey, Kismet, how far do we have to go today? We might want to eat some of our Hamaio today. I don’t think we have time to make much else for breakfast.”

Enthralled in what he was doing Kismet barely heard what Kayne said to him and he just mumbled an automatic agreement. After removing the gem from the bird's head, minutes earlier, Kismet had continued collecting feathers and claws from the bird. They both felt ice cold and he could only guess at what magical properties they held so he worked at gathering as much as he could into the many pockets and pouches he always had available. The scent of burning bird caught his nose and made him finally take a moment to look around and find out what was happening. He stood and found where Kayne and Naia had wandered off to. They now stood outside the ring of trees looking at the map and pointing at the sun's position. Naia then said, “Yes, I think you may be right, Kayne. Wherever these birds came from I’m sure there’s more and they might be quite miffed to find their flock so much thinner than before.” Kismet adjusted his pack, which he’d already put on before the bulk of Kaynes fight, and strode over to them.

“Naia, have you updated the second map to show our position?” Kismet said. Naia looked up at him holding the map and turned it towards him to show the new dotted line she’d added. “Yep, looks like we made about ten leagues last night if my scale is correct.” Kismet rubbed his back and said, “by the way my whole body hurts I think you may be right. What I’d give for a nice feather bed!” The other two nodded in agreement. “I think our best bet to find a town in the next few days is along the river here. With no delays I think we can make it in two more days travel. Though I think Kayne is right. Eating the Hamaio would be a good idea to help speed us along since we have no horses or anything else.” Reaching inside his boundless pockets Kismet produced three leaf wraps tied with strings. They each untied a bit of string and the packets glowed warmly in their hands as they unwrapped them. Taking a large bite Kayne realized how warm and tasty they were. That warmth seemed to fill his whole body and he felt invigorated, ready for the day.

“That was exactly what I needed. I feel much better.” Kayne said with a proud look on his face. “Killing angry birds is tough work when no one else helps.” He said with a bit of a glare in his eye. The other two were suddenly very interested in walking towards their destination. “What about him?” Kayne asked as they walked. “I’m not sure Kayne, you’re the one he seemed to like. But it is a wild animal. I’m sure it will eat its fill and then go on with its business.” said Kismet. “Hmmm…. Do you think it could be the same one from the beach that followed us all the way out here?” Naia asked. “I’m not sure. I didn’t get a good look at the last one. I was more worried about getting away from it. That one seemed far more aggressive and interested in our fish.” Kayne said as he turned away, continuing to walk.

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“All of this seems so strange. Of all the tales I’ve heard from the travelers passing through our village, never have I heard about fire breathing lizards or giant vultures that shoot ice from their wings.” Kayne mused as they walked. “And don’t forget about that massive sea creature that took a bite out of my fish. Especially that close to Raka. My mother used to tell tales of sea monsters on the southeast coast of the Solumn desert. She also told me very early on that we never sailed that section of coast between Tormguard and Felhun. The waters in that area are cursed by foul magic and teeming with Korrigan raider ships. She even told me there was a cursed pirate, one of few that ventures forth from those waters, Captain Sehfarius. She told me he was once a respected trader of the ship, Limuna’s Bounty, which would make some of the fastest trips between ports. None knew why or how he was making such swift time until one day the same ship showed itself in the battle before Limuna itself, as the cursed warship, Living Nightmare. We all came to the assumption that Captain Sehfarius had been taking the short cut through those cursed waters.”

The others walked in rapt attention. “How did you come by that story, Naia?” Kismet asked her. “I’ve heard that one as well, but from another.” She glanced his way and put her hands above her head continuing to walk. “Oh that’s simple! Every Piscalian child hears that story as a kid. The mothers and fathers on trading vessels tell it to scare their children away from that coast. I don’t think I would have believed any of that until that ship attacked my mother so many years ago before I was left with Nilah and Kayne.”

