Night was falling as Kino and Hermes rode on the dusty dirt path through a thick forest.

"Kino, shouldn't we stop and take a rest. It is almost night and we have been riding almost all day." The motorad asked in his metallic voice

"We are almost to a town according to the map. We'll stay there." Kino answered.

The two companions rode on the path as the sun started to sink beneath the trees and the pail moonlight started to peer through the thick canopy of forage. As the darkness began to set in Kino started to wonder if they had made a wrong turn. Traveling for about another hour the two companions finally made it to a walled city. They rode up to the gatehouse and were greeted by a young man.

"Hello, welcome to our country, Benton." The man bowed politely. "How many will be staying and how long?"

Kino cleared her throat, "1 Human and 1 motorad. We will only be staying for three days."

The man bowed again and went into the gate house and opened the gate, "Very good, sir. Is there anything we can do for you while you stay?"

Kino thought for a moment and then asked, "Is there a hotel around that is relatively inexpensive?"

The man bowed once again, then said "Follow me, sir."

Once inside the city, the travelers were awestruck at the amount of lights and the height of the buildings. In every country she had been in Kino had never been to one as technologically advanced. Or with buildings that seemed to touch the sky. Everything seemed to be made of glass.

"Wow. Look at the size of the buildings, Kino. They all look the same I wonder how they build them." The motorad marveled.

Kino just looked around taking everything in. The man led the companions down the street and entered one of the buildings. The man walked up to the counter and hit a bell, then turned to Kino and Hermes. "Tomorrow is the Festival of the Warrior god. You won't want to miss it since you will be staying."

As he finished a cleric came and showed the travelers to a small room with a bed and a bathroom. The first thing Kino did was drop on the bed. Having ridden all day, and slept out in the open the previous night the traveler was very weary. Hermes on the other hand was very curious. "I wonder what this Festival of the Warrior god is. It sounds kinda gaudy. Are you going to go tomorrow?" But Hermes got no response as the wearied traveler was already fast asleep.

An hour before dawn Kino woke up and started practicing her gun slinging. She practiced tell the sun came up, then went down for breakfast. The food was delicious! As she was finishing the waitress came by and took her plate, but Kino stopped her. "What is the Festival of the Warrior god?" She asked

The waitress smiled, "About 80 years ago this country was ruled by a group of bandits, thieves and murderers all governed by a fierce and brutal tyrant, lord. Everyday the lord would go out into the streets and randomly pick out two people and bring them back toward his castle and have them fight his tiger. And every person he picked was brutally ripped apart and eaten by the tiger. Then one day he picked a young boy who had blue hair. No one had ever seen the boy before. The lord thought it was amusing because of his blue hair. So he brought him to the castle to fight the tiger. The boy killed the tiger miraculously and then attacked one of the guards and took his sword. With that sword he slew the lord and all the bandits. Then the boy disappeared. When the people of this country heard what has happened they came together and decided that the boy was a Warrior god, because he single handedly slew an army of trained murderers. So once a year the people of this country select a boy and train him up in the sword and have him fight anyone who has stolen or murdered that year in glory of the boy who helped us."

Kino was intrigued at the story and asked, "Where does this festival start?"

The waitress answered "At the castle in the middle of the city. It will start pretty soon."

Kino thanked the waitress and dashed up to her room and grabbed Hermes and made there way to the castle. The castle wasn't hard to find because it was the only building that was made of stone and not glass. As they entered, a drop of water fell on Kino's head. Guards on either side of her grabbed her and dragged her into a cell. Kino was very confused. As the guards locked the cell and walked away Kino yelled, "Hey! What is this! Why am I locked up!" She soon gave up as the guards had left. Setting down on a rough bench at the side of the cell she noticed she wasn't alone. There on the other side of her was an old man wearing a cowboy hat.

"What am I doing here?" she asked the man.

The man gave a quiet chuckle. "They have murdered all the murderers and the thieves, so they need other people to take there place. The guards watch for people who get water dropped on them and think that, that must be some kind of god saying that, that person is a murderer." The man chuckled again. "They are they same as the bandit, tyrant."

Kino just sat on the bench silently fingering her Ranger at her belt. If anything went wrong she could always defend herself. They sat in silence, save for a random chuckle from the man, for about an hour. Then the guards came back and dragged them into a large banquet hall where literally hundreds of people were packed. And in the middle of the room was a boy holding a bloodied sword and a few bodies lying on the floor.

The man gave another chuckle, and muttered, "That boy is like a tiger." The boy ran up to the man and gave a mighty swing, but swung only at air. Smiling, the old man stood behind the boy at gently tapped the boys shoulder. Fury was rising in the boy as he swung again and again, each time missing. Finally guards came and chained the man down to the ground so he couldn't move. The man just chuckled. Having been humiliated the boy walked up to the man and stabbed the man's arms, then his legs, each time the man only chuckled, then finally the boy brought the sword down right in the man's chest. The man gave one gurgle and went limp. As he did his hat fell off revealing long blue hair…

Night was beginning to fall as Kino and Hermes rode on a dusty dirt beaten path through a thick forest. Hermes asked, "Kino, shouldn't we stop and take a rest. It is almost night and we have been riding almost all day."

Kino stopped the motorad and brought it close to a large oak and said, "Lets sleep under the stars tonight."