Chapter Seven

Chapter 7: Friendship’s the Reason


Cevlon - Haven:

   “Hey Drey!”
Drey turned his eyes from the bustling street below him to the roof he stood on.
A smile grew on his face when he saw his best friend.
   “’Ello Terryn. How’s everyone back at camp?” He asked.
Terryn looked at him with a grin.
  “Wonderin’ when you’ll be comin’ back ‘round.”
Drey smiled.
   “Probably tonight.”
Terryn’s eyes grew wide.
   “Awesome! They’ll be thrilled!”
The two turned back and looked down at the street below.

Terryn was a little younger then Drey, probably fifteen years old now if he had to guess. Though they were the same height. Terryn had dirty blond hair that was about the same length as Drey’s now. Just brushing his shoulders. He had pulled the front back a little into braids, though his bangs were still in his face. Terryn could pull that off, Drey? not so much.
Terryn wore a coat with the front undone to show his dirty tunic underneath. His pants were also dirty. He didn’t keep them tucked into his boots like Dreyden did, and he had metal plates on one leg and not on the other. Drey couldn’t see the purpose behind that but he didn’t argue with Terryn’s sense of style.
Terryn kept a set of long daggers at his hip that didn’t look like much, but did a lot of damage in the right hands.
   “What happened to your place?” Terryn asked.
Drey chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck.
   “Uh...it blew up.”
Terryn scoffed.
   “What’d you do? Leave the kettle on again?”
   “Oi! Shut your gop!”
Drey lunged forward and caught the younger boy under his arm and squeezed.
   “Ow! Ow! Ow!”
Terryn hit his arm with his free hand.
   “Okay, okay! I take it back!” He cried.
Dreyden scoffed and let go.
   “Yeah you’d better.”
Terryn rolled away and shook his head.
Drey smiled and looked back down at the people going about their normal day.
He found his thoughts going back to Elowen. They had run down this street when he snuck her out of the jail. He still wasn’t quiet sure why he had done that.
As he sat there thinking, his eyes caught the motion of a young girl. She wore a white robe that was shorter then her dress, and her long sleeves could be seen past the short sleeves of the robe, but the hood was up and he could barely make out her face.
He watched her make her way down the street in a lazy fashion. But two things happened at once. When she turned the corner a gust of wind blew her hood off. He gasped when he saw the glimpse of light ginger hair before she pulled the hood back up.
   “What is it?”
Terryn came in between Drey and the girl. Drey looked up at the boy and shook his head.
   “Nothing. Lets head back to camp.”
.:+:.

Cevlon - Outcast’s Camp:

The Outcast’s Camp was the home to a band of kids that caused mischief for any official officer. They were all a sort of bounty hunter, and they were all free lancers. Taking sides with the highest bidder.
Now they weren’t a bad group of kids, they were actually quiet nice under the rough exterior, but...you had to get past the rough exterior first.

Their camp was located close to the back of the city. The Lowlands, as most people refer to it as. It was disguised as a local tavern, and it got quiet some good business too. - Though the kids didn’t run it. They just lived there.

