Chapter Five: The Magyk of God

Dante, Arthas and Gin enter a town where their religious leader performs "miracles" of their god.

    The first few days of training were just like the first. They would each take a turn at fighting Gin one-on-one, Gin using only his left hand, and then they would tag team him, and he would switch to his right hand. Every single time they would lose, not even close to winning any match.

    About a week in, however, they started seeing a considerable improvement. Their attacks were smooth and natural, rather than forced as they were before. Even if they were getting beaten constantly with no hope of winning a match with Gin, they were becoming more familiar and comfortable with their weapons. Each night for two weeks they sparred each other, and each night they got a little bit better.

   Gin also taught them in other ways as well. Every day on the ride he would give them scenarios of fights or battles and asked what they should do. If they got it right, he told them “good” and gave them another scenario. If they got it wrong, however, he would jump off his horse as quick as he could and kick them both off. He would then scold them, tell them right answer, and hop back on his horse and continue to ride, shouting off another scenario while the two boys hurried back on their horse.

    He also taught them both how politics worked. Dante didn’t care too much for politics, and from what Gin was saying, he concluded that all politicians were cheats anyway. Arthas, however, had a particular interest in this subject. At first he just sat there and listened carefully, asking occasional questions about why things were the way they were. After about a week or so, and he got a good idea on the whole subject, he started to get into intense conversations. As it turns out, Arthas wasn’t just a blockhead, and was, in fact, capable of intellectual thought. Normally Dante would be all over an intellectual conversation, but Dante didn’t think it was worth bickering over what mayor screwed more people over with rice tax. Dante fully understood everything they were saying, was taking it all in, and actually formed good opinions and thoughts on the subject, but he never really got into it like Arthas. But then again, Arthas always was the talkative one.

    The first few weeks of travel they basically got where they would be if they traveled hard for four days. They stopped halfway through the day and started training, and they slept rather late due to training the previous day. While it wasn’t the original plan, it was better this way so they weren’t totally unprepared for what awaited them.

    It was just breaking light when they set off. Dante and Gin led while Arthas followed close behind with map in hand.

    “Hey guys, from what it looks like on this map, we should reach Rofings today.” Arthas stated, eyes still scanning the map.

    “Rofings? Never heard of it.” Dante said. Arthas shrugged letting him know he hadn’t either.

    “Rofings, known as the city of miracles to many. It holds the country’s largest cathedral, a religious building even larger than a church or temple. The people there worship a different religion than most. This religion is monotheistic, or rather, they believe in only one god.” Gin explained to them.

    “One god? How can there only be one god? What is he the god of exactly?” Arthas inquired. Gin shrugged.

    “They believe that he is the God of everything. They believe that one God created everything, and he even gives his gifted children, such as their priests, the ability to perform miracles.” Gin explained. Dante thought for a second. Miracles? Something was up.

    “Miracles?” Arthas shouted, and then burst out into a bellowing laugh. There was Arthas’ signature close mindedness, Dante and Gin had yet to break him of that.

   “Well, they claim them to be miracles. However, it is most likely some odd use of magyk. I mean, don’t get me wrong, they may really believe its miracles, and they may not even know its magyk.” Gin said, shrugging his shoulders. He always gave people the benefit of the doubt. Arthas mouth dropped.

    “That’s right, you believe in magyk too. Gods you people, don’t you see that it is impossible?” Arthas yelled. Gin simply shrugged, not even getting into a fight with him about it.

   “How about you wait until we get there and you can decide whether it’s miracles, magyk, or what have you.” Arthas huffed and mumbled something under his breath. Hopefully this city did have magyk so they could finally convince Arthas that magyk is real, and we wouldn’t have to have these conversations every three days.

    It wasn’t long after it was brought up that Rofings actually came into view. The first thing both Dante and Arthas noticed was the colossal building it the back of the city, raising up high enough that it was seen from a mile away. As they rode closer, it became more apparent that it wasn’t just large in size, but the detail was craft master workmanship. The building’s base was a huge rectangle that expanded from one end of the city walls to the other. It was supported by huge columns that were each as thick as a house and supported a large, thick stone roof. On two sides they had large extensions that reached high above the roof. They were large square towers, and the entire building, including the towers, were covered in steeples donning religious symbols like birds and crosses.

