Dramatis Personae:
Euluck- Euluck is Paulm's Horse. Euluck is a very shifty character. An enormous black stallion with sparkling green eyes, he takes no crap from anyone.
Paulm- The leader of the expedition. He himself actually has no Gift or nothing, but holds the group together through his intelligence and planning.
Wyvern- Chase's fierce mare that will fight to the finish. She is a strange reddish-golden color with green-yellow eyes.
Chase- Chase is a boy with a love for sunbirds. Other than Chase's strange kinship with sunbirds, he is relatively normal.
Hommin- Hommin, a personal friend of Numair's, shares the black robes' love for learning and Numair's great power. He is a war and fire mage. Of course, he is even more vain and finicky than his comrade, and lazy to boot!
Kamm- Kamm is a slightly more peaceful sort of spidren who is seeking the supposed spiderin paradise, Wos. Although mistrusted by the other group members, he actually might be for good.
Kelsey- Kelsey is a relatively normal girl. She is brave and kind, but loathes Kamm. This is because that her family was captured by spidrens. She believes that they are in Wos.
Coral- Coral is the small red pony of Kelsey.
Bome- Bome is Kamm's horse.
M'nall- M'nall is the brave woman who agrees to guide the travelers as far as she knows through the jungle. She has the Gift.
Paulm studied the applicant. He appeared to be around thirteen or fourteen at most. He started taking notes. "Have you any experience in the field of wilderness survival?" The boy studied Paulm for a long time before giving his answer. "Yes, sir. I have honestly been keeping myself alive using wilderness survival for the last six months." Paulm nodded, but frowned inside. Was this boy a runaway? Was he applying because he truly wanted to explore the uncharted Southern Carhaki jungles, or to escape his parents? "Are you experienced in any kinds of weapons?" The boy nodded. "Staff, crossbow, longbow, shortbow, recurved bow, you name it." Slightly nervous at this part of the test, Paulm handed the applicant a long knife. "Tell me boy, what is this?" The boy stared at it. "It is a machete." Paulm nodded, impressed. Few people from the Northern Lands, or even from northern Carthak knew what that blade was. Reading the boy's application, Paulm was obviously impressed. This boy would be an asset to their team. The boy's Common was impeccable. He knew shorthand, and was a good artist. Also, he knew a little Carthaki, which would be necessary. Paulm was a decent speaker of Carthaki, but another man on their team would help. He smiled warmly at the boy. "Alright, you're in! You just have to pass the physical." The boy went through the hearing and vision tests without a flaw. His face, feet, and legs were in excellent condition. "Alright boy, just take off your shirt. It's a standard procedure, you see. I need to check for scars." The boys' eyes narrowed, then he ran outside. He called, "Sorry, be back in three weeks for a trip! I just have to leave right now… You know, nature calls!" Paulm rolled his eyes. There was little room for modesty on such an expedition. Paulm figured that he could whack it out of him, though.