Chapter 4: If A Tree Falls On A Dark Dragon In The Woods, Does Anyone Care?

"Is it working?" Ryu asked nervously as he stood over the bed of Nina's father, King Gwyn. They had given him the xeon remedy immediately upon arriving back in Winlan, and now were waiting to see the result... and nothing was happening. Nina turned to him with sorrow written on every line of her face.

"He's not changing... it's not working... were we too late? Ryu..."

"Nina, it's all right..." Her mother tried to comfort her. "You both did the best you could..."

"Uh..." All eyes darted to the King as he stirred and opened his eyes. "I'm... feeling a little better..." He sat up and coughed, then suddenly stretched his wings. "Actually, make that a lot better..." All three just watched, stunned, as he stood up and actually began bouncing up and down on the bed, fluttering his wings to catch more airtime. "I'm... alive! I live! Hahahahaha!" Nina's mother just smiled and watched, tears in her eyes, as her husband acted like he was a young child again. Nina just laughed, but her eyes were full as well as she turned to the Light Dragon.

"Ryu... thank you. You saved my father's life... and my own."

The next day, Ryu was summoned to the throne room. King Gwyn was sitting on the throne, looking completely recovered, with his wife and daughter at his sides.

"So, you're Ryu the Light Dragon..."

"Your majesty." Ryu bowed. Gwyn laughed heartily.

"Get up, young man. If anything, I should be going down on my knee before you. Your bravery saved my life... and that of my foolish daughter." He frowned, and Nina looked at her feet. "Were it not for you, we would both be in our graves now... me because of the poison, and her because of her rashness in going after the Wizard alone..."

"But father, I..." The princess tried to object, but he glared her down.

"No, Nina. You should have known better... you were extremely lucky. That useless strike against Manson of yours would have been a disaster had it not been for this warrior..." At that point, Ryu decided to ignore his better instincts.

"Your majesty, I'm sorry to contradict you, but her highness was not useless. Not at all." He smiled inwardly at the King's shocked expression. "To tell the truth, Nina was the one who actually made the kill on Manson. You said that both of you would be dead if it weren't for me, and you may be right... but honesty forces me to add that I would be joining you if it weren't for HER."

"I... well. Ahem." Gwyn coughed uncomfortably, making a point not to look at his daughter, who was now beaming. "Very well. At any rate... you came here to ask an audience of me, Ryu. What do you wish? Anything in my power to grant is yours."

"Knowledge about the lands to the east is all I need..." Ryu thought for a moment. "Well... that and a good sword. Me and her highness both lost ours..."

"The east?" Gwyn shook his head dismally. "I hope that does not mean you intend to travel there..."

"I do, your majesty." Ryu said firmly. "What I'm looking for is in the northeast. I'm not sure exactly what that is, but until I do, I'm going to keep traveling that way."

"Eh?" The King and everybody else in the room looked confused. "You don't know... what you're looking for?"

"That's right. The directions are very obscure, I'm afraid..." Digging through his pack, Ryu pulled out the piece of paper Sara had given him and handed it to the King. "Aside from this, northeast is all I know..."

"South of a silent guardian..." Gwyn frowned, as Nina read over his shoulder. "I don't know..."

"The Stone Robot, father!" Nina cried out suddenly. "That has to be it!"

"Stone Robot?" Now it was Ryu's turn to look confused as the King nodded unhappily.

"Yes... that's a silent guardian, all right... it looks like you are going east." Handing the paper back to Ryu, he steepled his hands. "East of here, Ryu, are the lands of the Forest Clan, and I'm afraid they're very dangerous right now."

"The Dark Dragons?" The hero guessed. Gwyn nodded again.

"Exactly. An entire legion has moved in to engage the Forest Clan. Anywhere that there's a lot of trees around should be considered a constant heavy war zone. But if you insist..." He sighed. "The Stone Robot is a huge... landmark, I guess would be the best way to put it... in the extreme northeast. You can't miss it... there's nothing like it in the entire world."

"I'll keep my eyes out." Ryu promised. Unnoticed by them both, Princess Nina's eyes had grown cunning.

"Father, this attack cannot go unpunished." She suddenly said, surprising all in the room again. "The Dark Dragons have all but declared total war on our Clan. We have to do something in retaliation!"