    There was, in the dead center of the building, a large dome, as tall as the base of the building and stretching from front to back of the building. It was a perfect gold that glittered off of the late morning sun and on top was the tallest steeple of all. The entire building was colored with mixtures of white and gold. There were pictures of little children with wings, some carrying olive vines or flying with doves. Some were just happy to be flying around with other angels. It was an amazing building. There were windows in the towers and the base of the buildings that as they got closer, turned out to be colossal themselves. One could fit a house in some. The building was shocking and unbelievable.

    “Well, magyk or not, that right there is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen.” Arthas said amazed. Dante, mouth gaping open from the last half a mile, shut it and nodded. The entire cities buildings were made of stone and some had steeples as well. The roof had ceramic curved tiles, and there were plants hanging out of windows and vines growing up walls. The walls were tall, about three or four times the size of a house, and they were made of brick and covered in whitish-gray cement. The walls had parapets for walking pikemen and archers. The walls and towers also had arrow loops, small windows for arrows to be shot out of, and occasionally they had ballistae.

     “You two have been training hard these past weeks, so let’s take a break and stay here for the night, what do you say?” Gin proposed. Both Arthas and Dante smiled so wide, it looked like they were in pain. Gin laughed saying, “Alright than, let’s go.”

    They all rode up to the gate, a large archway with a huge iron draw gate. It was open, and one could see the huge spikes on the end and the large holes in the ground where each fit in.

    “This is probably the most important city in the world to those who follow this religion. The walls, the gate, everything was built to survive attacks no matter how large. Just because they are holy and caring people do not mean they would give up in a war.” Gin explained. Dante slowly started to realize that it wasn’t really a city; it was a castle, an enormous fort. Cities didn’t have nearly the kind of fortifications that this place did.

    As they reached the gate, they all hopped off their horses, and walked the horses over to the stables. There stood a small, fat man in red velvet clothing wearing tiny round spectacles. He stood at a small podium scribbling down on papers in front of him.

    “Excuse me,” Gin said, “We would like to stable our horses here for the night.” The chubby man looked up over his glasses at Gin, not stopping his hand from scribbling down notes on what seemed to be a ledger.

   Returning his eyes to the papers, the man replied in a nasally voice, “How many horses and for how long.” Gin looked at the horses and then at the man again.

    “Well, there are three of us here, and I just said for the night.” Gin replied, almost annoyed. Dante noticed that Gin occasionally had a short temper with strangers who act stupid. The man flipped his head up, his greasy hair flying back, and raised his chubby head and pointed his pen at him.

    “Don’t take that tone with me, mister hot shot! I’m head of stables and admissions in this city, one word from me and you will never set a foot inside.” The chubby man said. Gin graciously bowed his head apologetically, but in his eyes, both Dante and Arthas saw ferocity. Returning once again to his paper, the man continued, “Better. Now, for three horses for one night, that’ll be thirty queens.” Gin pulled out of his small satchel and counted out thirty queens, in the form of fifteen medium sized silver coins known as kings. The man took them, opened the small chest next to him, through in the coins, and whistled over to two small boys. The fat man pointed to their horses and the two boys grabbed them and led them over to the stables. “Tomorrow at noon, that is when your horses will be here waiting for you.” The chubby man said, scribbling down some words on a slip of paper and handing it to Gin. He took and led Dante and Arthas into the city.

    As they got through the gate, the town square came into view and they saw thousands of people walking around, shopping and talking, some just going for a walk.

    “Wow, it’s busier than usual.” Gin commented. One of the shoppers, a petite woman in a sundress overheard this comment, and walked up to them and smiled.

    “Well, that’s because tonight is the last Thursday of the month, which means His Holiness will be performing miracles for the people tonight.” The young girl was beautiful, innocent. Naïve.

    “His Holiness?” Arthas asked. The girl looked at him, shocked.

    “His Holiness, the head of our country and religion. The greatest man, who heals the sick with his breath and makes the crippled walk with his touch. He makes lights from his staff and makes it rain beautiful flowers. He truly is the messenger of God.” The girl made a weird motion with her hands, looking like a cross over her body, and then clasped her hands together with closed eyes. Dante’s eyebrow rose.

