sweatdrop okay, so maybe my last chapter was a little long, and maybe this one is really long too, but my 4th chapter…..no, that's fixin to be pretty long too. But I promise a short 5th chapter!

Chapter 3: Of Sceptres and swords

Truly a horrible night, the dawn came reeking of the messy crimson of the battle the previous night. The torn outsiders were defeated, dead mostly, and Wolfhelm and another ranger were checking for survivors. If they were bounty hunters, they would get them off the field to aid. If they were bandits, they would bind their hands are take them as prisoners. Of the near 90 hunters that had gone in, now about 7 were left, and they had found very few unconscious. After they had gotten all wounded bounty hunters to aid and all the bandits in a group, they began to stack the bodies and collect spoils.

Ryoshu filled her quiver with the arrows of the bandit Wolfhelm was picking up "Where'd you dissapear to last night?"

Wolfhelm looked up "Just needed to escape the battle briefly." He replied.

Jacob trotted over looking very disappointed.

"Enough with all the knick knacks!" he exclaimed "Where is the loot! The Jackpot! The thief's treasure!"

Wolfhelm rolled his eyes "What else do you think of?"

"Treasure! And nothing else!" Jacob said flatly.

Wolfhelm did notice they seemed like they were going away empty-handed, but he didn't mind. He had found a small chain alloy necklace he slipped around his neck, a handy knife he had slipped into his pocket, and some new armlets he had put on his wrists. Those were the spoils he had collected, and being as he had enough gold to keep him fed for a while, he would have gladly left otherwise empty-handed.

But the dwarf would not have it. He and a couple of other bounty hunters began to search for a secret door, or a pathway, something that would grant them passage to a treasure chamber. A few minutes searching and then….

"Comrads!" Jacob shouted "Over here!"

They all crowded around a small hatch he had found.

"Come!" he exclaimed with excitement "Let us open it!"

Everyone but Jacob stepped back (out of fear of a trap) as Jacob opened i. It was safe, though it looked very dark inside. Without thinking twice, Jacob jumped through the hatch.

When he heard him hit the bottom, Wolfhelm called down to him "Are you alright? What's down there?"

Jacob let out a sputter and a weez from the must, and then answered "Your guess is as good as mine, it's black as pitch down here."

Wolfhelm put a hand to his forhead. He took a torch from the walls and reached back into his pocket for some flint. In turn he too dropped through the hatch. He struck the flint until finally the tinder ignited.

The moment the torch was lit the room was hit with a brilliant light that shone off the mounds of gold in the room so greatly that at first Jacob and Nik squinted. Beautiful was the only way to describe it. They were standing on a ound of gold, but among it was scattered a number of other gleaming treasures, jewels, ores, emeralds, bronze and ivory. Wolfhelm was mezmorised, and Jacob was nearly drooling.

Ryoshu jumped in. She quickly got the same effect.

"Well then!" Jacob rubbed his hands together "Let us have at it!" he opened his pack and began to stuff it with treasure.

"How much do you plan to take?" Wolfhelm asked.

Jacob grunted "As much as I can carry with ease."

Wolfhelm decided that since it was thief treasure, it was ok to indulge a little. He filled a medium sized bag with gold , and began to look for smalle items of interest. Ryoshu, however, seemed to have her thoughts directed elsewhere. It was a while she searched the room until she saw the archer elf with the headband reach for a golden staff.

"Wait!" she yelled, and snatched it from beneath his grasp "I'll take that."

Wolfhelm found nothing that was particularly interesting, for the most part. A few small trinkets he pocketed, a gold chalice, and a few rubies which he pocketed. But then he found something that was particularly interesting: a gleaming sword in the wall. Without thinking he drew it from the wall. He was so taken by it's beauty he didn't stop to think that maybe removing it might spring some kind of trap; luckily for him it didn't. It was indeed a beautiful sword, from the hilt which was encrusted with small rubys and a jewel encrusted scabbard, to the very glow of the blade.

He stuck it in his pack, he would make a hseath for it later, and see how useful it proved in battle.