"Yes, Nina. I know." King Gwyn agreed distractedly. "We're going to send our own army into their territory as soon as Ryu here leaves-"

"That's not enough." She interrupted. "Father, this was a PERSONAL attack. It deserves a personal response." Ryu's eyes slowly began to grow wider as the King spluttered.

"You don't mean-"

"Yes. I want to go with Ryu." She nodded just as firmly as Ryu had a moment before. "I want to help him fight the Dark Dragons."

"Didn't that business at Karma teach you the folly of that thinking, girl?" Her father growled.
"And didn't Ryu just say right now that it wasn't folly, that I was right?" She countered, smiling sweetly. By now, the Light Dragon warrior's face was looking slightly ill as he realized his mistake. King Gwyn was at a loss for words for a moment.

"...Well, yes, but... you... General Cornus!"

"Yes, my liege?" The General stepped forward and bowed.

"You've... you've overseen my daughter's combat training. What is your assessment of her abilities?" Cornus hesitated.

"Sir..."

"The truth, Cornus." The King ordered.

"Truthfully..." Cornus sighed. "She's the best rapier fighter in... this entire country, sir." This time, the assembled nobles were not silent; they gasped loudly as one. Ryu looked like he was going to bolt. "And... I believe she has also undergone training in White Magic to supplement that."

"I have, father." Nina nodded. King Gwyn choked for a moment longer, then gave in.

"...All right. The facts are clear. Ryu... in light of your recommendation of my daughter's abilities... I would ask that you accept her aid in your quest." Caught rather neatly by his own cleverness, Ryu had no choice.

"I... will, your majesty, and I am... thankful for her help." Nina squealed and shot forward to shake his hand.

"Thank you, Ryu! I'm honored to aid you!" Moving her head closer, she whispered so that only he could hear. "Should have kept your mouth shut."

"I'm going to get you for this." Ryu hissed back in a similar whisper. Then, simultaneously, they turned to face the King, smiles frozen on their faces. "With your permission, your majesty, we will leave tomorrow at first light."

"Of course." The King nodded. "I'll have the kitchen staff make up packs for both of you."

"And if you will both follow me to the armory, we can get you suitable weapons right now." General Cornus smiled at Ryu and Nina as he walked close enough to whisper as well. "Just remember... use them on the enemy, NOT on each other."

"No promises." Ryu muttered.

"Thanks again for inviting me along, Ryu." Nina said brightly as the two of them crossed the vast bridge coming out of the side of Winlan. Ryu just grunted sourly; walking across almost a mile of empty air with nothing supporting him but wooden planks was taking all of his attention. The Winlan Bridge was one of those architectural feats that always seemed to endure the changes in the world. The strait between the lands of the Wing Clan and those of the Forest Clan had been there as far back as history books existed. As the world had shifted, sometimes it had narrowed, sometimes widened, but the Wing Clan had always changed the great bridge to accomodate those changes. Sometimes it was built of stone, sometimes of wood; once, one history book claimed, there had even been a bridge of steel. Despite its composition and length, the Winlan Bridge would always exist in some form or another. Currently, it was about a mile long. When the two of them stepped off the other end of the bridge, Ryu released a huge sigh of relief before turning to glare at Nina frostily.

"All right, your highness, let's just make one thing clear. I don't want you along here, and I never did. Quite frankly, I think you're going to be a lot more trouble than you're worth. And if that offends you, well, that's just too bad; as you observed when we first met, I'm just a plain-spoken country boy. I say it how it is, and the first time you get a major wound, I'm having the closest royalty ship you right back home."

"Well, you're certainly direct. I'll give you points for that." Nina giggled, not offended in the least. "But you don't know much. I never would have been able to pull that off if you hadn't stuck up for me in front of my father earlier."

"A mistake." Ryu admitted. "I should have listened to my instincts and stayed quiet."

"Maybe." Nina cocked her head to the side. "Although I was surprised you went so far as to lie to my father about it."

"I didn't lie to him one bit." Ryu smiled a bit slyly. "I said you made the kill on Manson and that I'd be dead if it wasn't for you. That was true. The rest of the fight that was earlier, I didn't say a thing about... so how could I lie about it?"

"Point." Nina nodded approvingly. "Devious."

"The one who got me was General Cornus." Ryu's smile disappeared. "When he said you were the best rapier fighter in your clan... that has to violate some kind of oath."

"Now you're wrong." Nina shook her head. "Cornus told the absolute truth. Even if you're maintaining your opinion that I'm no good, keep in mind that almost the entire army uses SPEARS, not rapiers."