    “Head of your… Country?” Dante asked. The girl looked at him with a sweet smile.

    “Yeah. While on paper we aren’t really an actual country, we don’t affiliate ourselves with that of Gredia Vu or Albaston. We like to consider ourselves more than a city, a country inside of a country.” The young girl explained. This city was turning out to be more than they originally thought.

    “Yes, well, can you tell me what time the festivities are suppose to start?” Gin asked. The girl raised seven fingers.

    “It starts at seven tonight, I hope to see you there!” The girl finished, smiling, and ran off to rejoin the large crowd.

    “Well, I figure that while we are here, we mind as well enjoy ourselves. We’ll get a stay at an inn first, relax a bit, and then go watch the show.” Gin proposed.

    “Yea, I’m up for that. I really need a break day.” Arthas said, throwing his fists into the air.

    “Me too. It’ll be nice to rest one day” Dante agreed, a look of relief on his face. One night of nothing but rest since they left… It was almost too good to be true.

    Gin led them throughout the city to a very large inn on the right side of town. It looked like foreign design, with bamboo and long wood planks making it. There was steam coming out of the windows and large fences made of bamboo outlining large pools of steaming warm relaxing bathes.

    “Gin, this place looks very expensive.” Dante said. Gin didn’t even turn around.

    “Yea, most expensive one in the city, but for good reason. Don’t worry about it, tonight’s on me.” Gin explained.

    “No way. You’ve done enough for us, let us help pay.” Dante piped up. Gin waved him off with his hand.

    “No, no, I’ve been working you guys really hard these past weeks, you deserve a treat.” Gin told them. Dante argued some more, but was just shot down by Gin.

    They walked through the door, and all of a sudden multiple people dressed in weird clothes jumped out with huge smiles on their faces. The robes were odd; they were almost like regular clothes, but the pants were long with a large, wide opening, and the same with the arms. There was a sash in the middle, and there were lots of different colors. Some had patterns like flowers; they welcomed them into the inn, with cheers and banging on paper drums.

    The inside was beautiful. There were small trees, fitting into a pot, on every table, and there were large cherry trees in the corners. They had miniature waterfalls out of bamboo chutes. The whole place had a relaxing atmosphere.

    They all walked up to the front desk, where a young girl in similar robes, but instead of pants it was a dress. She smiled and pulled out a small clip board with paper.

    “Hello,” The young girl said, “welcome to the Zen Hotel. Can I interest you gentleman in a room?” Gin smiled.

    “Why yes you can. I want the best room you have, a spa treatment and kendo robes for the boys.” Gin told her. She smiled at the two boys and started to write some things down in a ledger.

    “Alright, that’ll be… 3000 queens. Each.” She told Gin. Both Dante and Arthas’ mouths dropped. There is no way they can afford those rooms. However, to their surprise, Gin didn’t seem surprised at all, and pulled out a large sack of coins, and handed it to the girl.

    “That’s worth about 10,000 queens, you can keep the rest as a tip, but we are going to want exceptional service.” Gin told the girl, winking. She grabbed the bag, looked at him suspiciously, and called over one of the maids.

    “Take these boys to their room, will you? The Shogun room if you will.” The young girl came over, told the boys to follow her, and they did. She took them up some stairs, up to the very top of the building. The entire building was covered with the same sorts of decorations that the main room had: trees with spectacular pink flowers, old vases, bamboo, and the works. As they walked through some of the hallways, they saw snuck peaks through the open doors and saw what all the rooms entailed.

    They had beds on top of glass boxes with fish inside of them. They had bamboo chutes and mini waterfalls like the main lobby had, and large windows with a small balcony that one could go out and sit on. They looked spectacular; they could see why they were so much money.

    Finally they arrived at their room, at the very top of the hotel, two large double doors. They opened up to a large room… No, a small house. The room was larger than the room they had the going away party in, except it had walls and furniture, paintings, and its own sauna.

    “Wow!” Arthas and Dante exclaimed simultaneously.

    “Ha ha! I’m glad you two are impressed. Now, tonight we are going to the festival so I can show you two, mostly Arthas, what I came here to show you.” Gin said, removing his coat, revealing an arsenal of knives and other small weapons, and throwing it on the rack placed next to the door. He then walked over to the large table by the door and placed all of his weapons down.

