Chapter 3

Back in the castle. . .

Bowie, Sarah and Chester all chased Astral. The mist demon, which Astral had told them was a Gizmo, had slipped past them and into the castle.
Astral ran ahead of the three, darting up to the king's room. The three kids followed.

"Calm down your highness!" Astral reiterated.

The king merely growled and made another move to get around the old wizard. He suddenly rushed Astral, a fist colliding into the wizard's midsection.

Astral slid on his back a few feet before standing with Bowie's aide. "Thanks. Now get back."

Using my magesight, I watched Bowie step back. The wizard traced a strange symbol and screamed. "BEGONE!"

The fireball hit the king, knocking him backwards. He took a minute to sit up. "Wha. . . what happened?"

Astral looked as if he was gonna answer before passing out. Bowie, Sarah and Chester all rushed fowards to help the old wizard up. The King and the minister both helpped out the old wizard into bed.
hr

Sir Astral sighed and rolled over in the small bed as he kept his eyes closed. He normally had prophetic dreams when bad things happened where he could link them to other events.

In this one however, he only saw a young teen, possibly no older than sixteen, standing on a high pearch facing the tall mountain in front of him; his gold and green armor glinting in the sunlight and his flamelike purple hair moving slightly in the breeze with his green, red trimmed cape. Demons and monsters below him all seemed to be waiting for something. There were also the fabled Birdmen facing them.A regal looking eagle birdman was facing the teen.

Oddly the old wizard had a very clear picture of him. His brown feathers were covered a little by the blue and white battle garb. A helmet hid the small black crest and a taloned hand held tightly to the hilt of a bronze longsword.

The teen rested a long, thin fingered hand over the hilt of his own and grasped the handle tightly. In one fluid motion, the teen unsheathed the sabre and held it high in the air, allowing the light to gleam off the two shades of grey. He seemed to wait for the other to do the same and when he did, both brought their swords downward at the same time. The two leaders took eachother on as the rest faught among themselves.

Everytime a demon or monster was killed, two replaced it. Not too many of the birdmen were killed but many were wounded. The lead birdman took a chance and slashed the teen across the face; right across the eyes.

The teen, enraged, slashed out blindly and nailed the bird on the wing, leaving a bloody gash across it. The teen lifted his sword again over the fallen warrior, pointed it to the demons and then pointed away.

All seemed to vanish. The teen turned blindly back to the fallen warrior, pulled out a dagger and cast it at the warrior's form; at the feet. The birdman looked up at teen as he vanished, arm covering his eyes.

Back in reality. . .

Astral sat up and looked around before drooping himself back into the bed. He felt a pair of small yet soft hands rub a cloth onto his brow.

He looked over to the side the arm had come from to see the young princess, around the age of twelve, dip the cloth back into a bowl of water. Her sun hued yellow hair, wavy in style, fell just to her shoulders and her tiara rested on the bedside table. She wore a simple pink and white dress. She looked back at the wise old wizard with startling green eyes. To his left sat Bowie with another cloth.

"S. . . Sir Astral." Bowie said quietly as I listened in on the conversation. "The king. . . he told us what you said. Chester and I accepted the trip to Yeel. Sarah still hasn't decided. He told us to leave tomorrow at Dawn."

Sir Astral looked angry. "I wanted the soldiers to go. But I guess it's alright for you three. Use what I've taught you to stay safe and avoid the Slimes on the way there. They're a bit messy to handle."

"It'll be just fine, Astral." the princess said softly with a voice like a bell. "They can do it. I know it."

"I know they can do it but I know Kaylee won't be happy about her boy leaving."

"Mom can just put up a fuss. This is a important mission." Bowie drew himself up.

"Thet's no way to talk about your mother, Bowie!" the princess snapped, her emerald eyes flashing angrily.

Bowie gulped. "I ment I know she'll fuss some. I'm just saying I have to do as the king said."

"If my father told you to jump off the Tower, would you do it?"

"No way! That's scucide!"

"That's the same with the mission!" the princess protested.

"Miss Elis." Astral interupted. "They'll be fine. The four of them can take care of themselves."

Elis let out a fustrated sigh as Bowie stood. "Sir Astral, I take my leave to go tell the others you'll be fine."

hr

Laying alone in the field above the small village called Yeel, I sighed as I thought about what might've happened to Sir Odd Eye. Silent tears flowed down the grey and black tear marks under my eyes as I whimpered. I knew I had time to rest as they were going to leave the next day.

I looked around at the sound of footsteps approcahing; light ones that sounded similiar to my missing friend! I looked back to see a brown robed boy with a very thin face and pine colored eyes. The hood was down, revealing his long dark blonde hair.

I guessed he was a mage training to be a sorcerer. The long hair siginified the long hours of training spent. I looked to into his eyes and stood, keeping my wings in a lowered position and my tailfeathers tucked downwards to show I was afraid but would not attack if he got too close.

He smiled gently."You're a. . . skywolf are you not?" he asked in a kind voice.

I whimpered as I nodded in response. I was gonna play dumb for the most part. Most Skywolves were a type of beast mages like the Demons and Gargoyles therefore they had a decent amount of intelligence and understood the human language even though it was very rare one could speak it. I decided to play that I didn't know.

"Why are you sad?" he asked softly as I whimpered and moved away from him more. "I promise I won't hurt you. My name's Kazin."

I merely perked up some at how friendly he was being and whined softly.

"You lost someone you loved?" he asked as he sat on the side of the hill. "I did too. My mom and dad died quite a while back but before they did, they turned me over to be cared for by a wise old man named Hawel to train my gift after the priest said I had one."

I moved slightly closer and sniffed the air nearby him, finding a gentle scent. I whimpered softly and moved in where I was just out of arm's length.

I jerked up suddenly as I felt his hand stroking the fur on my head. I yelped and backed away.

"Sorry." he said as he looked out over the village. "You must've thought I was a human. I'm half Elf."

I whimpered again and moved closer before setting my head in his lap with a sigh. He reached down and stroked my back,tracing the length of my wings with a long, delicate finger.

"This is my first time being this close to a mage creature. I've seen your kind in the wild though. . . "

I opened my eyes slightly and looked up at him before whimpering and laying my head back in his lap.