"Point to you that time." Ryu inclined his head. "Still... look out! Company!" A pair of what appeared to be humans were crawling along the ground, but their skin was purple, their bodies were rotting and terminated rather sharply at the waist leaving trailing guts, and they were moaning vacantly. "Are those... Manson's zombies? What the hell are they doing over here!"

"The Dark Dragons!" Nina growled. "Manson was in contact with one of their top men, who's also an accomplished scientist! After Manson's death, he must have found a way to take control of them and had his dragons move them over!"

"As if their regular soldiers weren't bad enough..." Growling, Ryu drew his new sword, a fairly long and broad sword made of good steel. He moved forward and slashed at the first zombie's chest, slicing it neatly in half, then changed his grip to stab it through the head. The second one, however, showing surprising speed, raked at his back with bony fingers. Before he could turn, however, the job was already done; Nina rammed her rapier right through its brain, and the monster collapsed instantly.

"Watch your back. That's the way zombies work; one will gladly die so the other can get a bite in on you. Aim for the head, as well; that's the only way to kill them."

"...Yeah." Ryu shook his head. "All right, clean your blade and let's go."

"Still think I'm useless?" Nina asked archly as she wiped her new sword on the grass. Ryu just harrumphed.

"Don't push your luck." As he started to walk, though, he staggered; his body had suddenly lost feeling, and was feeling strangely sluggish, like walking through molasses. Nina immediately flew over.

"Stay still. Don't move." Holding her hands over the wound caused by the zombie's claw, she recited a few words, and Ryu felt feeling returning. A few more words, and the wound closed completely. He stood up straight and shook himself like a wet dog.

"That did the trick. What WAS that?"

"Zombification." Nina said grimly. "You were still alive, so it only had a small effect, but if you had died, you'd be joining the corpse corps. One white magic spell to remove the spread of the disease, and another to heal minor wounds; best not to take chances."

"Thanks." Ryu grunted as he walked on. Nina just smiled, shook her head and followed him. After a few moments, he spoke up again. "Okay, maybe you're not entirely useless. Fine, I won't send you back to Winlan."

"Your confidence in me is too kind, sir Ryu."

"Just Ryu, please, your highness." He gave her a pained look.

"All right, as long as you knock off the highness bit." She countered. "If we're going to be travelling together, just get used to calling me Nina, okay?"

"Fine, Nina." He smiled again. "Anyways, since we're on a first-name basis now, can I ask you something kind of personal?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Personal? Depends on the question." The Light Dragon blinked.

"What do you mean, depends-oh." He blushed, and Nina laughed.

"I take it you haven't had much experience with girls?"

"Never even had a girlfriend." He shrugged. Nina started to say something, but stopped herself. "Anyways. Your clan can turn into Great Birds, right? So wouldn't it save a lot of time if you..."

"It's not that easy." Nina shook her head. "We can't turn into Great Birds until we turn eighteen. I'm a year off. Nobody's sure why, but it just never takes... until the eighteenth birthday, where it always suddenly kicks in. Then again, nobody really knows how we do it in the first place. The scientests have only been able to make some progress-we know it's in the bloodline, which means we have to marry strictly within our own Clan by law-and the Light Dragon priests are too afraid to ask God." She sighed. "Light Dragons are wierd, and Dark Dragons are jerks. I guess I just don't get along with the Clan..." She blinked, realizing what she was saying even as Ryu laughed. "Uh... present company excepted."

"That's all right." Ryu grinned. "I was firmly against becoming a priest when I was growing up, no matter what my family yelled at me about it."

"Overbearing family?" The princess asked wryly, and he nodded. "Me too. Always pressuring you about your responsibilities and your duties..."

"Trying to map out your entire life for you before you're even out of baby teeth..." Ryu continued.

"Never letting you have a moment to yourself to do what YOU want..."

"Unless you sneak off, and then they yell at you even more afterwards..."

"Royalty and religion suck." Nina finished.
"Amen." Ryu rolled his eyes skyward, and they both laughed.

"Well... now I have a question." Nina admitted. "What exactly are you doing, anyways? I know you're fighting the Dark Dragons, but the specifics were kinda lost on me..."

"Specifics..." Ryu thought for a moment. "In a nutshell... I'm out to follow the Pilgrimage necessary for unlocking my Dragon powers, cause havoc to the Dark Dragon armies wherever I can, rescue my sister who's been captured by them, kill Emperor Zog, and stop them from collecting the Goddess Keys to release the evil Goddess, Myria."

