Disclaimer on chapter 1

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Isaac yawned widely as the morning light allowed him to see the other side of the canyon where the group was currently stirring at their camp. He really could not be bothered with such a boring role for now, but with past failures, the only people that could be depended upon to actually do their job were himself Trent and Shapur. Actually, cancel Shapur, the Farian would just kill them there and then hogging all the fun for himself not to mention his ego was big enough already.

The night had its perks however. There was that charming discussion between Larvayne's Pactmaker and the dancer in the early evening. He was slightly disheartened when the spunky archer broke it up but he perked up at making her jump about for a few minutes before his new best friend appeared making her practically jump a mile.

'Wonder if he really is just like me?' He pondered out loud as he watched the Spellcaster stretch his arms as high as he could then nearly being bent over backwards when Yulie jumped and grabbed his forearms pulling them over his back nearly making him fall backwards. 'Why else would he not try anything with Lil Miss Spunky when she practically flung herself on him?'

Now, the hero of the day had appeared from the tent. Princess Cisna's knight in huge, shining armour himself, looking as if he had a goodnight's sleep seeing as he did not have to pull watch last night. If only Little Leonard knew what was in store for him. All that was left to appear from the tents was the dancer who promptly looked away from Caesar as he gave her a good morning smile when she came out.

'Pretty soon, honey, your troubles will all be over' Isaac crooned as he stood up watching them pack up the tents in a matter of moments and continued on along the path. 'And we'll have three Knights and a new sword to boot'

~#~

'How far do these canyons go?' Yulie asked in mild frustration after turning a corner of the canyon just to see it stretch far off into the distance before bending off in a different direction.

'Considering the size of its creators, at least twice the size of the caldera Greede resides in, if not more' Eldore replied for her.

'Thank you, Eldore-pedia' Yulie grumbled sarcastically not really wanting her question answered.

'Well, if you really want to kill some time, I'm sure we can find a few direspiders to tackle if we take a quick detour down one of these side caves' Caesar suggested with a sly grin.

'No thanks!' The archer managed to say in an even tone although her pace seemed to increase slightly.

She didn't get far as the ground suddenly shook followed by a sound Yulie both knew and feared greatly. No sooner had the noise stopped a direspider dropped down from somewhere above. The only difference with this one was its size.

'Man, they sure grow 'em big in this canyon!' Caesar commented the monster easily dwarfing the ones in Greede's underbelly.

'This is a small one' Kara corrected drawing her rapier.

'Even so, this one's fierce' Eldore noted as the direspider attacked them forcing them all to scatter as it landed among them.

'Get it away, get it away, get it away!' Yulie cried scrambling as far back as possible from the eight legged monstrosity as she could.

Alastor would have told her to shut up had the direspider not suddenly pirouetted with its eight legs akimbo striking the Spellcaster and the rest of the group and sending them all to the ground. Ignoring the pain flaring from the right side of his head as well as the lack of use of his right eye, Alastor made to counter attack only to find his arm wrenched back to the ground in a glob of spider webbing.

The Spellcaster swore loudly as he tried to pull his arm free of the webbing all the while, the direspider approached him intent on making the Spellcaster its next meal. The three arrows that suddenly embedded themselves into the direspider's head told the creature otherwise. Yulie's second volley of arrows missed their mark as the direspider took a mighty leap over the approaching missiles to land in front of her.

Despite her shock at suddenly becoming the direspider's target, although it should not considering she just attacked it, Yulie jumped backwards while drawing and firing several arrows at the creature these ones finding their mark in three of the direspider's eyes. The direspider's reply was to swat at the archer sending the girl tumbling into the cliff wall.

It was the last move it ever made as Yulie's distraction allowed Leonard and Caesar to recover and transform into their Knights. By the time the direspider realised what was happening, it was shield bashed into the air before a huge spear pierced its underside sending it toppling over the ledge into the deep precipice.

'Yulie, are you okay?' Leonard asked sounding worried as he quickly reverted and rushed over to where she was sitting up rubbing the back of her head.

'I think so' The archer groan applying a little healing magic to reduce the swelling at the back of her head.

'Look on the bright side. At least it didn't swat you over the edge' Caesar pointed out optimistically as he headed over to Kara who was still injured from the battle while Eldore aided Alastor who was easily still reeling from the blow to the head he took.

'Too bad he didn't get knocked over' Yulie grumbled.