    “What do you have to show me?” Arthas asked. Us, Dante thought.  Not you, us.

    “Not until tonight, it can be like a surprise. Now, your robes should be here in an hour or so after they get done washing them. I am going to go around town, see the sites, try to reminisce, you know, normal tourist stuff.” With that he pulled down his hat and left the door, leaving Arthas and Dante alone for the first time since the bridge.

   They both yelled and jumped in the air with victory poses; after so many weeks of training, they got to relax in such an extravagant place. They kicked off their boots and took off their small packs and swords. They threw all of it in a corner and rushed over to the beds. They were huge, about the size of the two-person bed their parents shared, and there were three of them. Dante sat down in his and slowly rolled to the center, taking in all of the comfort. Arthas ran up to his and jumped square on the middle and threw his hands behind his head.

    In a matter of minutes, a girl knocked on their door, and Dante answered.

    “Hello?” Dante said as he the door opened.

    “Hello Mr. Dante. I was told by the man who paid for the room told me to bring you to the spa room when your robes are done. We got some early so we are ready to take you down now.” The young girl told them. They both got up and followed her. “You don’t need to bring your boots or anything, you won’t need them.” They followed her all the way back down the stairs into the main lobby, and then down some side stairs into the spa room.

     The very second she opened the door steam blew into the two boys faces. It smelt of herbal body water and other perfumes and fragrances. They continued down a small flight of stairs to a small intersection, one side labeled “men’s” and the other “women’s”.

     The girl quickly ran behind the desk and wrote down a few words in a small book. She turned around and opened a closet door, and pulled out two robes like she and everyone else was wearing.

     “Here are your kendo robes, please take a right to the men’s side an enjoy yourselves. Take as long as you want.” She smiled and handed them the robes. They both took them and descended down the stairs.

     The spa was huge; it was completely underground and was probably bigger than the building itself. There was a large bamboo wall that they guessed was what separated the women’s side from the men’s. There were a lot of other people in the spa too, but they found a small section that was just theirs. The undressed down and dove into the steaming, yet warm, herbal bath water.

     Dante had just barely started to submerge his head so everything below his nose was in water when Arthas said: Hey Dante?” He seemed nervous. “I swore I’d never ask you this, but I need, or really want, or… well, anyway, how do you feel about your real family, like your real family?” Dante knew that Arthas was nervous about asking, it was a sensitive subject. Dante simply raised his head out of the water, closed his eyes and leaned his head back.

     “To be honest, I don’t think much of them at all. Regardless of their reasons for leaving me, they had no part in raising me or teaching me. They had no part in my life. Yeah, I would like to meet them and all, ask them some questions, but I wouldn’t even consider them my real family anymore. You, mom, and dad, who took me in, raised me, and taught me about life. You guys are my real family.” Dante said. It was true, although he really never had said it out loud before. Arthas smiled and leaned his head back, eyes closed as well.

      “That’s good.” Arthas said. “That’s very good.” They both lulled into a deep and well deserved rest.

 

*          *          *

 

      A couple hours passed before they got out and put on their robes. It had been a few hours, and after just relaxing in the bamboo chairs to get the feeling of being submerged in water to go away, they headed up to their room.

      “You know, these robes are really roomy and comfortable, they would be really good to practice fighting in.” Arthas said.

    “That is because,” a woman started, wearing the uniforms of the people who worked in the hotel, “kento robes were originally designed for training and sparring. They were made with plenty of room so your movements felt more natural, less restricted. Because of this, they are nice to relax in as well.” Without awaiting a response, she left.

      “Thank… You?” Arthas asked hesitantly. Without another word, they headed up stairs. On their way up the women at the front desk said Gin had returned. She said that he told her he was going to take a nap waiting for Dante and Arthas to return. With that they decided that they would do, was to pull a prank. They would surprise Gin in his sleep, a little student to teacher joke.

      “What should we do?” Dante pondered. What would really shake up Gin?

      “How about both get one side of the blanket, yank on it, and shoot him into the air. He’d hate us getting the better of him.” Arthas was going to have too much fun pushing Gin’s buttons like this, and Dante was going to have his share in the fun as well.

