Note from the author: I haven't written new parts for this story in a long while and when I was rereading it, I decided that the story wasn't going as I wanted it to go. So I started rewriting it. The first four new parts are up now. I hope to put up the next chapters next week. Hopefully you all enjoy the changes :-) thanks everyone for all their patience. Enjoy!

Cheerio,

Aribeth

West-Harbor had been her home. It was the place where she had grown up, where she had learned who she truly was. It was there that she realized she was a paladin of Tyr and it was there that she had been trained to be one.

But now… Now she had to leave her home, to protect it and to keep it safe. Nera grabbed her bag and placed it upon her shoulder. With her blue eyes, she stared behind her. It was dark. She had arrived from the ruins with Bevil an hour ago. If she would have known that retrieving the shard would cause her to leave West Harbor then she would have doubted her father 's command. But she loved Daeghun and she had always done everything he had asked her. Even now, when he had commanded her to leave the village, she had listened to him without any complaint. She had not realized how hard it would be to leave that town. To leave Bevil.

She could hardly believe that hours ago she had kissed him for the first time. He had a bit too much to drink, but she was sure he meant the way he felt. But his final words now had caused her pain.

"Adventure is your way, Nera," he had said, while his gaze was pointed towards his shoes, "What happened between us… It wouldn't have lasted. I can never leave West-Harbor. Go and protect the village. I'll be waiting if you would ever return, but as a friend. Nothing more."

She had hid her true feelings by smiling at him. It had put him at ease and he had given her some money for the journey ahead. After his talk she had started walking and had never looked back. But now, she had to. Her heart ached. She knew she was naïve. Daeghun had told her that a thousand fold. He had told her that Bevil wasn't worth her love, that she was meant for someone better. Now, she had nothing to do then to believe his words.

With a sigh, she prayed at Tyr for strength and continued her walk. She soon arrived at the Weeping Willow inn. She walked a bit faster, because she was hungry and in need of a rest. When she got closer she noticed a dwarf and three humans bickering with each other.

"Now that we're outside, maybe you'd like to tell me what you said again… slowly this time so you can think about what you're saying," the dwarf said.

"You're a small one to be taking this road all by yourself, dwarf. Maybe you've come looking for trouble… unless you have a little coin to convince us otherwise," Nera could hear the treat in the voice of the young man and was shocked about it. The dwarf had done nothing wrong, yet they seemed to determine to talk all of his money. She decided to step in. She was a paladin, fighting for the innocent should be a daily job for her.

"What's going on here?" she asked, while she hoped she sounded strong.

"Nothing that concerns you," the young man answered. The look he gave her, made shivers run across her back, "This is between us and the dwarf. And whatever coin he happens to have with him."

"Ah, you're welcome to try to take it, if ya, if you're all game… you all can't be frightened of one little dwarf, can you?" the dwarf mocked, "If you're afraid of being humiliated in front of the stranger here, well, now that's another matter."

"We're not frightened of either of you," the man answered boldly. For some reasons Nera felled insulted. She wasn't tall, but she still was a paladin and strong enough to fight many men, "And it seems to me you need to learn a lesson."

"Calm down," she tried, although she wanted to smash his face, "This isn't worth someone's life!"

"This matter is between us and the dwarf here, it's none of your concern," the man snapped.

"Come on," the dwarf interfered, "Someone try to hit me already…Even the newcomer here sees that you're all too afraid to do anything."

Nera was taken aback. The dwarf obviously was looking for a fight, although he had done nothing wrong. Fighting just for the sake of fighting wasn't something she approved off. Like her mentor had said: "Only raise your sword when the law and the goodness of people needs to be defended."

"All right, I've heard enough of this- come on boys. Let's deal with the dwarf and his new friend."

Nera frowned. New friend. She didn't realize that you could make friends just by trying to solve a conflict. But these men were about to break the law and as the rightful paladin she was, she immediately defended the dwarf. It didn't took long though, before all of them were defeated.

"Well, now that was good fight. A shame they had to resort to weapons, but if they have to keep the odds even, can't blame them too much," the dwarf said, while he came closer towards her, "Name's Khelgar by the way – of the Clan Ironfist. Been making my way along the Coast for some time now, stopped in the Willow here for a brief fight."

"I'm Nera Lanata," Nera answered, while she tried to figure him out. He had stopped just to fight. Her father had warned her for dwarfs, but she had always believed he had been prejudiced, now he seemed to have spoken the truth, "I'm glad I could even the odds for you."

After that, they decided to have a drink in the Inn and there Khelgar told her he wanted to become a monk. When he tried to explain her why, they got interrupted by bladelings. They both fought together, side by side, and killed all of them. They got a small reward from Gera for saving her husband, after which Nera decided it would be best if she kept moving.

The dwarf followed her outside and then said:

"Well now, I've had a good time so far. And the way you attract trouble.. I haven't had this much fun since that tavern back at Bogen's Pass where I was using that trestle table as a battering ram," He paused and gazed at her, "Look, we're headed in the same direction and you seem to have more enemies than friends, what say we travel together? Might be able to teach each other a few things."

Nera happily agreed. She had been worried about her travelling alone, but now with Khelgar on her side, she felt more safe. The dwarf knew how to fight and she was sure that the two of them would be able to reach Neverwinter safely.