They walked for several leagues once again until the sun began to set. After that mornings excitement they decided it might be good to get some actual rest. So once again they found a small grove of trees, this time a small stream slithered past and so they made camp nearby. It wasn’t deep enough for Naia to swim in so Kayne spent the last light of the day using his daggers catching a few fish. Each time he’d make a kill he’d cheer in elation and then stand there as the dagger would return to him with a small fish skewered on its blade. The sun began to set a while after he’d caught close to six of the small fish of a variety he didn’t recognize. They made skewers of some using the sticks that lay around and began to roast them over the fire.

While sitting they spoke of many things. Kismet having heard the story Naia spoke of earlier came to a decision and said, “Naia spoke of the tale of Captain Sehfarius and his cursed war ship earlier today. Well, I happen to be one of the few people who heard the tale from one who actually knew the odd man. A Kindel sailor, which on its own is strange, but before he and his crew were cursed it only got more so. Captain Silara, your alleged past life Naia, told me of him herself. I’m an old story teller so she thought I'd enjoy the tale.”

He stroked his beard a moment. “Captain Seph, as his crew called him, was, as I said, a strange Kindel man. Very much the antipathy of the last Kindel I told you of, Ark Lafoaita. Seph never took to the Kindel ways. Instead he grew to a teen and left his village in peace. It’s said he made his way, somehow, through the forests of Skogurd into the gnomish city of Trigzan. There he learned of healing herbs and forest magics. Soon he was drawn to the sea to join a merchant captain as the ships healer. His captain took a kinship to him and had his wave masters teach him in their ways. He picked up water magic without issue although his wind skills were lacking.” Naia looked very impressed and kayne sat there non-plast unaware of the oddity.

“Yes, very strange for a Kindel. Eventually after his captain taught him all he could the man passed at sea, as he intended. So beloved was Sehf that his crew took him as their captain. He became an incredible and lucky captain over the years. So much so his hubris took him into dangers he should never have survived. Until during one voyage his ship was not seen from again until the crew of Calons Star sheared a ship, similar to Limunas Bounty, in twain. Talrei, Silaras first mate, mentioned having recognized the ship even though it was clearly cursed. He said as they tore through it he saw their captain. A Kindel man that looked similar to what he remembered of Sehfarius. He also said he sunk that ship, but as your mother says, folk have reported seeing it on the seas from time-to-time. Legend has it that Ark and Aumatia have cursed the man to sail under their power for all of time. Never letting them die…” With this Kismet chewed on his pipe and leaned back on the log he’d sat by near the fire.

They didn’t have long to think about the story because from the brush behind them they heard a rustling. To announce itself, as though it had been listening to the tale the whole time, a lizard took in a deep breath causing its markings to glow orange. Kayne and Naia stood hastily, blades in hand. And in preparation for spell casting a blue glow surrounded Naias left palm. Kismet just sat there and chewed on his pipe without a concern. They stood ready to defend themselves slightly put off by Kismet's nonchalant reaction. The lizard's head crept into the light where it began shaking from the rear and sent a plume of smoke at Kayne. He coughed and blew it away waving his hand in front of his face. The lizard then let its markings fade and slid into their camp, wrapping itself around the fire to stare at one of the fish, its tail thumping in the bush still, and its face almost entirely inside the fire. Kayne and Naia relaxed somewhat after seeing what they thought it wanted.

Naia reached down slowly by her bag where she had left a few of the fish, that Kayne had caught, on a plate of wrapper from that morning's breakfast that she’d kept. She gave a sharp whistle at the lizard, catching its attention, and tossed a fish at it. It caught it by snapping it out of the air happily. Well, not happily as it spit the fish out a moment later onto the ground. It looked at the fist and then breathed a small jet of flame on it until the fish was blackened along with the ground around it. Pleased with its work it then snapped it up. Kayne made a gesture at Naia to toss him the last one. When it finished he caught its attention and waved the fish in front of it. In preparation of receiving the fish the lizard spun around the fire completely ignoring Kismet as it tromped over him. The spot where it stopped half its tail lay on his lap causing Kismet to throw up his hands in annoyance. Kayne waved his fish before the creature then tossed it into the air when he felt he fully had its attention. This time the lizard shot a quick stream of fire into the air, immediately charring it, then catching it in its maw and chewing it happily. It then circled around the fire, laying a patch of charred earth as it went, and laid down with its head near Kayne. Once again its tail laid on Kismet so he shrugged in annoyance and got up to move over a bit. Kayne looked at it and said, “I think he’s just going to keep following us. Who knows, maybe he’ll help me in a fight later.” Naia looked at it skeptically then shrugged and said, “Well if you’re going to keep it, you’ll have to name it.

