Just a quick author's note! A kopis, the sword Reezy uses, is a single-edged sword that curves forward. It's used to make heavy chopping blows. Comes from the Mediterranean. Yup.

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There was a sort of path cutting through the trees, and this is what Coen followed. Thy hadn't run into any monsters, or the intelligent animals, or the fearsome 'Fireborn' that Reezy mentioned. But perhaps they would only come out when they tried to leave. Which of course left the problem of what to do once they were ready to head back to Bale. Coen tried not to think about it.

Abruptly, they were in a clearing. Or what Coen thought was a clearing at first. Alakyl growled loudly at it, and he knew exactly why. They were standing in front of a shimmering wall. It was unnatural; even someone as uninterested in magic as Coen could tell it had magical origins.

"I don't like this at all," Reezy moaned.

Coen drew his sword and approached the wall.

"It reeks of Fireborn."

The knight tried to ignore Reezy. He lifted his sword and touched its tip to the wall. Nothing happened. He pushed it in about halfway, drew it out. Again nothing. The sword was untouched, and the wall had offered little resistance to it. What's the point of making a barrier that doesn't actually keep things out?

Or maybe it's keeping things in. That made more sense to him. I have a feeling that whatever we're looking for is beyond this wall. But if it's made to keep things in, how will we get back out? Steeling himself, Coen walked right up to the wall--and stepped through it.

He could hear Alakyl yelping from the other side, but th sound was muted and distant. "I'm fine!" he shouted, just to make sure they could hear him. All right...let's see what happens if... Again he went to the wall and walked through it. So we can get out. What the hell is the purpose of the wall then?

"Come on. It won't hurt you." Coen beckoned for the Northlanders to follow as he stepped inside again. A few moments later, Alakyl poked her head through, then quickly came through and stood by his side, as if afraid to be too far away from someone. Reezy followed soon after, looking as miserable as ever.

"We still in the forest?" the priest said.

"Looks like it." There were some trees scattered throughout the area enclosed by the wall. The barrier even extended above their heads, although it didn't clear the tops of the trees. So nobody would ever see it unless they ran into it like we did.

The light from the wall reflected on the forest like sunlight off water. Coen assumed that this light was always here, even at night.

"So...why block off this portion of the forest?"

"I was trying to figure that out myself. It's obviously not a wall for anything physical. Maybe..." Then he saw something that erased that line of thinking from his mind.

Between two trees across the enclosure hung a dragoon. A few feet beyond him was a second dragon warrior. Coen couldn't see what they were hanging from, as they didn't touch the trees, just appeared to hover there, motionless. Their wings were splayed to the sides, as if pinned against a flat surface. The near dragoon wore purple armor, while his companion, who had to be twice his size, wore armor of gold. Their limbs were held spread-eagle in the air, presumably by the same force that held them up between the trees. Their eyes were closed, as if in a peaceful sleep.

Coen and his partners walked slowly towards them. "It must be Hascel," Coen said softly. "What the hell is going on?" Maybe the wall is to keep in some sort of magic that has the dragoons trapped...

"We should leave," Reezy mewed, nervousness apparent in his words.

"Not without them." Coen came close to the sleeping dragoons. He could see now that there was something holding them aloft, a strange, nearly transparent, wire that wrapped around them, keeping them immobile. He touched the wire gently, and immediately regretted it. Pain like a living fire shot through his arm. Goddamn it, that's my sword arm...

Reezy was uneasily shifting on his feet. "We shouldn't be here."

"Then help me get them down!" Shaking his arm to restore feeling, Coen stepped back to find where the wires were attached to the trees. Spying the glint of the lines, he raised his sword and brought it down on the wire. Immediately his weapon became hot to the touch, nearly burning his hands even through the leather binding of the grip. Gritting his teeth against the pain, Coen continued hacking at the magical wires. Eventually, the apprehensive Reezy joined in as well, using his own heavy kopis.

As Master Haschel fell to the ground, Alakyl ran forward and began gnawing at the wires that still bound his body. Her mouth soon became raw, but she continued in earnest. The light of the wall around them seemed to flicker.

It took the two men a bit longer to get the larger dragoon down, and he hit the earth with a dull thump. The wall flickered a few last times, then disappeared altogether. Coen and Reezy ran around him, pulling the wires free.

A coughing was heard from Haschel as the wires around his upper body were loosened. His dragoon armor instantly broke away, fading into the air. Alakyl barked once at him, then continued tugging at the wires around his legs.

"What...who...my legs..."

"Hold on Master Haschel," Coen said as he worked on freeing the golden dragoon. He winced as the burning lines bit into his hands, leaving painful welts that were soon bleeding. "Alakyl's almost got you free."

"Who...are you?" The dragoon managed to get himself in a sitting position.

"I'm Coen Verachmenn, head of the Third Knighthood of Serdio."

"Serdio..." The elder man was still dazed.

"King Albert sent me to find out what happened here."

"Albert? Oh no..." Haschel seemed to finally come to his senses. He kicked the last of the wires from his feet. "How long have I been here?"