      They briskly walked up to their floor, and went to the two large double doors, quietly. As they opened them, they saw Gin was laying on one of the beds, his feet crossed, and a hat over his face. He was asleep, or so it had seemed. Dante was skeptical at first; why would someone as wise and sharp as Gin fall sleep and leave the door unlocked. Whatever, it must have been a blunder.

     Both of them ran to a side of the bed. Gin was on top of the covers, which was perfect. Arthas signaled for them to grab the covers, and they both did so, quietly and carefully. Dante quickly scanned Gin. Something was up; he wasn’t as relaxed as he should be. Arthas mouthed “three.” Dante looked at his chest. His breathing was heavier than if he were sleeping. “two.” His gaze moved to his head, covered by that hat. Was that a twitch in his chin Dante noticed? “One” What was he getting himself in to.

     With that, Arthas and Dante both tugged hard on the bed sheet, launching Gin’s body into the air. Much to their dismay, Gin’s body did not flail as that of someone who was just awoken abruptly. Instead, the body twisted once it was in the air to deliver a kick into Arthas’ side. It wasn’t hard enough to hurt him, but enough to knock him over. Gin landed on the bed again with his non-kicking leg, and spun to sidekick Dante as well. Dante had somewhat saw this coming and prepared himself before he tossed Gin in the air. Because of this he was able to dodge Gins kick but still stumbled backwards.

     “You boys will never get me, hahaha!” Gin laughed loudly flopped back down on the bed. Dante and Arthas both got up and rubbed their heads. Why did they even bother? “You boys better get dressed,” Gin continued. “The ceremony will be starting soon, we don’t want to be late and get bad spots.”

     Gin, Arthas and Dante walked out to the large plaza where the stage was. There were thousands of people circled around it, if not more. They tried their best to muscle and maneuver their way through, but it was hard with Arthas there, he was simply too big. While it took them close to half an hour, they finally did make it to the front, where they were able to see the entire stage.

            It was surrounded by stairs that led to the top on all sides, much like a pyramid. It was also covered in a light, lavender cloth all around, and pink, cherry blossom flowers. The top of the stage, fifteen feet up from the ground, had multiple statues and crosses, and a large alter, nearly the height of Arthas, dead in the middle of it.

            “So Gin, do you care to tell us why we are here to watch this?” Arthas asked, yelling. He had to, of course, with so many people there; it was hard to hear each other even when yelling. Gin turned to both of them and leaned on the rail in front of him, arms crossed.

            “Well, I know you don’t think magyk is real, Arthas. I know you are ignorant to the old tales, but I hope you would be smart enough to believe something if you see it with your own two eyes. As for Dante, I wanted to assure him that his trust was placed well. So I brought you here.

            “You see, this town’s high priest… performs at these gatherings every now and again, and he performs so-called miracles. But really, he performs magyk, and masks it as miracles to keep his followers’ faith strong, to the point where they would take his side over the government of their country. The religion itself is not a scam, and is in all, a peaceful and loving religion. It’s the hierarchy that is paranoid they are going to lose popularity if they don’t perform these magyks. But, I am getting off subject.

            “Now that I have told you the truth about this performance, I want you to look closely. You are not blinded by this religion, so you will see what I mean soon enough.” Gin finished. Arthas obviously wanted to protest, but reminders of kicks to the face quelled his tongue. Dante just stared at the altar in awe, waiting for a display of magyk. Unfortunately, they were so early they had to wait about an hour before anything actually happened.

            Finally, a man walked up on stage, wearing a white robe with a hood over his head, which covered his eyes. Along the back, a golden cross was woven into the stitching, following all the way up the hood. He took it off to reveal he was a boy, no older than Dante. He stood on the altar, drew his arms out of his sleeves and into the rest of the robe, and ducked his head in as well. All was silent for a bit. Then there was a magnificent flash of light, emanating from where the boys stood. It blinded them all, all Dante could see was white, and finally when his eyes regained their vision, instead of a boy, there stood a large man. Actually, large was quite the understatement.