Kayne looked at her in disbelief and then at Kismet questioningly. He just shrugged again and nodded while continuing to puff and chew on his pipe. “Why does everyone keep making me name things?” Kayne asked, “I’m no good at it. He looked down at the creature which had laid its head nearby on the, now scorched, earth. “Well? What’s your name? What even are you? Some kind of wingless dragon? An oversized salamander? Is that it? Is your name Sal?” It looked at him in disgust and shot a plume of smoke in his face. Coughing and once again waving smoke away from himself he said, “Ok, ok, not Sal. How about uuhhh….. Fen?” It looked up at him in interest. “Y-you like that? Fennic?” It then snorted, bobbing its head up and down, and waving its tail haphazardly knocking over everything nearby. “It’s settled then! Fennic it is! Just try not to light anything important on fire, alright?” Fennic gave another snort this time whipping its head side to side a bit.

In the morning Kayne skewered several more fish out of the river and was impressed that the small stream held such an impressive stock. Once again they cooked several on the fire and Kayne wrapped up several into the thick wrappings from the hamaio they’d saved and put them in an outside pocket of his pack where he could quickly get to them. The rest he used while spending some time feeding his new companion Fennic. A while later they packed up camp after checking the maps and continuing towards the spot on the map where they thought a large town would be.

After walking a while on the road Fennic seemed annoyed by something as he was prancing around and scratching at the dirt here and there. They watched him for a moment then suddenly! He ran behind Kayne and scooped him up from behind. He stood there for a moment in what was unmistakably a prideful pose then ran off in large circles. Naia screamed in shock. “Kayen!” She reached out a hand as though there was anything she could do to help. A few minutes later Kayne and Fennic came running back by at a full sprint. All he could do was hold on to its neck trying not to fall from his precarious saddle. Finally, in a cloud of dust, Fennic came to a skittering halt between Kismet and Naia.

Waiting for the dust to clear Kayne just sat there looking enthusiastic. “Naia, how far do you think it is to that town?” She just stood there staring at him in disbelief at what she thought he was proposing. Fennic let out a garbled yodel and shook his head and neck. “I-I- think its another twenty legaues that way.” She pointed the direction they had been heading. “I think you two might be able to ride him with me. He doesn’t seem to notice me at all. Here, each of you feed him one of these and he should be just fine.” He tossed one of the slimy fish to each of them, Fennic tried his best to snap them out of the air without succeeding. Kayne hopped off and began digging a few things out of his bag.

They both looked down at the unappealing fish he’d thrown them. First Naia tentatively held hers in the air for him to see. Fennic watched her sway it back and forth intently, smoke pouring from his mouth. She slowly got closer and then when she was almost reaching for his neck she tossed it into the air. He blasted it with fire and caught it in the air. After this he allowed her to scratch at his scaly neck which was oddly soft under his jaw line. Kismet stood in front of him unnoticed while he enjoyed her attention. Then suddenly the old bard had caught its attention. Seeing the fish in his hands, Fennic stared at him intensely. Kismet did something none of them expected. In his palms the fish ignited. As flames were pouring from his hands Fennic looked at him with his head cocked to one side. Taking a tentative sniff at the flames Fennic reached forward and slowly pulled the fish from his flaming palms and Kismet ceased the flame. He chomped down the fish as he’d done before and then looked at his hands. Strangely he rubbed his nose into them, pushing them apart, and then looked at them with a confused expression. Kismet once again produced a small flame in one hand and Fennic rubbed his face in it oddly.

