Here it is, the penultimate chapter of my redemption. (Although I really ought to write one for May, since that has passed now as well). Anyway, thank you to all of you who wished my grandfather well. We don't really he think that he'll last out the week, but it's nice to have people show their support. It makes things easier.

Anyway, here's the story:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 10 March

"Kratos! We have got to rest!" Yuan shouted. Kratos stopped in his tracks and turned back to look at his companions. The three half-elves stood on the dirt road all in a line, looking completely exhausted. Yuan was glaring, Martel had a hand to her throat as she tried to catch her breath, and poor little Mithos was so exhausted that he was leaning, half asleep, on the leg of his arch rival, Yuan. With a forlorn look in the direction they had been traveling, Kratos gave a deep sigh and walked back towards his friends. Noishe followed happily by Kratos's side, the protozoan was the only one in the group that was still eager for travel.

"I suppose it would be best if we stopped to rest for the night…" Kratos agreed. And with a sarcastic 'thank you!' from Yuan they all began to set up camp. Mithos was asleep before they had even finished building the campfire, and so, while Kratos and Yuan made dinner, Martel tucked her little brother into bed without his supper.

"I'm sorry I exhausted you all," Kratos apologized as the three adults ate their dinner.

"It's fine, Kratos, really. I'm just glad to see you so happy," Martel said with a smile and Kratos returned the gesture.

"I thought I'd heard the name from somewhere… I'd totally forgot the story you'd told me," Yuan said, half to himself and half to Kratos.

"What, exactly is the story?" Martel asked.

"This Hestia woman pretty much raised him, till his mom got jealous and his father sold her off. But you were pretty little right, Kratos? I mean it was before we met."

"I believe I was about Mithos's age when it happened. I've always sort of blamed myself for what everything, so I'm very glad to hear that she's all right. I didn't get to say goodbye to her. It'll be good to have a chance to speak with her." Kratos leaned back and smiled to himself. Noishe came over and nudged Kratos's hand with his nose. "She left even before I got Noishe." Kratos chuckled slightly and began to scratch the protozoan under his chin.

"I wanna meet her too," Yuan said. "It'll be nice to see my predecessor in Kratos raising."

"What do you mean 'Kratos raising'? You didn't raise me!" the human smacked Yuan on the back of the head jokingly.

"Hey oww!" Yuan shouted before trying to get a hit in at Kratos. The two men fought like children, and Martel found herself unable to contain her laughter. It was nice to see them all so happy.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Are we there yet?" Mithos asked the next day, as the group made its way along the dirt road.

"Do you see a town?" Yuan responded in a strained voice.

"No…"

"Then shut up!" The companions had been traveling along together since they had awoken early that morning. Kratos was still in good spirits and Martel was in her general peaceful mood, Yuan and Mithos had been bickering for over an hour.

"Your acting like children," Kratos pointed out as Mithos ran to take a swing at Yuan, and found himself being picked up by the other half-elf.

"I am a child," Mithos whined from his upside down position.

"And I'm a child at heart," Yuan added. "You wouldn't understand because you were born an old man."

"I was n…" Kratos froze in his tracks. He looked at the upward slanting road before them and sniffed. "It smells like smoke." Noishe whined in agreement. A look of concern crossed the faces of all members of the group, and suddenly Martel ran up the slope towards the smell.

"Oh holy spirits…"Martel gasped putting a hand to her breast. The men ran as fast as they could after her, only to freeze just where she was standing.

Before them were the smoldering remains of a village. Although no fires were left to lick what still stood, the smoke remained and the air was thick with it. Not a single building still stood, although there were some pieces of charred wood that hadn't quite crumbled.

"No…"Kratos said as he began to descend towards the desolate ruins. Frantically he began to run through what was left in search of any sign of life. Mithos, Martel, and Yuan joined him in his search, but it was to no avail, and at last all four of them were forced to retreat from the suffocating smoke with nothing to show for their efforts.

"The poor souls…"Martel whispered. "How could this have happened?

"It was humans," Mithos said angrily, "It had to have been!" Kratos sat quietly on the ground with his head in his hands. Any hope he had had earlier was completely gone. Yuan was the only member of the group that wasn't showing any sign of sadness. His eyes were wide and he was looking over the ground as if it were fascinating.

"What are you doing?!" Mithos asked angrily, directing his frustration towards Yuan. There was a long pause as Yuan bent down and ran his fingers over the dirt.