Having found far more even then he needed, Wolfhelm had one of the bounty hunters at the top toss him a rope to climb out, and he threw on his pack, preparing to travel again. Ryoshu climbed out as well, looking likewise.

"Well," said Wolfhelm "If the dwarf can manage to pull himself away, perhaps I can treat you two to a lunch in the village?"

Ryoshu shrugged "I suppose it couldn't hurt. I must return this staff-" she held up the golden rod she had snatched from the bandit cave "-to my client, but I am a day ahead of schedule."

"Good." Wolfhelm smiled, the shock of last night's battle finally shaken off "I'm sure we shall have quite a lunch."

Jacob somehow managed to heave all his treasure up through the hatch of the chamber. He emerged carrying a very full sack on his back, and wearing all kinds of glittering treasures hanging off his body and neck.

"Well," he announced "I'm done!"

Wolfhelm was correct, quite a feat they had. They ordered many plates of various meats, a few bowls of soup, loafs of bread, and very filling ale which Wolfhelm poured into his golden chalice.

He held up his cup "A toast then?"

"Ai!" exclaimed Jacob "To a victourious battle, many treasures, good food, and what more that is to come!"

They clashed goblets and drank.

"So dwarf," Ryoshu addressed Jacob "What do you plan to do with all that treasure? Not carry it around I hope."

Jacob shook his head "I will take it to the mountains of my clan, in the far south. A long journey, but my people will be very pleased with me.

"You see, I am a treasure hunter for my clan, and very rich I have made them. I leave on journeys for months at a time, going to lands and collecting various treasures. At the end of the time given to me to find these treasures, I come home with them and the town celebrates my homecoming, and adds my treasures to our great caves, so that we may live to be wealthy for months to come. Then, after I have rested a short time from my journeys, I head out again."

Ryoshu and Wolfhelm nodded in understanding.

"Well then," Jacob sighed "What about yourselves?"

"I am a ranger." Wolfhelm explained "I do not hunt for anyone, I look for my own adventure, comeplete tasks requested of me, and track down things that are of interest to me

"I belong to a group of others such as myself, but we may always count on one another, much like a wolf pack."

What he had failed to tell them was that a wolf pack was exactly what he belonged to, but he wasn't ready for them to know he was a wolf yet.

Ryoshu told her story as she had told it to Wolfhelm, and continued on: "I was hired by the king of the South Elf Clan to retrive this magical scepter they call the 'rod of rage'. Apparently the captain of arms of their clan has an apprentice who practiced with it, but one night they were raided by the torn outsiders. The bandits retreated, but with the rod of rage in hand. So coming by their kingdom, you can imagine I was more than pleased to accept their job for me to retrieve it."

"So," Wolfhelm observed "Now you are going back south to return it to them. And Jacob is going south to return to his home. I, too, am going south because I jus came from a much vacant north."

"I see what you're suggesting." Said Ryoshu "And I agree in advance. There is safety in numbers."

"As do I." Confirmed Jacob.

"Good." Wolfhelm looked to the window, it was evening, and the sun was setting "I say we leave after this meal, and stop in the plains to rest for the night."

The two of them agreed.

The sun had been down for an hour or two, and it was Wolfhelm's turn to keep watch, and so he sat, watching and thinking, looking up at the moon (but with plenty of focus on the dusty plains around them). It was a great open plain, which made Wolfhelm feel a little unsafe being so exposed. The moon was full tonight, and it cast a mystical glow over the plains. How ominous it made Wolfhelm feel. Unlike some wolfs, Wolfhelm was not affected so much by the full mooon that he was unable to control himself, but it did not do him much good. It made him feel very longing, and very lonely, and yet also very alive. He took this time to guard and watch the moon to think and reflect. Reflect on his new companions, his pack wherever they were, the area surrounding himself, the mountains off in the distance beyond the plains. A soft wind swept across the grass, a cloud moved in front of the moon, and the lights went out in the town they had just left a few miles away.

Ryoshu and Jacob were asleep in their tent, and Wolfhelm reached into the tent and pulled out his pack, the strange blade still inside. He drew it out of his pack. It was still dully glowing. He made a sheath around it out of a series of leather straps, and attached it to his belt, alongside swift beauty.