     Standing on the altar, was a gigantic man. Like, literally part giant. He must have been nearly nine feet tall; with hands were the size of Dante’s torso. He had a large beard, the drooped down below his waist, which he tucked into his sash around his waist. He had large bushy eyebrows, and very soft, kind eyes. He was in robes similar to the boy, except these were his size, and he had many beads and necklaces around his neck and waist. He held a large staff, or more of a small tree, with a stone on the end that glowed a bright blue.

      He raised his huge fist, and opened it, revealing an empty palm. He closed it again, the light on his staff flashed, and when he opened it, hundreds of little doves scattered into the air. He spun around on his heels to face the other side of the plaza and swung his staff around his head. All of a sudden, the birds flashed the same color as the stone on his staff, and morphed into small, pink petals, like those on the stairs of the stage.

      After pausing for some applause from the crowd, the giant man thrusted his staff into the air and called down a mighty lightning bolt. As it struck the stone, it changed into a green, and then stayed there. The green bolt was suspended between the clouds above and the stone on the priests staff, flashing occasionally from side to side, changing shape, but stuck between the two. When he released it, there was a loud, thunderous clap.

      Next, he stuck his staff into the altar, and released it, and it stood there, standing straight up on it’s own. It changed a golden color, and the stone turned red. It released several large, golden balls of fire, which flew around the plaza, about ten feet over peoples heads. The fire left behind trails of glittering, multicolored stars, which fell to the ground making the crowd shimmer. The fireballs took different appearances, some became golden dragons, and some golden birds or fish. They all maneuvered through with grace and brilliant fluidity. The crowd applauded again.

      Dante couldn’t remember the last time he was this excited, maybe at the party when he got his new sword, but he was shivering with glee. He had never seen anything so spectacular, giant golden animal fireballs? It seemed so unreal, but here he was, seeing it with his own two eyes.

     He looked over to Arthas, and his face was priceless. His eyes were as wide as possible, and his jaw was hanging. His eyes followed the balls of fire as they circled and swooped overhead. Dante knew that when he first started watching, he was looking for any and all possible catches to the magyk in front of them, but there was nothing he could find and excuse for giant golden balls of fire. Gin smiled and watched along with them at the shape shifting flames. The message had sunk in to Arthas, magyk was real, he couldn’t deny it now.

     The show went on for hours. All the people were cheering and some were even crying, they really believed this to be miracles, and if Dante didn’t know it was magyk, he probably would too. He was a little disappointed though, that someone was using magyk for a scam to acquire followers. They would have followers if they would be honest, it almost seems like cheating, feeding them the lies of “miracles.”

     After awhile, they decided that they had seen enough. It was mostly the same spells, and they wanted to get out before the crowd did. It was much faster for them to move their way out then it was getting in. Finally they got out of the plaza and entered the road that led to their hotel.

      “I’m just ready to crash.” Dante said. He was so happy to watch the magyk, but he was so tired, He couldn’t have stayed up if his life depended on it. Arthas hadn’t said a word since the show started; guess he was still in shock. Gin hadn’t said anything either, and Dante wanted to try and start some conversation.

However, right when Arthas was about to say something, they spotted three men walking form their hotel. The two on the sides were in black robes, with some plate armor on the outside, and long, blowing, ragged black capes. The man in the middle was tall, about as tall as Arthas, and he seemed to be the leader.

He was a full suit of armor, with his right pauldron larger than the left, and making three large points. His left arm had no armor at all besides some cloth bandages, and his right arm was fully armored, and had claw gauntlets. He had a large wolf skin cape, and his armor was covered in various other furs as well. He had a large sword on his back, the blade jagged and deadly. Just looking at it could intimidate a foe. His face was tough; he had a full black beard, and messy black hair. He had a large scar that went from his eye to his chin. His eyes were cold. This man has seen things, horrible things, and he has survived. However as he got closer, Dante felt colder. He wasn’t just a man that has seen horrible things; he was a man that has done horrible things. His eyes didn’t show any remorse. This was no man to fight with.

The men were all walking toward Gin, Dante, and Arthas. They were definitely walking towards them, not just in their direction. Gin stopped, holding out his hand to signal Arthas and Dante to do the same.

The men continued and stopped no more than ten feet from where Gin stood. They stood their silently for a bit, before the man broke the silence.

“Gin, what a pleasant surprise.” He had spoken, with a heavy northern accent. He smirked a little, but not in a way that a long time friend does, but more a rival; an enemy.

