Sain looked down at the shriveled piece of meat on his plate that was supposedly a sausage. He shifted in his seat on the wet grass from the rain the night before and then let out a sigh. His companion, Kent, noticed Sain's disappointment. He stood a few feet away with the tip of a lance in the moist earth, the top of its shaft in the palm of his hand. "Sain..." he started. Sain looked up at his friend through emerald green eyes. "Why couldn't we have gone to the party last night? Now I'll probably never see any of those beautiful ladies ever again." he complained sadly. "Look, Sain, I told you, we have things we need to be doing besides getting all over the girls." Kent said. "I know, but I can't help it. I just want to see Lady Lindis again...Or maybe Rebecca, or Nino, or Priscilla as well, or perhaps Isadora, or..." Sain continued reciting the names of all the girls, while Kent ignored him and added twigs to the small fire over which they cooked their breakfast.
"...or Serra, Florina, Fiora..." Sain continued. Kent started to get annoyed and spoke up. "Sain, don't let your...well, often sick thoughts get in the way of our duties. Now go on and eat your breakfast while I get things ready for the trip." Sain sighed again, and sank his fork into the stick of meat. Hot, sputtering juices seeped out from where it had been punctured. He lifted the fork and gazed at the limp sausage that was stuck on the prongs. The hot liquids from inside rolled down the fork and stung his hand, but he didn't seem to notice the pain that much. His mind was filled with lovely images of the girls he had battled alongside. Kent felt somewhat sorry for his best friend as he set down his silver lance, but there was nothing that could be done.
He sat next to Sain and checked the two eggs that sizzled on a pan resting over the small, orange flames. "Do you want any eggs?" he asked Sain, who was still staring blankly at the shriveled meat. "Um...I guess not then." Kent said, getting himself one of the fried eggs. It was pretty quiet that morning, except for the sound of the remaining egg sizzling and the grazing of Sain and Kent's horses on the dew drop sprinkled grass.
"Hey, are you going to eat that or what?" asked Kent about ten minutes later. "Yeah." Sain sighed. He took a bite of the warm sausage and forced himself to swallow it. It wasn't that the brown, limp stick of meat had a bad taste; it was mainly because he was more disappointed than hungry. By the time he had finished eating it, Kent had packed all the necessary supplies for their travels. They didn't have much left after the battle with Nergal; most of their weapons had broken and they only had 100 gold and a vulnerary to take with them besides a silver and steel lance.
As they mounted their steeds, Sain realized how sore his hand was. The hot grease from the sausage had dripped down the back of his hand to his wrist, and he had failed to notice the crimson, swollen burns before. It was nothing major, and he expected to be fine by the end of the week. Of course, it was very uncomfortable for him to hold his horse's reins. It sort of reminded him of the final battle, how he had taken a great injury from Flametongue. It was a miracle that he lived. He would have been a well- done chunk of meat on a horse had Pent not had a healing staff. Sain was envious of Pent because the sage was married to a beautiful, blond haired sniper. Sain wished greatly to get married to someone like her, but Kent figured that it wasn't likely to happen. Sain tended to...bother the ladies.
The two cavaliers traveled through the rain-soaked woodland on rain-soaked horses along a rain-soaked trail in rain-soaked armor. After a while, Sain's mind started to drift. His imagination started to daydream fantasies of him and the girls that he once went into battle with. Kent, in the lead, said, "Look out for these low-hanging branches, Sain," as he ducked under a thick limb. Sain, following, and still in his thoughts, smacked into the branch headfirst and awoke from his daydream as he was thrown from his mount and hit the wet earth beneath him. Kent sighed and rushed back to his fallen companion. "Sain, I told you to be careful." he said. "You did?" Sain asked from the ground, a hand on he bruise above his eye. Another sigh came from Kent. "Yes, but I suppose you didn't see that branch because you were too busy staring at what your mind put before you." "Yeah...Lyn has some quite lustful features..." Sain replied with a smile. The red haired knight looked down at the hapless Sain from his horse. "Well let's just hope you didn't break any bones from that fall." said Kent. "Well let's see..." Sain said, sitting up painfully. "I landed on my arm here, but I doubt it's injured more than a few bruises, and-" His analysis was interrupted by some violent movement in the bushes nearby.
"Damn it Matthew, give that to me!" shouted a familiar voice. "No! Now get away unless you want a scar on the other side of your face!" replied Matthew. The two thieves Legult and Matthew fell onto the path a few feet from the knights. Matthew had a jet-black parchment clenched in one hand and a white quill pen in the other. Legult was on Matthew's back, a hand on Matthew's wrist of the hand that held the pen, his arm around the thief's neck. Struggling for air, Matthew freed his wrist from Legult's grip and let the pen make contact with the paper. "No! Don't sign it!" Legult shouted. Sain and Kent looked at the two, completely speechless, and wondered if the thieves even noticed them. Most likely not. Legult hit Matthew in the back of the head as he wrote the first three letters of his name in fancy lettering on the dotted line at the bottom of the black contract, which led him to making the first "t" of his name look like an odd scribble. The two wrestled back behind some shrubs, Matthew barely signing the rest of his name with the red ink.
He was the first to emerge from the trees after the movement had stopped. Something seemed different about him. His clothes were darker, his cape matched the stains on the swords at his sides, and his brown eyes had a malicious look to them. His movements were stealthier as well. "Hello, old friends!" he greeted, as if nothing had happened. Kent stared for a moment, and was the first to respond. "Well, I'm amazed." He said. Sain stood up from the ground and brushed off the dirt. "Me too." he said, "I didn't know you went that way." Kent resisted hitting him over the head, and Matthew just glared warningly. "I don't." he replied. Sain cleared his throat. "Oh, my apologies, let me rephrase that...I didn't know Legult went that way." "Sain!" Kent snapped. Legult rose from the bushes, scratched up by twigs and thorns, some of which were tangled in his gray hair and torn clothes. "I don't either. This fool over here stole my Fell Contract." Sain looked from Legult to Matthew, and then said, "But you're thieves. Isn't that what you do?" "Well...yes," Legult admitted, "but he signed it!" Matthew smiled. "Yup, now I'm a rightful assassin!" he said proudly while Legult grumbled cruel things under his breath.
"Well, just try not to get at each other's throats." said Kent. "Yeah, I think Matt would win." Sain added as he mounted his steed. Matthew leapt aside to let the equestrian knights pass, and was then thrown to the ground by Legult. Kent, still in the lead, ducked under another low tree branch a few feet up the path. "Sain, make sure you don't run into the- " Thunk!
And, once again, Kent sat on his horse and let out a sigh. A long, pitiful sigh.