'At least you're alright, that's the main thing' Leonard pressed now looking relieved that Yulie was in no danger. 'Just…don't do anything like that again, okay? You're one of the only friends I've got I can trust with my life'

Yulie smiled softly. 'So you haven't forgotten about me'

'How can I forget about you?' Leonard challenged grinning. 'Even if I could, you'd remind me either vocally or by punching me'

Yulie's smile widened at the valid points Leonard made. She was the kind of girl who could not be ignored for long by those she called friends which were few and far between.

'Someone's gotta keep you in line' She pointed out. 'Not to mention keep you alive long enough to save your damsel'

While saying those words did hurt, it was worth it seeing Leonard's face suddenly glow like a setting sun. She still managed to keep a fake smile on her face as Leonard walked away mumbling something about her being back to normal.

'So, no one's gonna help a lady up?' She asked from where she was sitting as everyone else began moving off again down the trail now that the danger had passed.

'We will. When we see one in need of a hand, that is' Alastor remarked as he approached his damaged eye healed but still shut for the moment.

Easily catching the insult in his words, Yulie swiftly brought herself up onto her feet, intent on knocking him off his own, only to stumble forward into the Spellcaster apparent not yet recovered from what she had just done. Not expecting the girl to literally plough into him, Alastor had to backpedal a couple steps to keep his balance as his arms instinctively wrapped round the archer to prevent her from falling any further.

'You're one of those who try to run before trying to walk, aren't you?' He asked her.

'I just thought you wanted an excuse to hug and thank me from the bottom of your heart for saving you' Yulie countered looking at the ground so that the Spellcaster could not see the real smile that had bloomed on her face as she enjoyed having his arms around her.

'But that doesn't make us even' She added finally pulling away from him as the strength returned to her legs. 'Not for a while at least, providing you don't go saving my life again before I save yours'

She meant every word of it. The only way Yulie would consider herself out of Alastor's debt would be when she brought him back from the brink of death, a thought that scared her and prayed that would never happen in her heart of hearts.

~#~

It was roughly an hour before noon before the group found signs of life in the Chasm.

'Isn't that one of the Windwalkers we saw yesterday?' Yulie asked her keen eyes noticing the downed craft further along the trail from where they were.

Closing the distance, it appeared that it was indeed one of the Windwalkers. The glider was currently on its side while the pilot, a papitaur who looked to be in his early maybe mid-teens, was scurrying around fiddling with this and that as if trying to repair it.

'His glider must have broken' Eldore surmised as they watched the poor fellow attempt to fix something he could clearly not do on his own at his size.

'He can't fix it alone' Yulie chuckled lightly watching as the pilot attempted to lift something only to fall on his rear. 'We should help'

Leonard agreed with her and the two of them walked off towards the pilot and machine ignoring Eldore's orders to wait. Thanks to his long, rabbit-like ears, the disheartened papitaur suddenly became hopeful as he looked round to see people, actual people, walking towards him.

'Hello!' He waved to them energetically happy that someone was coming to help him with the problem of fixing his glider.

Unfortunately, in his eager greetings to the helpful strangers walking towards him, the papitaur failed to notice the danger quickly scaling up the sheer cliff behind him until the two strangers stopped with shocked looks on their faces. Puzzled by their sudden expressions, the papitaur looked round only to find himself staring into the jaws of a pygmy greaver, a smaller version of the canyon maker but still big enough to swallow the papitaur whole.

'Come on!' Caesar called out to Leonard as he jogged up to the youth before summoning his Ark while Leonard did the same for his.

'O Wizel, white warrior, wielder of the ancient sword-'

'O Larvayne, vermillion drake, leveller of ancient lands-'

That was as far as either Pactmaker got in their chants before what could only be described as a huge column of molten red light nearly as tall as they were shot between them to crash into the miniature tunnel and canyon maker with such force that it knocked the creature back over the ledge and tumbling back down the cliff face.

'Didn't I lecture you two about wasting time on those speeches in places where time is of the essence?' Alastor inquired lowering his staff, the top of it still glowing.

'Well, we figured that, if we did the full chant, you would intervene and take care of the big guy for us. Seeing as you haven't really done anything other than getting whipped by us and a huge spider, lately' Caesar explained calmly.

Alastor's face went from frowning to thunder as he began to march forward towards the young Lord or tried to seeing as Eldore and Yulie held him back while Kara just watched on perhaps wanting to see the Spellcaster actually tear Caesar a new one. While that was going on, a small furry head popped out from behind the glider looking to see if the coast was clear.

'Pardon me' He called out bringing the groups attention to him. "Hello there. Thank you so very, very much for saving my life. Thank you, thank you, thank you so very, very much!'