Terryn led the way down the mud caked streets and into the pub. It had started to rain and he had pulled the hood of his coat up, but Drey didn’t have one so he just got wet. He’d have to rethink his wardrobe soon.
Inside the tavern, the two shook their heads and were welcomed by the smell of ale and lots of dirt.
Songs were breaking out everywhere and a few jigs too, but it was a pretty decent size tavern, so it didn’t take up to much room.
   “Better go say hi.” Terryn said as he moved over to the rest of the gang. “Or she’s going to blow a gear.” He added with a smile.
Dreyden rolled his eyes.
   “She would wouldn’t she?” He called after him.
   “You know it!”
Drey laughed and made his way to the bar by dodging in and out of people and avoiding getting drinks spilt on him.
At the bar, a small girl - didn’t even come up to his shoulder - was talking to a Palace guard. Her long black hair was held away from her face by a strip of cloth.
She wore a black shirt with a jacket over top, hiding it mostly. And though Drey couldn’t see, he guessed she probably wore leather pants and boots too.
   “...So I was wondering if maybe...I don’t know...” The guard was stumbling over his own words. Drey chuckled. Most boys were shocked and surprised that she was a free lancer, and then they were always disappointed because their mommies would scold them severely if they even tried to flirt with her.
   “Well that is if you wanted to...”
Drey could see the pained look in her pale face and decided to be her hero for the moment.
   “Hey, is this man bothering you?” He asked, stepping up.
Her bright golden eyes grew as big as sand dollars. He gave her a wink and she grew a small smile.
   “He just wont listen to me Drey. I told him I was already engaged.” She said, stepping out from behind the bar and coming up to him and hiding slightly behind him with her arm around his waist.
Drey turned to the solider with a hard face.
   “Oh really?”
The man’s eyes grew wide in shock.
   “No it wasn’t like that sir. See...she - I - I mean -”
Drey shook his head.
   “You know I shouldn’t have to be here for you to back off. If she says ‘leave’ then you had better listen the first time. Now get out of my sight before I change my mind.”
The solider whimpered and scurried away and out the door.
When it slammed shut behind him, Drey looked down at the small girl.
   “Thanks! He was starting to get on my nerves.” She said, giving him a proper hug.
   “Don’t mention it. Though is it possible for someone to get on your nerves?” He asked as he returned the hug.
She looked up at him with a sweet, innocent smile.
   “Yes. But I usually don’t show it.” Her voice was so quiet that sometimes when everything else was really loud, her voice would get lost in it all.
   “How have you been Ysmay?” He asked as she walked back around the counter and started to wipe it down.
   “Oh the usual. How about you? Are you okay? you look pretty down.”
That was Ysmay for you. She could get to the point of a conversation in a flash.
Drey shrugged, but before he could say anything Terryn jumped back in.
   “He blew up his house again.” He stated in a casual way as he braced himself against the bar while he bit into a crecip fruit.
   “What?! Are you okay?” Ysmay grabbed a hold of Drey’s face and turned it from side to side looking for scars or burns, then she yanked on his hands so he ended up sprawled across the bar.
   “Oi! Ysmay! I’m fine. Really! I wasn’t in the house when it blew.” He said.
She let out a sigh of relief and let go of him.
   “You should know better then to scare me like that Dreyden.” She said quietly as she started to wipe down the wood.
   “Hey, blame him okay? He started it.” He messed with Terryn’s hair playfully.
He just rolled his eyes and ignored him.
   “Hey Terryn where did you find this big lug anyway?” Ysmay asked.
  “He was standing gazing off at the spot where they murdered that girl.” He answered. Drey tried to mask the pain, and also keep under control the urge to hit Terryn in the nose.
   “That was awful. I can’t believe they did that. And we boast that we’re a kind people.” Ysmay said in disgust.
   “Yeah. And it’s a pity, she was cute too.”
   “Oi! Shut your pie hole already.” Drey snapped. Not really wanting Terryn to go down that road. Especially about Elowen.
   “What?” Terryn cast him an innocent glance. “It’s not my fault I notice these kind of things. I mean come on, it’s not like you didn’t notice that she was cute either.”
Drey didn’t make eye contact.
   “See? There! That’s as good as admitting it.”
   “Terryn, I’m going to kill you.” He threatened with a smile.
   “Yeah well, what ever. I bet that if she had stayed around Drey would have manned up.”
Ysmay laughed a little and tossed her dirt cloth at Terryn’s head.
   “Like your one to talk! You’ve never showed any interest in a girl in your life. -”
   “And what do you mean I would have ‘manned up’?!” Drey cut in.
   “Oh come on Drey that one’s a given. You’ve never liked any girl. Even I know that. To bad you couldn’t talk to her.” Terryn jumped in.
Drey didn’t answer. Which stalled them both.
   “Wait...you did?”
Ysmay gasped, and her hands flew to her mouth. Terryn’s jaw dropped as he stood stunned.
   “You’ve got to be jokin’! When could you have talked to her? She was locked up in jail the night before, and then she was taken strait to the chopping block.” Terryn tried - unsuccessfully - to pry details out of Drey. But Ysmay was very keen.
   “Oh Dreyden please tell me you didn’t do what I think you did.” She whispered.
Drey glanced around the tavern to make sure no one was listening in. Everyone else was too drunk to comprehend the simplest sentence. And anyone that was still sober wouldn’t be able to pick anything up because of the noise level.
   “I put her back.” He answered finally. Realizing that sentence didn’t come out exactly as he wanted it to, blood rushed to his face.
   “’I put her back’? Did you really just say that?” Terryn asked in shock.
   “Oh Dreyden.” Ysmay whispered. “What were you thinking?! What on earth where you thinking breaking her out and then putting her back?!”
Dreyden expected the first part, but was completely taken aback by the second part.
   “Wait...what?” He asked. Not sure he heard right.
   “Why on earth would you break her out and put her back afterwards?” Ysmay repeated in a whisper. “You should have brought her back here! We would have kept her hidden.”
She could tell that he hadn’t thought of that, and now he was beating himself up.
She let out a deep sigh and took up the rag again.
   “Don’t worry about it now. What’s done is done. But...you should go talk to him. He’ll want to know about this. And he said he wanted to see you anyways.”
   “Where is he?”
She shrugged her small shoulders.
   “Where else would he be?” She asked.
He chuckled and beat the bar top twice. Their traditional ‘good-bye’.
Terryn gave him a half-hearted salute and Ysmay dipped her head.

