Light broke through the branches of the elm trees in the forest just south of Seles. A pair of warriors had stopped by a stream for breakfast. Dart Feld had grown up in Seles, it had been years since he been home and he wondered over his rabbit how everyone was, how things had changed. He was of average height around five foot eight inches tall. He was clad in red leather armor, a great sword strapped to his waist, and a red headband keeping his blond hair out of his bright green eyes.

"Do you think Shana is going to be surprised by her 'big brother' coming to visit?" Dart's companion, Daniel Ekert, asked.

Dart and Daniel were closer than brothers and had been traveling together for 5 years, they were both survivors of the attack on the village of Neet when they were young boys. They had found each other shortly after Dart had left Seles to find the Black Monster, the man who had burned their home to the ground. It was as though the two men had always been friends, as easily as they picked back up their friendship from their youth.

Daniel was taller and burlier than Dart at six foot one. He wore navy blue leather armor with matching boots. He had a shield strapped to his back and a longsword coupled with it. While Dart took care to keep clean shaven, Daniel preferred to keep a bit of scruff. His piercing blue eyes shone with intelligence, his black hair he kept cropped short like a soldier.

Before Dart could respond to Daniel, mounted Sandoran soldiers raced through the forest, several stopping to confront them. "Who are you? Mercenaries of Basil?" The question was directed to Daniel since he was closer. He was inching his hand towards the throwing knives he wore on his belt as he knew that Dart now had his hand resting on the sword of his hilt.

"Answer!" one of the soldiers lunged his spear forward threateningly. Daniel grabbed the shaft of the spear, twisted and pulled the spear from his grasp, flipping it around with trained ease.

"What are you doing?!" the other soldier demanded, he couldn't believe that these two mercenaries would date oppose Sandora. Dart had his sword gripped firmly in both hands while Daniel held the spear tip to the now unarmed soldiers throat.

Loud crushing sounds came from behind Dart and Daniel, the Sandoran horses were in a panic, as a large monster appeared.

"Time to go," Daniel bellowed as he grabbed his pack and Darts, running from what he presumed to be a dragon though he had only heard of them in legends. He took cover behind a large boulder, setting their packs down so he could check on Dart who seemed to have taken the bright idea of taking on a dragon by himself.

Daniel moved out from behind the boulder, careful to not let the dragon see him before hurling the Sandoran spear he still had at the soft underbelly of the dragon. The spear imbedded itself in the soft flesh and the dragon was temporarily not focused on Dart but he didn't move. Just as Daniel was about to run out and get him a woman in lack and purple armor came from out of nowhere and grabbed Dart, hurling them both behind the boulder Daniel had taken refuge behind.

The dragon, thankfully hadn't seen where they had gone but was now angry that he had lost his prey. "Who are you?" Dart demanded of the woman who had just saved his life.

"Shh!" both Daniel and the woman shushed him since the dragon was still nearby.

Once the dragon had moved far enough away they all three stood. "Thank you for saving me," Dart said having finally remembered his manners. "What the heck was that?"

"A dragon," the woman confirmed Daniel's suspicions. "But its strange, that village could have easily been destroyed without a dragon."

"Village? What Village?" Dart asked worriedly.

"Seles."

Dart picked up his bag and without another word started sprinting towards the village. The woman pointed out there would be nothing left by now to which Daniel picked up his own pack and said, "It's his home."

Seles was now burning ruins, few buildings in the village still stood. Dart and Daniel had approached Seles from the south, coming through farm fields that were still smoldering. "Dart slow down," Daniel hissed. "This place is crawling with the Imperial Army, we can't just rush through swords drawn!"

"I have to find Shana," was his only reply.

As Dart rushed off to find Shana Daniel carefully made his way through the village, avoiding as many Sandorans as possible and taking out the ones he couldn't avoid. He stopped to help a few villagers trapped in their building homes, he found out from them that Shana had been taken to Hellena Prison. Dart had taken care of the remaining Imperial Sandorans and had also discovered where Shana had been taken to.

"Sounds like a perfect holiday," Daniel said sarcastically, "I've always wanted to be in an Imperial Prison."

"You don't have to come with me," Dart huffed.

"You know I would never let you do this alone. She's your little sister and you're my best friend. Besides, she might be a cute damsel in distress for me to rescue."

Dart rolled his eyes, "Stay away from Shana. I don't say a word when you promise girl after girl that you will write them from our travels but I draw the line at Shana, she is off limits."

Daniel pretended to be hurt by the comment about his experience with women. "I had every intention of writing those girls, but when I realized they weren't the one I thought it just cruel to keep the charade going."

There is no place like home, it had been too long since Sir Lavitz Slambert had been home. He wondered if his mother knew where he was. He was her only child, the commander of the First Knighthood for the kingdom of Basil. It had been a longtime since he had been home and Lavitz now wondered when he would be home again as he was being marched through Hellena Prison by himself.

Imperial Sandora had attacked him and the rest of his knighthood, wiping them out save for a small handful of knights. They had separated Lavitz from his knights, they were going to keep him in a separate cell, it would not have been a good idea to keep them all in the same cell, it would be an escape attempt waiting to happen.

Lavitz saw his chance to escape and took it, knocking one of the guards over and cutting his bindings on the mans spear before dispatching his compatriots.

Lavitz ran through the prison, he needed to rescue his men. He was saddened to find only two still alive. "Run!" Lavitz ordered as he took on 4 Sandoran soldiers at once. "Report back to King Albert!"

"Not a chance!" The two remaining Basil knights were thrown over the railing down to the pit below, they had almost certainly died from the fall or would be dead shortly. It was now up to Lavitz to break himself out of the prison and report back to the King.

Two men dressed in leather armor, one in red the other in navy blue, came to his rescue, together they made short work of the Sandorans. Lavitz was still wearing his plate male armor and green tunic signifying his allegiance to the King. His spiked blond hair was soaked with sweat but he didn't let his exhaustion stop him from now pointing his spear at the men who had just saved him.

"Hold up there big guy," the man in navy blue was a few inches taller than Lavitz and had now placed his shield between Lavitz's spear and himself, blocking the man in red as well. "I am Daniel Eckert, this rash young man is Dart Feld, we're here to rescue his sister. It looks to me like you need to get out of here just like we will once we get his sister. I don't think a knight of Basil would leave a defenseless woman in this hell hole."

Lavitz lowered his spear with a chuckle, he liked Daniel. "I am Sir Lavitz Slambert. Your friend is most likely being held in one of the upper towers, we will have to get the key from one of the guards, their barracks is just ahead."