"Four months, I think."

"Oh no..." He tried to stand, but couldn't. Instead, he scooted back against one of the trees. "Is Albert all right?"

"He was fine when I left. Well, as good as he could be."

"What does that mean?"

"He's not dead yet. But he was in a lot of pain." Coen couldn't believe he was talking about his king like that.

"Ugh...Kongol's head..." The giant dragoon finally sat up, also now devoid of his magical armor.

Confident that Reezy could assist the golden dragoon if needed, Coen turned to Master Haschel. "What happened here? Why did the new Moon Object never reach Bale?"

"I wish I knew." Haschel shook his head sadly. "Soon after the Moon Scintillation reached Rogue, those things came."

"What things?"

"The beasts that walked on two legs. The people of the village didn't even bother to put up a fight, it was that sudden."

"What did they look like?" Reezy asked over his shoulder as he continued helping the other dragoon.

"The ones I could see were like...rats. Only worse. Some were as tall as a man."

Reezy hissed something in the Northland tongue.

"You know them?"

"Possibly."

"There were others with them. Well...at least one other, it was hard to tell. Dressed in black, moved around like smoke. He was the one who did this to Kongol and I. He was too powerful, even for us both."

Alakyl growled something at Reezy.

"I know," Reezy replied. "I told you we shouldn't have come here."

"What are they?" the violet dragoon insisted.

"Sounds like Phoenix has made himself a welcome in Endiness. Damn it, what the hell is he doing here?" Coen had never heard the Northlander so irate.

"Who? What phoenix?" Haschel stood, leaning against the tree for support.

"No, that's his name. He's from my homeland. A perpetually pissed-off demi-god." He faced the rest of the group, having removed the last bits of wire from Kongol. "The rat guys, the musteliforms, are his main force. We've been fighting them for generations."

"Did they leave Rogue alone?"

"Looks like it," Coen said. "But they have the people scared stiff."

"That would be the shadow guy, not the weasels," Reezy explained. "It's a Fireborn. They have a damn Fireborn with them."

Alakyl growled again.

"Yes, I agree. We need to leave now."

"Where's the...Moon Scintillation?" Coen asked.

"Taken," rumbled Kongol.

Haschel nodded his agreement. "They found it somehow while Kongol and I were fighting the Fireborn."

"Great. Any idea where they took it?"

"No. The ones who took it just disappeared. We tried to follow them, but...that was when the Fireborn decided to just get it over with and strung us up between the trees."

"They would probably have taken it to wherever the rest of the Fireborn are now," Reezy said. "Although I have no idea why they'd want to mess with Serdio. It's an odd move for them."

Alakyl barked a few times.

"Right, figure that out later."

Alakyl suddenly whipped her head around. Coen followed her gaze. Not even twenty feet away stood what could only be one of the rat-people Haschel spoke of. Though he hardly even came to Coen's chest, there was a menacing air about him that more than made up for his lack of height. Upon seeing the freed dragoons and their rescuers, he let out a shrill cry and drew his sword.

"Now can we go?" Reezy said.

As one, the group turned and ran. Coen wasn't the least bit certain where they were running to, all he knew was that the rat creature was somewhere behind him, and that more had to be on the way.

Alakyl raced past him, easily outpacing the others. She splashed across a small river and started up the bank. Then she stopped suddenly, veering to one side. A whole group of rat-people emerged from the trees to block her way. Coen saw another group to his right, and could hear more behind him. He stopped at the river. They were surrounded.

Instinctively, the group formed a small circle, facing outwards with weapons in hand as the Northlanders closed in around them, their numbers becoming greater every moment.

And then the rat-people charged. But thy never had a chance to strike their targets.

The moment the musteliforms had moved, Coen was blinded by a flash of purple-fringed orange light. He caught a glimpse of great glittering wings spreading above him, and then he was blinded by a brilliant rainbow light.

They were suddenly no longer in the forest.

Shocked by the sudden change of scenery, everyone fell over. Everyone except Alakyl, who hovered above them, clad in shimmering orange and purple armor. The wolf lowered herself slowly, softly landing on the grassy ground.

"What in the five hells was that!" Coen exclaimed as he pulled himself to his feet.

"Wuff." Knight and dragoon stared at each other for a moment.

I mean, I brought her along because she's a dragoon, but I didn't know dragoon could do that

"That's dragoon magic for you," Haschel said. "Although I certainly have never seen any like that."

"Wuff! Says wuff!"

"Chaos energy," Reezy stated. "I'm not really sure what I could compare it to for it to make sense."

"It doesn't matter," replied Haschel quickly. "We've got a head start on the rat-people. Let's not waste it."

"How do you know we haven't gone in the wrong direction?" Coen snapped.

"Those mountains," Haschel said, pointing to faded shapes in the distance, "make up the Tiberoa-Serdio border."

Well, how am I supposed to recognize them from the other side?

"We've been transported to the mainland, about twenty miles east of Rogue."

"Go see King Albert," Kongol said. "Albert knows what to do."

"I sure hope so," Coen muttered.