Outside in the rain Dreyden made his way to a set of stone stairs.
He should have borrowed a cloak, his armor was going to get rusted and it was going to take him days to get it back to shape.
He groaned and shook his head, sending water droplets every where.
He climbed the stairs, taking them two at a time. The rain made it a little harder to keep his balance.
Once he reached the top he stepped onto the stone walkway that lined the top of the wall that kept the people of Haven safe.
He quickly made his way to the closest look out tower. It wasn’t really a tower anymore, it was just a pile of rubble now. This whole area of the wall was rubble. No one knew what really happened to this section of the wall. And those that do, don’t tell.

Drey’s thoughts left momentarily to the girl he had seen earlier. He could have sworn she had ginger hair.
He shook his head.
   “Idiot. Lots of girls have ginger hair.” He told himself angrily.
   “That they do Dreyden. So who pray tell, has your knickers in a twist?”
Drey jumped when the voice was suddenly beside him. He looked over and saw a face as familiar to him as his own.
   “Oh you know, the usual fair maiden that nobody can touch.” He answered with a hint of a smile.
   “Ah, is that so? Well that would be just your luck. You couldn’t even talk to women, and the one girl you do like ends up dying. Tough luck boy.”

Merek was the leader of the gang. He was taller then even Dreyden, and had an air about him that let everyone know immediately that he was in charge. Not even Dreyden would go against Merek.
Merek’s dark hair was kept short and he had a few beads hanging in it here and there. His skin was tanned from the endless days in the sun. He wore a leather chest plate and no tunic under it, so he could show off his massive biceps to the ladies. - Even if he denies it, he still does it. - Two swords were slung onto his back in a large ‘X’, and the dealers knew better then to double cross him. Everyone did.
But Merek wasn’t all tough and mean.
If you were in his family, he’d treat you like family. He and Dreyden were practically brothers, and Merek looked out for small Ysmay, now she didn’t like it when he wouldn’t let her fight because of her size, so she wasn’t left out from those, but he did keep a careful eye on her.
Everyone loved and respected Merek, and he loved and respected them right back.


