Around noon, we had a vegetarian lunch, then we got back on the horses. We had a (also vegetarian) dinner next to this little elf place called Osilon or something. Then I fell asleep and the stupid little elves woke me up at the crack of dawn for a vegetarian breakfast. Apparently, elves don't need to sleep at all, which is probably why they don't care about depriving other people of their sleep. And then we rode the horses the whole day with just a lunch break. Great, so I'll give you some good advice. Never go horse-riding with elves for two days in a row. My rear end was smarting like crazy after wobbling around on my horse for so long.

It was evening, and we were still randomly wandering around the forest.

"Get off the horse," Loshar told me, and I dropped down.

"Ow," I muttered when the impact with the ground made my butt start hurting.

"Humans are rarely allowed into Ellesmera," Rillon explained, also dismounting. "We do not want you announcing your arrival by riding into the city on an elf horse, since it would cause a certain amount of disturbance amongst the citizens. It would be best if you could go to Islanzadi Drottning without passing through Ellesmera at all, but there is only one entrance."

"Gosh, that's inconvenient. But how can there be only one entrance to a city if there aren't any walls? It doesn't make any sense."

Rillon actually looked a bit uncomfortable with my question. "It would be best if you did not know."

"Right," I said. On some weird and sudden impulse, sorta like a sixth sense but way less accurate and a ton more random, I turned around.

Fritos popped out from behind a tree. Well, he didn't actually pop out, he more just walked slowly out of nowhere. Then he sidestepped neatly for no apparent reason. The apparent reason appeared five milliseconds later. The kiddie from Uru'baen did a spectacular faceplant on the ground right where Fritos had just been.

"Jeez, you're good at showing up at the best times," I said brightly, addressing Fritos.

"Herihbsough," Loshar hissed. I glanced back and saw he had pulled out his sword. Rillon was standing there, looking bemused. The horses had all sauntered off. "What are you doing here?"

Fritos calmly studied Loshar. "Have we met?" he asked coolly. Oh, please, I could've done it much better than him. But, for an elf, that was alright.

"No," said Loshar, glaring at Fritos. "But I have heard of you, Joingond, and the tales did not fall pleasantly on my ears."

"Loshar, who is he?" Rillon said.

"I'll handle the intros," I said, clapping my hands together. "Right, so, that's the kid on the ground, that's Fritos, the guy with the sword is Loshar, and the shiny kid is Rillon. Got it? 'Kay."

"The kid on the ground has a name," the boy said, slowly getting up. I snickered when I saw how much dirt was on his face. The front of his scarlet shirt was also covered with soil, and even as I watched, a few clumps of it dropped back onto the forest floor.

"Of course he does," I agreed. "Would you mind sharing it with us, oh great lord of epic faceplants?"

"I, uh," the kid said, embarrassed. "I don't have a name yet."

"Then that means you're the kid on the ground," I said, smirking.

"I'm Pigeon," he murmured, as if unsure of himself. Then, louder, he repeated it. "I'm Pigeon."

I rolled my eyes. "That's really lame, ya'know?"

"Let's see if you can come up with a better one," Pigeon snapped.

"Dusk beats the crap out of Pigeon, dear little kiddie," I said, grinning. "Besides, I've got some random awesome dagger. Do you have some random awesome dagger?"

"Your name is Dusk?" asked Loshar, making me jump. Then I remembered that I hadn't told either him or Rillon my name yet.

"Well, duh," I said, recovering from my shock. "What, did you think I was Dawn? Idiot."

Loshar sighed, then turned back to face Fritos, who was leaning against a really big elm tree with his arms crossed over his chest. Or was it an oak tree? Or a maple? Ah, forget it. It was just a big tree, and that's that. I was pretty sure that he was gonna challenge Fritos to a duel, and I just couldn't allow that, could I? So I slid between them.

"So, why do you hate Fritos so much?" I asked cheerfully.

"Get out of my way, human," Loshar snarled. Another great tip: don't make an elf snarl. They look really creepy like that.

Yeah, I took his advice and got out of his way. If he had asked me nicely while holding a flowery teapot and a plate of sugar cookies, I wouldn't have listened to him. But he was holding a sword and his eyes had gone all crazy. I dare you to not get out of an elf's way when they look like that. Especially if that elf has a long black ponytail and flashing purple eyes.

I was wrong when I said Loshar was going to challenge Fritos to a duel. He skipped the challenge part and attacked right away. He was so fast that my eyes couldn't even track his movements properly. One moment he was there, the next he was in the air with his sword raised in the air, and then he was next to Fritos.

I was pretty sure Fritos was going to get killed, but it seemed he was faster than I thought, because he managed to dodge the strike at the last second. Rillon, who was standing next to me, looked like he wanted to help, but he seemed to be confused as to which side he was on. To tell you the truth, so was I. I mean, Fritos had saved my life once, and that definitely meant something, even though I'd already payed him back for it, but I didn't know why Loshar was attacking him, so I couldn't just go ahead and help Fritos. Not that I'd be much use anyways, since I only saw the two of them as blurs.

I pulled out my dagger and threw it at a tree, where it buried itself in the bark. Hey, I wasn't helping Fritos, I was just evening out the competition. Fritos seemed to get my meaning, because he ducked Loshar's swipe and grabbed the dagger. He parried a blow that would have decapitated him if it had hit, then swept the dagger around and attacked Loshar's ribs. But I could tell his heart wasn't really in it, because his attack was so slow that I could actually see it.

Loshar yelled some gibberish, and Fritos countered it with a stream of words muttered under his breath.

"Blah blah blah," Fritos cried, blocking a series of slashes aimed for his neck. He actually seemed to be going easy on Loshar. "Blah blah blah blah."

That stopped Loshar. Still glaring at Fritos, he growled, "Blah blah blah." At least he sheathed his sword.

Fritos shook his head. "Blah blah."

"Blah," Loshar whispered. "Blah blah, blah. Blah blah."

"Blah," Fritos said, and there was some regret in his voice. "Blah blah blah blah blah."

"Glad you guys like each so much," I said suddenly, making the two elves jump. "Now, do you mind giving me my dagger back?"

Fritos handed it back to me and I tossed it back into its scabbard. "I am privileged to have held Andlat," he said, gazing rather fondly at my dagger.

"Andlat?" I asked.

"Your dagger," Fritos explained. "It once belonged to a Rider, and that was what the Rider named it. It means Death."

"Figures," I said. "This place is just cliché enough that I manage to find a Rider's dagger in jail, and it's called Death to boot. So, why were you two fighting again?"

Loshar's gaze slid over to Rillon. "You would do well to spend more time at the faelnirv breoal, Rillon. You may even be lucky enough to find Du Draumr Kacip."

"Du Draumr Kacip tells many lies," Rillon answered.

"No. It tells the truth, although it may distort it sometimes," Loshar said. He looked accusingly at Fritos. "He killed Evandar Konungr."