Chapter One

Back past the man by the stream, a woman was awakening. In the middle of the Stagtear forest lay a huge willow tree. The branches were tall and the willow whips hung all the way to the ground. The leaves covering the tree were a sliver-green color with a hint of blue. Within the realm of leaves stood the trunk. The trunk was thirty feet thick; the bark was tan and grooved. On the Northern side of the trunk a tree house was carved. The house was a part of the tree and from out the trap door came the woman climbing down the wooden ladder. The woman was about eighteen years old and her wardrobe consisted of a flowing white silk shirt dusted with gold hawks, brown leather trousers, worn oil skin boots, a blue and black velvet cloak, and a leather bag slung across her back. She also had a bow and quiver slung on her left shoulder and a long sword hanging on her right hip. Looking up, she saw that she had forgotten to close the trap door.

"Legiime." She said and the door closed and locked. She turned and walked through the leaves. She was going to the stream today to get some fresh water. Although the stream was far off she could run there. She checked to make sure that her weapons were fastened tight and then she took off. She was a blur against the deep brown of the surrounding trees. It only took her about three hours to reach the edge of the forest where she stopped.

She was about to take another step when she caught the scent. She smelled a man. A man that has been traveling for a long time; she smelled his tent and his own distinctive scent. Vigilantly, she crept up behind a bush and she watched the man's effort to catch a fish. He fashioned a crude spear and was stabbing the water with it. Every strike resulted without a fish and after a few more tries he gave up. Walking back to his tent he threw the spear down in frustration. The woman shook her head and walked out of the forest. The man was still mumbling in anger so he didn't hear her step up behind him.

"You shouldn't give up so easily." She said. Her voice was like flowing water; very soft and gentle. The man in front of her gave a shout of surprise as he whipped around. He looked at the woman and then down at the longsword on her hip. He quickly grabbed the dagger hidden in his boot but, by the time he straightened up again, her sword was pointed at his throat. Her movements were so smooth that he didn't even hear her draw her sword. The blade was silver and had two slivers on the forte of the sword. The hilt was also silver, it formed a loop where it rejoined the base of the blade and made a tight curl. The hilt also had a beautiful gray silk sword knot.

"Alright," he dropped his dagger, "what do you want, miss?" His voice was a little shaken. She lowered her sword, sheathed it, and then she spoke,

"My name is Sable. I saw you trying to catch a fish and I thought that I could help."

The man eased a little and he sat on the ground. He never wondered what a woman would be doing out here. He picked up his dagger and, eyeing her sword, knew that he couldn't win a fight with her even if he tried.

"It's impossible to catch any of those fish. They're all small anyways."

"It's not impossible and there are some decent fish in there."

The man put his hands in his pockets and shrugged as if to say, "Go ahead and see for yourself". Sable picked up the spear and slipped into the stream, the cold water biting at her knees. After waiting a few minutes for the right fish to come along, she stabbed the water and caught a fish. The fish was about twelve inches long and it had yellow-green scales.

"How did you do that?" he gawked.

"You need to hit where they're going, not where their current position is."

He shrugged and he took the fish to prepare it.

"Aren't we the little missionary." He mumbled under his breath. After he set the fire he walked into his tent to put on a clean linen shirt. He didn't want to look this unkempt in front of company. Sable kept an eye on the fish and, coincidently, the man returned when it was done. She cut the fish in two and placed each half on one of the two plates the man had given her. They ate and they stared into the fire.

"My name is Lemio Brixxton, by the way." Lemio said to break the silence.

"Nice to meet you, Lemio."

"The pleasure's all yours." He joked.

She just looked at him and said, "So why are you out here?" She ignored his out stretched hand.

"Well, I'm traveling to Ðëxhorn."

"I'm on my way there as well," she lied, "where are you from?"

"I'm from Kiwae." Lemio answered picking bits of fish out of his beard.