"I don't think they're dead," he answered slowly. His three companions looked up startled. He took their interest as a sign to continue. "Not all of them anyway. My town was destroyed like this, but unless you fought back you were only taken captive. My guess is that most of the townspeople have been taken as slaves. There are a whole bunch of foot prints around, but there was to much scuffling for me to figure out the direction."

Martel, Mithos, and Kratos all stared at Yuan with openmouthed amazement. Yuan had spoken his words as if they were a matter of very little importance and had immediately gone back to searching the ground for footprints. His air was one of mild curiosity and not one of dire need.

"The town couldn't have been destroyed to long ago, we might be able to catch them before they cross the border. Unless they get taken to that base we heard about…" Yuan was mumbling to himself now, his companions still stared. "Oh hey I've got it! Noishe come here!"

Noishe, who until now had been lying dejectedly on his stomach and snorting occasionally due to the smell of smoke, now stood up rather excitedly and ran over to Yuan.

"Is there a trail boy?" Yuan asked the protozoan. Noishe began to sniff the ground in an attempt to pick up the scent, but the smoke was causing him problems and eventually he gave up and whined.

"Can you clear the smoke, Kratos?" Yuan asked his friend. For a moment the human stared at him strangely, before remembering that he could use magic. With a quick 'wind blade!' the area around the city's exit was completely cleared of smoke and in a matter of moments Noishe had picked up a scent.

Slowly Martel, Mithos, and Kratos began to follow. The three of them were still shocked and shaken, at the scene of destruction they had witnessed. Yuan turned to them in exasperation and frowned.

"Come on guys! None of this will matter if we hurry up and rescue them. Now come on, we're got to save Kratos's friend!"

"Yes," Martel said looking at Yuan, "We can't let this stop us from saving those poor people." Breaking away from her brother and Kratos she ran towards Yuan's outstretched hand and took it. She nodded at him and he smiled in return and together they turned to look at their remaining companions.

"Come on Kratos. Let's go be heroes!" Mithos took one of Kratos's hands in his little ones and looked up at him imploringly. The human stared back into the eyes of the child before his expression softened and life returned to his eyes.

" Let's hurry," he said quietly, and the four companions hurried off after Noishe.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few hours later they came in sight of the human base. It was a large stone construction with hardly any detail at all on its immense walls. The walls were almost smooth with the exception of the small dent between stones where the mortar connected them. It was hard and cold and impossible to scale. The entire thing was impressive, although far from beautiful. The whole thing seemed like a huge cube with no natural lines to be shown. It was a naturally human affront to nature.

The base borrowed only one thing from the earth, and that was cover. The entire colossus was hidden amongst trees. The friends hadn't seen it until they were right up close; it was no wonder it hadn't been discovered. On top of the large square walls human soldiers could be seen keeping watch, although they weren't doing a very good job. They all looked rather bored and most of them were chatting with each other. Nonetheless it would be difficult to sneak in. The entire base had only one door, and it was near impossible to get close to it without being seen. Peering around one corner the four companions tried to figure a way out of their situation.

"There's nothing to it but to attack," Yuan said shaking his head. "We've just got to go for it."

"That's absurd. We'll be killed immediately and then we'll be no use to anyone."

"Well what do you suggest Mr. I've-actually-studied-military-strategy."

"I had less then a year of that, and they never told us how to take down their own forts with a rag tag group of travelers mainly comprised of half-elves!"

"The hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means: shut up!"

Martel and Mithos stared at the two old friends curiously. Their bickering and strained whispers would have been funny in another situation, but now it was just useless.

"Martel want to try climbing that tree and jumping over?" Mithos asked his sister.

"I don't see why not." And together the siblings began to make their way up along the wall leaving the men to bicker. It wasn't until they reached a limb that was on level with the wall that they tried to get the attention of Yuan and Kratos. Mithos dropped nuts on their heads.

"Ow, what the…?" Yuan put a hand on his head and looked up. "Martel?!" After glancing at each other briefly and feeling rather foolish Yuan and Kratos followed the other to members of their group.

"How did you guys do that so fast?" Yuan panted when at last he and Kratos reached the same tree limb as the siblings.

"I used to live in the elven city. It's just something you pick up when you live in the forest. I taught Mithos," Martel responded matter of factly. "Now we have to hurry, there are people to be saved."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One more chapter to go before I actually have to start writing again. My guess is my production will slow down to an average of about one chapter a month, which I think is what I was doing before my hiatus. I'll try to be more frequent, but I've proven untrustworthy when it comes to such promises. See you in April!