Kayne, having watched the strange events unfold, stood there with a bed roll in his hands and said, “I think you figured out he likes fire, Kismet. I guess it makes sense. Almost everything this guy does ends in flames!” he said with a chuckle. At that admonishment he went to the side of Fennic with his bed roll and a length of rope. He laid the roll on Fennics back and then began using the rope to tie a makeshift harness around his front legs. “Grab your bed rolls and lay them on behind mine. His skin rubs pretty bad on your legs. It’s no saddle but it should help for now.”

So, they each did so and then Kayne used the remainder of the rope to secure things down a bit and provided them each a section of rope to hold onto. Finishing his work, he then went behind Fennics front leg and climbed on. Fennic looked back and saw what was happening so, to help out, he laid down until they all got on. He rose up a few feet and then took off at a quick trot. At first going the wrong way, so to correct him Kayne patted his neck and pointed off to the right a bit. He happily corrected and took up a faster pace. Once they got going his run smoothed into a glide and they continued that way for a few hours quickly passing the landscape.

As they traveled they saw several other strange creatures along the plains they were now traveling along. Off in the distance they saw a small single mountain with snow on it and a plateau of tropical trees off the top. From one side they could see the spray of a small waterfall. They all thought how strange it was that there would be tropical trees on it and these small patches of thick snow. Until they saw a few things flying around its summit. Kayne thought he could recognize the birds around its peak as the same ones that had attacked them a day earlier. Pointing off towards it he said, “That must be where those foul ice vultures must live. Better stay far away from that place.” “I think Fennic must be one of their favorite snacks.” Naia said. Hearing this over the wind Fennic looked back, as he ran, and they all got a facefull of smoke. Kismet gave a short chortle and retorted, “I’d say he agrees with that sentiment, Naia. Right then, Fennic, full speed away from those ‘nasty things!’” In agreement with him, Fennic sped off to the southwest.

They sped that direction for another few hours until, across the hilly plains they had been traversing, Kayne spotted a village sitting on two sides of a very large river at the end of a lake to the north. “Look at the size of it!” Kayne exclaimed. Naia leaned over as Fennic came to a stop at the top of a hill and muttered, “It must be over a mile across!” The city they saw was somewhere around two miles long stretching down the river on both sides with big walls formed all the way around and against the river banks and lakeside. There were four large brick towers at each end of the city along the shore which lead to two large bridges. Even though they were somewhere around a hundred feet off the river, both bridges were consumed by ice walls dead center in the middle of them. The ice walls must have been forty feet tall from the deck of the bridges. Between each bridge and at both ends of the city were several mean-looking Piscalian war ships patrolling up and down the river where the ice hadn’t frozen it. Both sides of the city had sections of wall that were on the ground where it looked like assaults had been attempted both from the river and the lake. Lastly, along the sections of port on the north sides of each side Piscalians had made fortifications up to where the port ended and the castle walls began.

Hopping off Fennic, Kismet stood there shading his eyes from the afternoon sun gazing down. They’d traveled a long way in somewhere close to six hours. The other two followed suit and clearly Fennic was tired as he promptly made a ring of scorched earth and laid down. Kismet stood there and began to explain, “Welcome, to the river city of Fargo, though it would seem… they’re under siege. What’s even more strange is that by the looks of it. Those would be Piscalian war ships, the likes of which, I’ve never seen before.” He stood there contemplating the situation and Naia pulled out her maps and began making notes. “Kismet, have you ever been here before?” she asked, from the ground, where she was making her notes. “Why, yes! I was here not a month past, but there was no hostilities between Fargo and anyone aside from the ever increasing Korrigan raids.” He stroked his beard a bit more and continued, “In fact it was my understanding that the Piscalians were on very good terms with Fargo as they made significant use of the port here for trading.”