Drey sighed and leaned against the wall of the falling tower.
   “So you knew?” He asked.
Merek laughed.
   “I think I knew before you knew. I’m pretty cool that way.”
Drey chuckled.
   “Well you’re not to full of yourself.” He remarked. Merek just shrugged, then turned all serious.
   “So...what did you do with her when you broke her out?”
Drey knew where this was going.
   “It’s not what you think okay?”
Merek cocked his eyebrow in a teasing way. Which got Drey all flustered.
   “Serious!”
Merek nodded, the smile still not gone.
   “Uh-huh. Then what did you do?”
   “The poor thing had never flown in her life.” Drey started off.
   “Well yes, she was from Falion. They don’t have yertos. They have those bloody Magi.”
Drey nodded in agreement.
   “Yes, I know. But she wanted to get closer to the stars. So...” He shrugged, as if to say, ‘you know what happened next’. Merek sighed.
   “So you took her up to see the stars I guess. Quite the ladies man all of a sudden.”
   “Not just anyone’s.” Drey mumbled. He never much liked the girls in Haven. They were alright, but they were all snobs and thought too much of themselves. Merek and the rest of the gang would laugh at him and say ‘you’ll come down to Earth one of these days, and find that the right girl for you was starring you in the face.’
The only girl he had ever might have considered getting to know better, and maybe, maybe falling for eventually would have been Elowen. But he had to keep his head on the ground and remind himself that she was gone.
   “Wow. She must have been some girl to have you hooked so badly. Even after she’s gone.” Merek commented.
Drey sighed and looked up at the dreary sky that wasn’t helping his mood.
   “You have no idea.”
Merek’s eyebrows rose at Dreyden’s response. He really was in deep. With a dead girl none the less.
   “You know what the freaky thing is though Merek?” He said, not looking at him. “I keep seeing her everywhere. It’s starting to freak me out! I didn’t even know her that long! Only a couple hours at the most. And yet, I cant get her bright green eyes and beautiful smile out of my head. What’s wrong with me Merek?!”
Merek laughed when Drey freaked out on him.
   “Nothing’s ‘wrong’ with you. You’ve just fallen in love. Deep. But...she’s gone. You do realize that, right Dreyden?”
Drey nodded slowly.
   “The rational part of me does. Yeah. But then there’s the other part of me that...doesn’t think so.”
Merek nodded.
   “Yeah there’s always that part. It doesn’t matter who you lose, there’s always that part of you that doesn’t want to believe they’ve gone on ahead of you.”
He said, bracing himself against the stone by his forearm.
   “But, you’ve got to focus on the here and now. That’s what keeps your head out of the clouds. And...it seems the here and now involves beating up a few people.”
Drey’s brow furled as he pushed himself away from the wall and looked out beside Merek.

   “Ugh. Don’t these dudes ever learn?” He groaned. Unsheathing his sword. “Or am I really going to have to teach them everything?!” He asked himself.
   “So I take it you’ve met them before.” Merek commented as he followed Drey’s suit and unsheathed his two swords.
   “Unfortunately, yeah.”
   “Huh. Well lets go teach them a thing or two, shall we?”
   “Lets.”
Merek led the way down the stairs and shifted his weight when he stood in front of the band of guards, slinging one sword onto his shoulder.
   “Hello gents. What can I do for you?” He asked in an easy going tone.
   “We’ve got no quarrel with you. It’s him we’re after.” The taller one snapped, pointing to Dreyden.
   “Ah yes. You ended up on you face. Right, I remember now. And you ended up in yerto droppings. Back for more then?” Drey pointed to the chubby one with the tip of his sword. They both glowered at him.
   “We’ve come to settle this. You interfered with official business, and you are now going to be arrested.”
Drey’s jaw dropped.
   “Arrested? You can’t be serious!” He shouted in protest.
   “Drey what did you do?” Merek whispered.
   “I just busted a friend out of some trouble.” He answered.
   “By order of the Council, you, Dreyden are under arrest.”
Drey glanced at Merek, who shrugged.
   “No one’s gone to jail yet, why break the record now?” He asked.
Drey smiled and turned to the guards.
Twelve in total. Now that just wasn’t fair.
   “Sorry gents. But no can do. You see, I’ve got something I need to do, and I can’t do it in jail.” He said.
The leader’s eyes smoldered with anger.
   “You’re defying orders?” He asked.
   “I already told you! I’m a bounty hunter. I don’t do orders.”
At the same moment, the two free lancers lunged forward, swords braced, out by their sides.
The Palace guards were startled by their sudden attack, and so therefore, the free lancers gave the first blow.