'Hey! You're alive!' Caesar exclaimed recognising the little Windwalker from earlier who was bowing low enough that his ears brushed the ground. 'That's funny 'cause I thought you'd been eaten'

It was the wrong thing to say to the little papitaur. His once cheerful mood was swapped for a more sorrow filled one as he squatted on the ground and began drawing in the dirt.

'Everybody's always assuming the worst' He mumbled. '"Rocco fell off a cliff" or "Rocco got eaten by the greaver" or-'

'Would you prefer they talk about it or it actually happening?' Alastor questioned the little papitaur who was apparently called Rocco.

'Besides, he didn't mean it like that!' Yulie added slapping Caesar upside the head for his poor choice of words.

'Come on! It's not like I knew how he'd react to that' Caesar defended himself rubbing the back of his head while keeping Alastor between himself and the archer.

'No! Mister Frownyface is correct: Better to assume the worse than the worse actually happen!' Rocco interjected before the two started a fight on his behalf.

Yulie was unable to supress the giggles at Rocco's nickname for Alastor neither could Caesar who did not even attempt to cover up his laughter as he slapped "Mr Frownyface" on the back who was living up to the name with ease.

Once the laughter had finally died down, particularly after a certain Spellcaster's glare, the group helped Rocco repair his glider learning how the thing a combination of magic and technology. The glider relied on a magic stone to start the engine up before the perpetual motion engine kicked in once the bladed propeller at the front of the glider began spinning due to the wind giving it near endless fuel, truly a work of genius.

'Thank you again, good sirs and ladies' Rocco thanked them once again after the repairs were finally completed.

Jumping into the cockpit of the craft, the glider soon roared to life.

'I must go now. But we will meet again!' The Windwalker yelled over the noise. 'I will repay you! I promise!'

'Funny little guy' Caesar noted with a chuckle as the glider shot off into the sky and out of sight..

'Better than the one we have' Alastor said as he started heading off down the trail with the others following suite.

'Are you gonna let him slander you like that, Yulie?' Caesar asked only to be slugged in the arm by the girl obviously not liking the joke.

Massaging his sore arm, the young Lord turned to face Kara who was staring at him as if asking herself if the youth in front of her had a death wish.

'Shall we?' He gestured to the path ahead all gentlemanly.

Kara just huffed, looking away as she moved to catch up with the others, with Caesar just behind, as the path veered away from the chasm and went further inland. The two had just caught up to the group when Yulie, who had decided to play scout and check what was ahead, called out to them.

'I think there's a village up ahead' She said seeing what looked like a wooden gate made out of two trees at opposite sides of the pass tied together at the top by a wooden block carved to look like a shield.

Hearing the girl's words, Eldore rushed up to where she was standing cursing under his breath when he saw the settlement.

'We'll have to circle round' He told them as the rest caught up to the two.

'What's the problem, Eldore?' Leonard asked curious as to why they had to detour round a village and delay Cisna's rescue even longer.

'Let's just take the old guy's word for it for once' Caesar suggested having a rough idea what would happen if they were spotted by the settlers.

'Too late, losers!' An echoic voice chortled from somewhere above them. 'Maybe you nincompoops haven't heard? You're trespassing on our land'

On a ledge high above them, a papitaur appeared geared up in what was probably a Windwalker's flight gear. The suit covered everything from their feet to their ears and wore a coat over it which indicated that the papitaur was either a Windwalker platoon leader or the tribal leader.

Thinking it was just the one, lone papitaur the group breathed easier, until each of the surrounding edges suddenly teamed with papitaurs wearing similar flight suits, a veritable papitaur army.

'And do you know what we do with nincompoop trespassers?' The leader asked leaning down probably leering at them through his flight mask.

'C'mon. Let it slide, we took a wrong turn!' Caesar appealed to them apparently having some idea what was about to happen.

'Like they'll believe that!' Alastor muttered under his breath.

He seemed to be right as the leader ignored the young Lord's words and turned to his fellow brethren.

'For nincompoops, the sentence is death!' He declared earning a cheer of agreement from them.

'Hold on there!' Leonard called out to them. 'We weren't doing-'

'SILENCE!' The head papitaur interrupted glaring back down at them. 'Get them! Arrest them all!'

Huge nets and stun bombs were flung from the ledges ensnaring them all before any of them could react.

It was unsure how long they had been out of it. All they knew, after being woken up by cold pales of water, was that they were cuffed to huge stakes in the middle of the village they were at the border of earlier with probably every papitaur of age gathered around them.