Kiwae was a long ways from Ðëxhorn. He had traveled for almost eight days explaining the worn clothes and his hygiene. He gave a curious and suspicious look at her clothes. Knowing what he was about to ask Sable quickly said,

"I'm from Miko." Miko is a small town that is a lot closer than Kiwae. They never asked each other why they were traveling, it wasn't their business. They came to an agreement that they would be traveling together and Sable created a handmade shelter. The shelter was made of three walls. The walls were made of long, tied together slices of wood she cut from trees with her sword. She placed thick branches on top for a roof. Lemio realized that she was an amazing carpenter and he figured that she was going to Ðëxhorn to sell furniture.

"You're an Bruxellois Elf." He gasped eying her clothes and her pointed ears.

"Nothing gets past you I see." she raised her eyebrow.

"I never thought I'd see one," he said sheepishly, "wait, what is an Bruxellois doing out of her homeland?"

"I don't think it's any of your business." she was serious and Lemio got the hint.

They both settled in their separate accommodations for the night. In the morning, Sable went berry picking and then she cooked two small fish for the two of them. When Lemio came out of his tent he was glad to see food sitting there waiting for him. He nodded a thanks to Sable and then he ate. Yesterday, Sable dried some fish so that they would have food in case they weren't able to get any. Lemio packed up his tent and because he didn't have a horse, they both walked. Sable wanted to run ahead but she didn't want Lemio to know what powers she possessed or anymore unwanted questions. So they continued on their way across the Great Plain. They talked about different things, the trade mainly, and they got to know each other fairly well. After all this talk a small bond of trust grew between them but Sable still didn't tell him her real name. They reached a small village named Samsonville. Lemio and Sable stopped to rest in the local inn for the night. Sable looked at the inn's sign. The sign had a picture of a fox hence the name it was given: The Fox's Den. She walked into the cozy inn and she stepped up to the desk. There weren't any customers but it was obvious that people visited the inn often. All of the furniture was worn and scratched from years of visitors coming in and out. Lemio came in afterwards from a short conversation with a man outside.

"There won't be any meals tonight for our blessed cook has gone amiss." The owner said looking at Lemio's clear signs of long travel.

While Lemio took care of the rooms, Sable drifted off to a window opposite the desk. She looked out of the blue-green glass at a shed next door. There was a dark cloth hanging off the side of the shed. It was old for, the boards were splintered and the red paint was almost completely faded. She focused more on the cloth and she realized that it was a person in a black cloak. The supposable head turned towards her and her hairs stood on end. The creature seemed to be beckoning her. She felt as if hands on her back were gently trying to push her towards it. She took one step closer to the window when Lemio grabbed her by the arm. In a second she spun around and had her sword to his neck.

"Whoa! Take it easy. You need to stop doing that." he said nervously eying the shiny blade.

"Sorry, you can't sneak up on me like that."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Sable looked around the inn lobby and saw that some villagers came in while she was looking out the window. She also noticed that the villagers were looking at her and Lemio. An old man that had been drinking at the bar now looked alarmed. She backed down and sheathed her sword. Sable gave the small crowd a look of admonition. Sable walked up the rickety stairs to her room. When she reached her door she looked down to grab the door knob. It was bronze and it had the inn's insignia inscribed on it.

She opened the door to a dark room. She walked in warily and was reaching out her hand to find a candle. She bumped into the dresser but there weren't any candles. She decided to find the bed and she wandered around until a bed frame hit her shins. She put her hand down on the bed in search of the cover. She kept searching until her hand stopped and she gasped. Her hand landed in a puddle of something sticky. She reached to see where it was coming from but all she found was that the puddle covered the whole middle of the bed. She walked back out into the lighted hall way and saw that her hand was covered in blood. She knocked on the door across from her own and when Lemio opened it she grabbed him by the collar.

"Wha…What's going on Sable?" Lemio brushed Sable's arm off of him.

"There's blood on the bed. A lot of blood."