“Kerr Reppero. I honestly never would have expected to see you here. The merc business in Albaston too slow, have to try and spread the business to Gredia Vu as well?” Gin asked the man. So this was a mercenary?

“Now now, Gin. Is there any need for such hostility? We used to be such good friends. And you know that I no longer work as a simple mercenary. I’ve been hired as the leader of the Black Hounds of Albaston, can’t you tell from my armor?” Kerr replied, signaling to his black chest plate. It had The Black Hounds? Who were they?

“A promotion? My congratulations to you.” Gin told him. Kerr simply made a small bow. “What are the Black Hounds doing here anyway? A little far from home, don’t you think?”

“We are looking for something. Or, someone. There was a girl that caused quite the commotion for the Albaston government. She fled here, to Gredia Vu. Instead of sending an entire army to retrieve her and cause trouble, they sent us. Unfortunately, it is hard to find one person in an entire country with such a small searching party.” He shrugged. Albaston had a search party in Gredia Vu? That couldn’t be good. Who would cause so much trouble that they would send in soldiers to look for them?

“Looking for someone? May I inquire as to whom?” Gin asked. The man laughed.

“It’s some she-elf. Can’t seem to recall her name… Amy? Andria? Hmm… Oh yes, Aeoa.” Dante’s heart sunk. It felt like he was going to fall over. “Yea, she stole something from the king, and he is less than pleased. We are told to capture and retrieve the artifact.” Kerr finished. Arthas nudged Dante, and they looked at each other. They had to keep straight faces to avoid suspicion, but they both remember her. Aeoa, the girl they met at the market on the bridge. She was an elf who had stolen something from the king of Albaston? The sweet little girl who couldn’t even maneuver her way through a crowd of people by herself? It must be a mistake.

“Well, that must be quite a pain for you. How close are you to finding her? Have any good leads?” Gin asked. Gin seemed to be getting more and more interested in this man and Aeoa.

“As a matter of fact, yes. She was seen here, in this city, not too long ago. We are close to her, and when we get her, the king will be very pleased. Who knows, may even get a promotion to general of the kings army?” Kerr said, and then laughed deeply. Gin chuckled along with him.

“Try not to count your chickens before they hatch, Kerr. You haven’t even found the girl and you are already talking about promotions to general.” Gin lectured.

“A man can dream, can’t he?” Kerr sighed. “Well, I told you my business, why not tell me about these two kids.” Gin looked back, as if he had almost forgotten they were there.

“Ah, these two are from Stonebridge, they want to join the army, I’m escorting them there.” Gin said plainly. He seemed to be distant, as if he was trying to show he had no real connection with Dante or Arthas besides being a guide.

“Well well, a mighty bard reduced to tour guide? While I have risen in my ranks, it seems you have sunk.” Kerr laughed, mockingly. Gin didn’t say anything. A mighty bard? They are just storytellers, songwriters, there really isn’t much ‘mighty’ about them. “Well, I can see you are busy transporting these to kids, so I won’t keep you longer. I must be off; some of us have actual important things to do. But… before I go.” He turned to Dante and stared deep into his eyes, and then to Arthas. “The Gredia Vu army? That means I may see you to in battle some day. I want to remember your faces. I’ll come looking for you.” Dante shivered. He hadn’t even done anything, hell, he wasn’t even in the army yet and he had made an enemy of one of the deadliest men in Albaston. What a good way to start to becoming a hero.

He continued walking until he reached them, and was no more than a foot away from Gin. “Take care, will you? There’s a storm coming and we wouldn’t want to be caught in the rain.” He whispered, and then continued walking; his two guards close behind him.

            “Gin, who was that? What did he mean ‘there’s a storm coming’?” Arthas asked. Gin shook his head.

            “His name is Kerr Reppero. He was a mercenary I tangled with a few years ago, nobody big.” Gin said. Just a mercenary? The man said they used to be good friends. Gin was hiding something. He purposely refused to mention what the storm meant. Did he know, or was he still trying to figure it out himself? Only time would tell. And this man that said he would look for us on the battlefield. He had a twinge of an insane thirst in his eyes when he said that. Gin was for the first time on this trip, afraid.