Dreyden swung his sword out in a circle, cutting the tall one at his shins. It was just a flesh wound and it wouldn’t do much damage, but it would hurt like there was no tomorrow. The tall one cried out in pain and crumpled to his knees. His armor clattering on impact.
Drey used his back as a spring board, and threw himself at the nearest knight.
The knight drew his sword hastily in a sloppy parry, and Drey slashed down, using his shoulder for extra force, and the knight fell to the ground when he landed on him.
   “Don’t get up.” He ordered. “For your own safety.” He flashed a friendly smile before jumping up and moving onto the next enemy.

However, the knights weren’t all for show. They did know a thing or two about fighting, and not all of them sucked at swordplay.
It wasn’t too long before Merek and Dreyden were back to back, panting and trying to figure out what to do.
Most of the knights had formed a circle around them, swords pointed at their necks.
   “So...got a plan?” Dreyden asked.
   “I’m working on it. Cut me some slack. I can’t come up with the most awesome plans with out thinking for a minute or two.” Merek shot back.
   “We don’t have a minute or two.”
Drey fell forward, rolling on his shoulder and coming up under the deadly swords. The knight he came in front of was startled and Drey took that opportunity to bash the butt of his sword into the man’s helmet, sending him into a daydream.
   “Or...we could do that. That works.” He heard Merek mutter behind him.
   “Not all of us can be tactic planners.” He shot back.
Merek chuckled as he spun around a knight and his thrust was parried.
The two wove in and out of the knights in a deadly dance, covering each other’s backs and making sure they didn’t get cut down themselves.
This is where Dreyden felt most at home. Not killing people, but with a sword in hand and a friend to protect his back. He felt in his element there. He knew what to do, like an instinct.
He ducked a punch and slammed his elbow into the side of another knight.
But before he could come around fully and face his next opponent, he heard a rip, and his thigh burned.
He cried out and looked down at his leg. But the knight took that moment and jumped him.
Drey put up a hasty shield with his sword, but was easily defeated, and another cut was made on his arm, cutting through his leather jacket.
It was the chubby knight from before. Well at least he wasn’t completely hopeless when it came to a fight.

Merek was caught up in a fight of his own, but he noticed that Drey was wounded and down, he had to get over there! But not with this hulk of a knight barring down on him. He couldn’t move.

.:+:.

Ysmay hummed a lullaby as she closed up the tavern for the night. Ushering the last few drunkards out and closing the window shutters.
   “Well I’m going to hit the sack.” Terryn said as he stretched and yawned.
   “Good night Terryn. See you in the morning -”
She glanced out the window and saw two men, against twelve knights.
   “Terryn!!” She screamed, rushing back to the bar counter and grabbing her cross bow and small sword.
   “What?!”
Terryn was standing in front of her, wide eyed now.
   “Merek and Dreyden are in trouble. Come on!” She tugged on his hand, pulling him outside and into the cool, rainy night.

Terryn pulled at her arm and motioned to the roof tops, then put his finger to his lips. Telling her to go unseen. She nodded and scaled the side of the house.
Terryn however, after sending up a prayer for safety to Eleyos, was the bait and the distraction.
He ran in there screaming his head off, flipping his two short blades between his fingers. At one point in the past, that would have freaked Ysmay out, but now, sense he did it all the time, she wasn’t worried. She just kept her eye on the outcrop on a roof top that would conceal her, and would be the perfect place to take out a few knights.
She made it there silently, and ducked behind a stack of boxes. Careful not to put any weight on it that might cause it to shift and bring attention to her.
She loaded her bow with a sleeping arrow. This would just knock out the knights, not hurt them or anything.