Lemio went downstairs to get a candle and a flint. He handed Sable the candle and he had to strike the flint a few times until the candle was lit. Sable held the candle out in front of herself and walked towards the bed. As she got closer she noticed that something seemed to be hovering above the bed. Lemio was standing right behind her letting her feel a little safe. She crept up closer and let out a little scream. A young man was hanging from the ceiling over the bed. Blood was dripping from his head and mouth onto the bed below. Lemio quickly covered sable's mouth so as to keep the other customers from being alarmed. Sable turned around and said,

"Who killed him and why?" she questioned eagerly. She did need to practice her swordsmanship.

"Wha..? How would I know?" He was a little annoyed at this unexpected questioning.

"Go down into the lobby and see if there's anybody down there." Lemio said.

Sable went down stairs to make sure that their weren't any people in the lobby and when the coast was clear she gave Lemio the signal. Lemio cut the body down and he carried it out of the inn. Sable looked around corners to make sure that no one was looking and they made their way onto the road. He was dragging it towards a tree outside the village. Sable didn't know why he did this.

"Why didn't you just leave the body in the inn, Lemio?"

"Remember your little scene earlier?" He grunted under the weight of the man .

"Ah, I see now."

If the body was left in the room then the owners would think that Sable had killed the man. All of the customers knew that she had a long sword. She fit the profile of a murderer quite well. Lemio dropped the body at the base of the tree. His shirt was stained with blood.

"So what do we do now?" Sable asked.

"Go on to Ðëxhorn I suppose." Lemio wiped his hair out of his face as he looked to the East.

Sable sighed and began to walk when Lemio said, "I don't need a whiner, so if you're going to do that then leave." Sable gave him a sneering look, huffed, and continued without a word. After awhile of walking along the darkening road Sable asked,

"Who do you think that guy was?"

"The cook. Remember? The owner of the inn said that their cook was missing."

Sable nodded in recollection and said, "When I was looking out the window, before at the inn, I saw something."

"Was it your reflection?" Lemio teased.

"No," She said calmly and then with a release of breath she continued, "I saw a person, well, I thought it was a person anyway, and it seemed like it wanted me to go with it."

Lemio stopped and turned to Sable with a very serious look on his face.

"Was it wearing a black cloak?"

"Yes." She wondered how he knew.

"Shiers." He whispered. Lemio looked over at Sable and knew that she couldn't have heard him.

He covered the whisper with a cough anyways. Shiers. What would they possibly be doing in Etui? Staring at the ground he continued walking in silence. After a few moments of watching Lemio walk off Sable followed. She knew what he had said and wondered why he tried to hide it. She decided to get it out of the way now.

"What are Shiers?" Sable questioned. Lemio pretended not to hear the question. She grabbed him by the arm looking him in the face.

"What are Shiers?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Lemio swatted her arm off and continued up the path. He didn't know how she could have heard him.

"We both know that I heard what you said."

"I would rather not talk about it." Sable walked out in front of Lemio and unsheathed her sword part way.

"Tell me now." Lemio looked at her and knew that she wasn't even close to kidding.

"Alright but put your sword away first." He said nodding towards her hip. After she sheathed her sword he walked over to a boulder and sat.

"Shiers are spies." He said simply.

"Spies for who?"

"You ask a lot of questions." he said annoyed.

"Spies for who?" she laid her hand on her sword hilt.

"For Soto, that's who." He said ignoring the threat. Sable had no idea who this Soto character was. Staying in her tree house all the time, she didn't know much about the outside world. She decided that she had asked enough questions for the moment and continued on. They continued down the path until it ended and they were forced to walk through tall golden grass. Sable looked up and the valley continued as far as she could see and knew that they would be traveling for quite some time still. When stars started appearing in the sky they stopped to set up camp. Lemio set up his tent while Sable walked over to a nearby tree for firewood. Sable was stripping a young tree of its bark and branches when she heard a weird sort of sighing noise. Looking over a nearby bush she saw what caused it and gave out a little gasp of surprise.