'This doesn't look good' Eldore muttered under his breath cursing slightly when he tried to use magic only to feel the cuffs drain him of the very power he was trying to charge. 'Definitely not good'

The sound of the village leader chuckling at their predicament caused the group to turn towards him with a semi-death glare.

'You really are stupid little nincompoops if you thought we wouldn't be prepared for spell throwing nincompoops' He chortled.

'Look who's calling who little' Alastor threw back with a slight growl as Yulie began flailing her legs in a poor attempt to use the papitaur as a kickball for calling her small.

'I'm terribly sorry if I awoke you from your naps' There was not a trace in his masked voice that told the group he actually was sorry. 'But your punishment will be carried out immediately'

Several of the group gulped in fear of what was to become of them. Were they to be burned at the stake? Hung? Beheaded even? Not even Alastor or Eldore, the most seasoned travellers of the group, knew what was about to befall them.

'Is everybody ready?' The leader called out to his followers gaining cheers of excitement from them. Whatever was going to happen, these tribesmen believed they deserved it for some reason.

'This has gone far enough! Let us go!' Yulie snarled still fighting to get out of her cuffs. Were she to continue to throw herself around like that in an attempt to escape, it was liable the archer could snap her wrists.

'Play fair! Lousy stink-jockeys…'

As if someone had just cast a silencing spell over them, the papitaur tribe suddenly went mute over what Caesar just said.

'Hey, you. What did you just say?' The leader demanded of Caesar as he walked up to the young Lord.

'I said, you wouldn't know justice if it bit you on the tail, my friend!' Caesar replied sarcastically. 'Seriously, clear those big ears of yours. Might help you out'

The leader chuckled as if amused with the young Lord's antics. 'How dare you insult the holy calling of the Windwalkers!'

'Maybe if you aired it once in a while, there would be fewer holes!' Caesar threw back looking down at the papitaur.

'Why you…you…foul-mouthed…worm-haired…nincompoop!' The leader yelled sounding quite insulted by the young Lord's words if that squeak in his voice was anything to go by. 'Bring in the "Device of Punishment"!'

As one, the group twisted their heads towards a low rumbling sound that gradually got louder as it passed by the nearest tent and rolled into view on a cart.

'Wha-What is that?' Caesar stammered as he looked at the oversized, spiked walnut.

'That isn't…what I think it is, is it? Yulie squeaked taking in the blue cloth pieces draped over it bearing a papitaur's skull.

'I'm pretty sure that's a…bomb' Leonard spoke just barely as a feeling of dread welled up in his gut.

It was indeed a bomb, the very same the Windwalkers used against the greavers in great number to provoke it into giving off the gas they harvest. As if to verify what they were thinking, the leader directed their attention to another bomb that could just be seen on an outcrop halfway up the cliff at the far end of the village.

'Watch carefully now' He advised probably grinning under his mask at their dread. '5, 4-'

He was cut off by the bomb suddenly exploding ahead of schedule. While it appeared to be mostly flash and bark, the bomb had enough bite to give the overhang a trim as small rocks bounced over the houses and the upset leader.

'It's too soon, too soon! I was only at four!' He cried as if someone had spoiled the surprise he was supposed to spring stamping his feet in a temper tantrum before running over to the papitaur behind the detonation device. 'You-you-you incompetent, nitwit, imbecilic…nincompoop!'

'S-sorry, boss. The bomb…just went boom' The papitaur explosive expert explained weakly.

'But I was only at four! It's supposed to be 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and then boom!' The leader ranted stamping the ground again for a few minutes until he felt better. 'No matter. Time for the real show!'

Hearing their boss' words, the villagers quickly scarpered to the fringes of the village square and lay prone to avoid pieces of the nincompoops as they flew hither and yonder in the bombs blast.

'Wait! Stop! Don't do this!' Leonard cried out as he struggled vainly against his bonds. Cisna. She's waiting for me!

'5…'

Man, I always hoped to go out with a bang. But not like this! At least I'll get to talk to my old man some more.

'4…'

Dammit! This isn't fair!

'3…'

So is this how I die? I don't know if I should be happy or upset about it.

'2…'

My Queen. Forgive me for failing you again.

'1…'

Maybe now I may get some piece

'ZERO!'

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Short, I apologise, but I wanted to make a cliffy. To make up for it, try guessing who thought what at the end & I'll reveal at the start of the next chapter.

Review if possible & 'til next month

Watch this space & peace out!