A few days later they arrived at Fort Locke. Nera know understood Khelgar better and he seemed to respect her for her paladin abilities. While they were talking about the fight they just had had with a couple of wolves, they came closer to a couple of soldiers and a tiefling.

Nera didn't want to cause trouble, but when she heard what it was about her lawful side made her step in.

"What, demon, no screams for u? Maybe we should brand you, maybe that'll loosen your tongue," one of the soldiers said.

"Leave me alone- I've done nothing to you," the woman answered, a slight panic in her voice.

"Well, now Commander Vallis will be happy to hear that," the man taunted, "It means his work here's all done, he can just give up the fort and go home."

The other men grinned.

"Still, there's just the small matter of those bounties on bandits he posted – and a bandit with demon blood, well, there's no telling how much that's worth," the man continued, "A-course, you could tell us where your camp is- Vallis will pay more for that, he will, and we won't even have to butcher the lot of you."

"I told you, I'm not with those bandits-or are you deaf and stupid?" the girl replied.

That did it for Nera. If someone claimed she was innocent, then the soldiers should at least hear her out. But that wasn't exactly what the soldiers were planning…

"Stupid?" the solider repeated, "Here we were, thinking about letting you live, now you've gone and changed our minds."

Nera decided to step in and came closer. One of the soldiers noticed her and Khelgar.

"Eh- hold on," he said, "Looks like she's got friends, she does."

"Look, " Nera started, "I think it's best if you leave that woman alone. She seems to have done nothing wrong."

"This don't concern you," the soldier snapped, "We're soldiers from Fort Locke, hunting bandits."

"That we are," another one hurried up to his defense, "We caught this demon trying to raid our camp, and we were about to deal with her."

"By killing her?" Nera asked surprised, " What did she take?"

"Nothing yet," the soldier answered, "But her crew's been hounding these parts. They been raiding merchants, caravans – maybe even killed the old commander!"

"I told you," the girl interjected, "I'm not with those bandits."

"Shut your lying mouth, demon," the man replied, "You'll get the blade soon enough."

"I won't let you murder her in cold blood!" Nera said, while she laid her hand upon her sword. In West Harbor that had been enough to calm a man down. But these men weren't smart Harbormen.

"You know – Vallis might pay for three bandits bounties," one of them suggested ," He's not one for asking questions..;"

"Especially about a demon, a runty dwarf… and a dirty Harborman who doesn't know enough to keep walking!" the first man added.

"Runty dwarf?" Khelgar suddenly said. Nera had a feeling where this was going and she pulled out her sword, "I know you cowards aren't talking to me, or you'll be talking to my fist next!"

"Good enough for me," the soldier said," Let's kill them all and I'll sort out the tale later."

"You might find us more than you can handle," Nera replied and she attacked.

With Khelgar on her side and the demon helping them, they defeated them easily. When it was over, Khelgar and Nera looked at the demon girl they had just saved.

"Thanks for helping me out," she said, "Guess I owe you, huh?"

"You owe me nothing," Nera answered, surprised, "Those men wanted to murder you in cold blood. I can't just stand here and let them do that."

"Hey, you're nice!" she replied. She seemed to relax a bit and then continued: "I didn't mean to sound so surprised but … well, once folks catch sight of me – usually it's the horns- they run in the other direction. And all those tales about tieflings being cursed don't help much, either."

She took a breath and then introduced herself: "I'm Neeshka, by the way. I'm really glad you came when you did. Wasn't really sure how I'd get out of that one. Of course, they never would've caught me in the first place if that "invisibility" potion I bought hadn't been watered down. If I ever see that merchant again…"

Nera had to smile. Though Neeskha had obviously demon blood, she didn't seem to be an evil person.

They decided to travel together, much against Khelgar's will and Nera had a feeling that wouldn't be the end of it. But they traveled together to Fort Locke and when they arrived there and heard of the trouble the Fort was in, Nera decided to help.

They found the old Commander and got him back at the Fort. Nera pleased Marshall Cormick by making sure the patrols were back on and she got a reward for saving the Commander.

When they were buying some stuff in the local smithy, a woman called Liza, came up to her and asked for her help. Her husband and other people had been kidnapped for ransom money by bandits. Nera immediately provided help and with Neeskha 's help they found the bandit camp. They defeated most of the bandits and were able to convince the bandit chief to fight side by side with the soldiers from Fort Locke.

They got another reward from Liza and one of the commander, though Nera told them it wasn't necessary. Neeskha didn't seem to like that, so Nera decided to discuss this with her new companion.

"Neeskha, I know you disapprove of me not taking rewards, but people like Lisa have a hard time already. Talking their money would make life harder," Nera started.

"Well, I have a hard life too and I don't have the amount of money they have!" the tiefling replied, a bit frustrated.

"I know. But as long as you travel with me, I'll make sure you'll be fine. You can have anything you want and you'll always be defended by me."

Neeskha was surprised to hear this and that seemed to be enough to make her agree with Nera.

"You're a nice person, Nera. I'm glad you saved me."

"Don't worry about it," Nera answered with a smile, "I'm sure you would have done fine without me."

After that was cleared up, they both traveled towards Highcliff. However, Nera and her companions encountered something on their way towards the town…