It was fortunate that he did so, because in a moment he heard hasty footsteps. He quickly got up and looked to the west side of the plains, and he saw a party of quite a few hobgoblins. They obviously were not attempting stealth, and instead were rushing in very fast toward their campsite.

Wolfhelm very quickly opened the tent "Jacob! Ryoshu! We've got company!" he yelled to the two .

They quickly roused and armed themselves for a quick battle. Nik his the first when they were about 2 yards from the campsite. He took the arrow in strife, only pausing for a moment, Jacob rushed to meet one of the hobgoblins, and rushed it down. Ryoshu landed a stroke on the first one she saw, and blocked the fang sword of another. One hit Ryoshu's armor with a bow, but her armor being as strong as it was did not break. Nik's new sword was proving a tad more useful than swift beauty. It was very light, and yet still had power behind it. It glowed brilliantly as it struck another hobgoblin. As he expected, it jumped right back up, and he stabbed it in the shoulder. It raised it's fang sword, but didn't get a chance to strike before Nik got it in the stomach. It fell dead.

Great, Wolfhelm thought, one down and about 14 to go, how are we going to finish this?

And just as he parried the fang sword with his new sword, a great fireball whisked through the field and hit the hobgoblin he was parrying.

Reinforcements had come, and it would appear not so by accident. Three elfs, two which appeared to be just warrior guards, typical elvish swords and helms, but the third seemed of special signficance. He had a small crown atop his head, nested on top of short brown hair, and a flat face with blue eyes. He had golden pauldrons, golden duds, and shining golden robes. He looked very royal indeed. Other than a small daggar on his belt, he had no weapons, but he held a qurterstaff in his gold ring covered right hand.

Without being asked, the three elfs charged into battle against the hobgoblins. They were still outnumbered and possibly outmatched.

A hobgoblin yelled in his own shriekish tongue over his shoulder. Wolfhelm could only wonder what he was saying, but he soon found out. Several orcs, perhaps twice as many as there was hobgoblins, began to surround the 6 of them.

Not knowing what to do, and very confused, the 6 continued fighting. The mage elf threw an ice ball at one. The other two elfs engaged combat in one enemy each. Jacob quickly took one orc who had come near out with an axe blow to the neck. Ryoshu used a horizontal slash to ward the enemies away. Wolfhelm used a series of vertical slashes and flourishes. Needless to say, all in all, it wasn't working too well.

But just when it seemed like the battle was lost, the cloud moved from in front of the moon. The moment the moonlight hit Wolfhelm's sword, it began to glow with a brilliant light. A light that at first made Wolfhelm squint , and made his friends squint as well, and all enemies near back away. He waited, and when nothing happened, he decided to continue fighting.

The new power his sword held was miraculous. Whether it was an orc or a hobgoblin, he took it down in a single blow, his sword now cut through enemies like a hot knife through butter, and within seconds he had slain nearly triple what he had before his sword had been illuminated.

The last of the enemies left yelled to one another and then ran off,

"You!" the elf mage yelled to Nik. He walked over, seeming to take quite a fascianation in Nik's sword. He looked at it very carefully "Where in the world did you get that sword?"

"A bandit cave." Wolfhelm said cautiously.

The elf mage thought for a moment "We haven't much time, they're headed toward the kingdom." He turned to Ryoshu "Did you acquire the scepter?"

Ryoshu quickly fethed the scepter from the tent and gave it to the mage.

"Excellent," the mage sighed "Now we must run!"

He began to take off. Wolfhelm caught up to him and stopped him "Wait! What's going on!"

The mage shook his head "No time to explain, must hurry."

"Can I at leat get your name?" asked Wolfhelm.

"Oh, of course." The mage bowed "I am David, one of the high mages of Melasor, ruler of the kingdom of the south elf colony. Now if you'll excuse me…" and he continued to bolt toward the kingdom. Sensing his urgency, the rest of the part followed.

Well, what can be said. Review!