Dreyden was glad to see Terryn, though he wasn’t to happy about him rushing in there screaming. However, it worked and the chubby knight was taken by surprise.
Drey slashed out and advanced on the knight.
   “Miss me?” Terryn said, cutting in close to knights and ramming both of his daggers into their face.
  “We had it under control.” Merek shot back with a smile.
  “Uh-huh. Sure you did.”
The three bounty hunters wove in and out of the ring of knights, trying their best to avoid injuries. But there was still too many of them.
Suddenly, there was a low whoosh and a knight in the back fell down. The knights looked around in confusion. Another knight fell, and then another.
   “Think that’ll even the odds?”
They all looked up just as a flash of black came shooting from the sky, there was a lot of blurred motion, and three more knights fell.
It was only then did Ysmay show herself at the boys sides.
They all nodded grimly as they looked at the remanding six knights.
   “I think that’ll do nicely.” Drey answered.
   “You think that defeating us will do any good?” The tall one was back up on his feet again, and speaking. “We’ll get you tomorrow. Just because you defeat these guards doesn’t mean there aren’t more. And by this act of defiance, you are now a threat to Haven. The lot of you! You’ll all be arrested!”
Merek let out a low whistle.
   “And all this just because you helped a friend?” He asked in astonishment.
Dreyden shook his head.
   “Well it’s not like we’re not already outcasts.” Terryn pointed out.
   “Yeah, but we’ll be wanted fugitives if we stay here.” Ysmay observed. “If we stay we’ll surly be punished for what we’ve done.”
No one saw it coming, no one expected it.
A knight had crept up on them while they were distracted, and when he saw the moment, he took it.
Ysmay cried out in pain when the knight’s blade cut through her cape, leather jacket, and skin.
Drey saw it out of the corner of his eye as he screamed. Ysmay toppled to the ground in a bloody heap.
He had a flash back to when his brother had taken the beating for him. He gritted his teeth. That wasn’t happening again. They weren’t going to take away his friends, or his family ever again!
He kicked with his foot sending the knight into a disoriented daze. Then, after sensing the other knights coming into the action he swung his sword over his head, parrying a blow to the back. He turned on his heel and took a protective stance in front of Ysmay.
   “No one hurts my family. Or if they do, well then, they wished they hadn’t.” Fire smoldered in his eyes. And something stirred inside him. Something he hadn’t known was there. But when Elowen died and he hadn’t done anything, guilt hung over him, and he wasn’t about to stand there and do nothing when someone hurt Ysmay.
That was out of the question.
   Merek hadn’t seen that fire in his eyes before. It caught him off guard, and he had never seen Drey so determined about something before. He knew better then to try and talk to him. He wouldn’t be listening.
But they couldn’t stay here. There were too many of them, and the ones that had been knocked out before were starting to come too. They needed an escape route.
   “Dreyden!” He shouted.
Drey’s eyes snapped around to him.
   “We need to leave!” He ordered.
Drey nodded, as Merek came over and picked Ysmay up from the ground while him and Terryn guarded his back.
   “Where are you going to go? You have no where to run!”
Drey realized the knight was right. There was no where to run. If you became a fugitive on this cursed island, you’d be hunted down eventually. And then thrown in jail, so all of this would have been for nothing.
   “Go. Go to the Arriecsent Ruins.” It was Lorem.
Drey glanced around, but didn’t see the white tiger.
   “You are ready! Go!”
Drey glanced behind him. The wall.
   “Merek! Follow me!” He shouted, taking the lead. He slid through the mud as he cut a sharp corner to the stone steps.
Merek, holding Ysmay was right on his tail with Terryn in tow, defending their backs from the advancing knights.
Drey jumped the last three stairs and moved to the side. He snatched an arrow from his quiver and pulled it onto the string of his bow. Pulling back, he let his instincts take over. Forcing himself to take a deep breath, he aimed for the first knight, and let the arrow fly.
It held true to him, and hit it’s mark.
   “Terryn! Come on!” He shouted. Then taking up the lead again he came to a section of the wall where it had been blown away, so it was just a ragged edge, and then a shear drop to Falion far below.
He glanced at Merek, who caught on to what he was doing. He nodded but looked back at Terryn.
Terryn hadn’t come of age yet, he didn’t have a yerto quiet yet, and they weren’t willing to push their luck that he’d get chosen just now.
Drey grabbed his collar and threw himself over the ledge, taking a screaming and kicking Terryn with him.