"So the murder bitches huh? Interesting name at least." We had picked through the remains of the building and recovered about half of the money that had been stolen. When people started poking around and we heard the watch whistles we made our way. We were now riding on our way out of town. Braga on one horse, Rula grumbling and complaining on the other, and me on top the white stallion, riding double with Mellie, against my will.

"Yeah we came up with it a while ago" Mellie looked over her shoulder at me grinning from ear to ear. "Get it? 'Cuz we murder stuff, and we can be real bitches!" She bounced in the saddle and I had to hold the reins a little tighter.

"Yeah he gets it Mel, we all get it." Braga sighed from her horse. "We didn't get to pick the name. She picked it and it stuck and caught fire." She shrugged. "It's too late to change it now."

"Aye we've built up quite a reputation." Rula fussed with her horse's reins. "Or at least we did for a while. There are too many groups now that just take all the work. There's a few in particular I'd prefer out of the game." She snarled and slammed a fist into her palm. "'Specially that damned elf, Lord Valodar Greencloak."

[Heheh wonder if they'll recognize that armor you're wearing] Dereloth chirped from his perch on the horse's head.

"Ughh don't get me started on him." Braga groaned. "Every time, he does the same thing." She placed her hand on her hip and posed dramatically. "Hear now villains! You are in the presence of Valodar Greencloak. Lay down your arms or we will be forced to engage you will full force!" She dropped her arms. "Then his servants fire magical volleys without waiting and shoot everything in sight while he walks in and picks off the survivors. The worst part is it works every time."

Mellie leaned her head forward on the horse's neck and mumbled. "An' it's not fair. He gets all the good jobs and paid more all 'cuz his dad's some Duke or Baron near the Rift border."

"The Rift?" I asked. "What's the Rift?"

Rula looked at me like I had two heads before shaking her head. "That's right, I keep forgetting you're not from around here." She cleared her throat and straightened in the saddle. "A couple hundred years ago, the king was fightin all sorts of monsters past the mountains to the east. At first it was just the goblins, then the orcs, trolls n ogres, then the giants. They were fightin fer years before someone finally asked why. Turns out they was just runnin from what was comin behind em. All manners of undead, beasties, demons, and creepy crawly things from the deeps were crawlin out of the mountains and canyons. So the king invites all them that was runnin and makes them fight with him against the monsters. Only problem is they never run out. The king starts to get desperate and calls for any aid."

[I remember those days. Not good times for anyone. The dragons had their own struggles at the time.]

She paused for a minute as we passed by some town guards that were looking at us oddly before continuing. "Now back in that day, magic wasn't as welcome as it is now. Lots of wizards n such were hunted down or imprisoned. So imagine his surprise when a group of wizards come up and say they'll stop the monsters for a price. So he doesn't give it a second thought and all the magic folk come out of hiding. So these magic folk used their magic and flew over the army and started raining down death on em. When they had enough room to work they all lined up on the ground and stomped the ground shouting ancient magics. The earth shook and ripped apart swallowing a good part of the army and the Rift was made. A giant canyon, a mile long and bottomless, that the enemy couldn't cross."

I shook my head impressed. "Wow, I don't know a lot about magic, but that sounds pretty impressive." I nodded to a guard as we past the gate leaving the town. "So I'm guessing the king was grateful."

Rula nodded, "aye that he was. He throws a big party for the magic folk and invites all the goblins and giants and such too if they behave. So they all come and the king asks what he can grant them. So they look at him straight as day and say 'we want our own land and for all our brothers to be free' and the king is shocked but so grateful that he issues a decree that they all be set free and he says to take the islands in the south east and make with theirs as long as they sign an alliance and trade. Well the orcs n such hear that and they ask if he'll do the same for them as they've just lost their homes and he says fine you go down south and take the wild lands there. But again ye must agree to peace, and they're all for it as they're tired of fightin and everyone lost folks."

Rula smiled over at me and clapped her hands. "And there ye are lad, a summarized version of the most significant events in our lands. Anything else ye be wantin to know?"

"A few things come to mind." I stretched and tried to remember some of the questions I had prepared. "So this is the kingdom of Trasta, I got that bit. But who's the king? Who runs it? I don't imagine many elves or dwarves bowing to a human." I held up a finger as I counted my questions. "You say you trade with the mages? What would they need to trade for? And do they all live on the island? Seems a bit unusual." I tried to think of my third. "I see a lot of mixed races here, but are the mages and wild lands the same? Braga said Orcs aren't as friendly is there still peace or what?"

Braga laughed aloud at the last bit. "Sorry Mike, didn't mean to scare you. The wild lands aren't as civilized as they are here and very tribal. It's mixed yes but mostly between us tuskers." Sme smiled pointing at her large teeth. "Most humans and elves simply avoid the place because we're loud, rough and dirty. Plus if you're not careful you can get stomped by a giant or sat on by an ogre. There are some villages with humans but not many. As long as no one bothers the war-chiefs, they're perfectly happy doing whatever it is they do."

"That's true enough, and some people haven't realized that we're done fightin each other. As to the ruler, nowadays it's called the Kingdom, but its run by the Council. A few royal families of humans, elves, and dwarves gather at the capital and try to keep things running. Its worked so far. Dividing up the lands took a while but it got sorted." She smiled as she answered the next question. "As to the tradin with mages, for some damned reason they can't grow anything on that land of theirs. I reckon all the magic leaking into the soil has done something or maybe they pissed off an earth god after that quake. Either way they need us to send them food. In return they trade magical supplies, potions, enchanted tools, medicines. Simple stuff, not weapons or anything, those are damned expensive on the market. Probably why our departed friend back there charged us a fortune."

Mellie chirped up, I had thought she was asleep. "Yeah, every once in a while you get one who comes out here to help adventurers find magic or to hire someone find an ingredient he needs." She grumbled. "That guy took most of our savings. Although I guess he did a good job, you were pretty impressive back there." She spun in the saddle and faced me. "Where did you learn magic anyway?"

"That was gonna be my next question actually." I looked forward to Dereloth. "Hey Derel, why don't you show yourself?" Mellie looked around behind here and turned back to me confused.

"Who's Derel? The horse?" Dereloth chuckled and landed on her head. [You sure? It might be handy if only you knew about me]. I smiled at them.

"No Derel is a friend of mine, he may be able to explain the magic bit." I nodded to him. "It's okay, I trust them. Besides, this means you can make more friends." Rula and Braga exchanged glances and shrugged at each other.

His head perked up at that. [Oh yeah, I didn't think of it that way! Okay!] he flew in front of us and floated there looking over himself. [Do I look okay?] at my nod he flapped happily. [Okay, here we go.] He started shimmering slightly.

"All right guys this is my friend Dereloth" I pointed ahead of us and everyone leaned in their seats staring at the small glow forming. After a second Dereloth spread his wings and appeared before them.

[Greetings, Murder Bitches! Let's be frie-] he was cut off by Rula throwing a small hammer at him. Mellie shoved off my lap and tried to sink a dagger in him while Braga kicked her horse and drew her sword.

They all yelled at once. "Dragon, Kill the dragon!"