"..." Nina fell out of the sky, staring at him. "Uh... huh. This is gonna take a while to explain, I take it."

"Oh, not too much longer than the rest of the day." Ryu deadpanned. As they walked east, he patiently told her all about the attack on Drogen and the incident with the Earth Key at Nanai. When he finished, the sun was starting to set, and Nina was floating along while looking at the Earth Key in her hand.

"A Goddess Key... it WAS all true. Every bit of it. Wow." She shook her head to clear it and handed the Key back to Ryu. "Well, now I know what you-we're doing. And you're sure your sister's with the Dark Dragons?"

"Positive." Ryu said firmly. "Nobody found her body, and the Dragons wouldn't be able to take her prisoner without a lot of work that they'd never use unless they had something really important in mind... which means she's probably being taken to Scande, their capital."

"THAT won't be easy to get her out of..." Nina sighed. "Scande's the most impossible stronghold in the world to attack. What's her name, anyways?"

"Sara."

"Oh, is that who Sara is?" She realized. "I was wondering..."

"Huh?" Ryu frowned. "What were you wondering?"

"Uh... nothing." She said hastily.

"Oh, no." The Light Dragon pressed. "Talk, missy. Where did you hear about Sara?"

"I..." She blushed furiously. "I heard you talking in your sleep on your first night in Winlan." Ryu smirked.

"I see." Thankfully for the princess, he refrained from commenting further, instead looking around. "About time to set up camp. Now that there's two of us and we're heading into more dangerous territory, we should take turns keeping watch. I'll go first."

"Works for me." Nina agreed. They unrolled their sleeping bags.

"So, how far away is this Stone Robot?" Ryu inquired as they had dinner. Nina thought for a moment.

"It's a week's walking distance from Winlan... so six more days."

"Right." Ryu frowned at a thought. "Are we going to have to go through any forests?" Nina shook her head.

"Nope. They're all more to the south... as long as we stay along the north coast, it'll be fine."

"Good. I don't know about you, but I'd prefer to avoid the warzones if at all possible."

"I can relate to that." Nina yawned. "Well, I'm hitting it. Wake me when it's time for my watch."

"Got another one." Bo grunted as he shot an arrow off. A moment later, the shaft buried itself in the throat of a Dark Dragon army soldier, and he collapsed with a gurgling sigh. Bo turned around and saw two Forest Clanners like himself. "Been wondering when you two would show up. How's it going?"

"Sir! Second group reports eighteen enemy soldiers killed! One wounded, Macdougal, no deaths!"

"All right... and the report from the third group?" Bo asked. The other Forest Clanner saluted sharply.

"Sir! Thirteen soldiers killed so far today, no injuries or deaths!"
"Good." Bo nodded. "First group's had twenty killed; no injuries or deaths here either. Keep it up." The Forest Clan were bipedal canines, with golden fur but features more akin to wolves than dogs, and Bo was a particularly dangerous-looking example of his species. Tall and muscular, his eyes held an almost rabid glint when he was in battle. As he watched the reporters from the other two groups leave, a noise in the bushes made his ears perk up. "Everybody, hide! Now! Sounds like a big group." The group of Forest Clanners with Bo disappeared into the bushes and treetops of the forest, their green garb blending in perfectly. There was not one sign of a single Forest Clanner as a squad of Dark Dragon soldiers marched into the clearing.

"All right, set up camp here." The squad leader grunted. "And no slacking; get it done first, then prepare to stand at attention. HE's going to be coming through here." Grumbling, the soldiers began following his orders. They never finished. A rain of arrows covered them from all sides, converting each and every soldier into a pincushion. The Forest Clanners came back out and quickly pulled the corpses into the brush, hiding them from view. Bo frowned.

"Who's this HE? Some important Dark Dragon, sounds like... men, it looks as if we may just have struck pay dirt. Get back into the trees and let's wait. I'll hit their boss myself when he comes through here... the moment he's skewered, take out the rest." The Forest Clanners nodded silently and climbed back into hiding. Bo selected a large tree with many branches for his own vantage point. A few moments later, there was a rustling in the bushes again, this time much larger. The soldiers that came through were larger as well; there looked to be about a hundred. Bo frowned; there was no way his men could kill that soldiers many very quickly.

"Terry, go find the second and third parties." He whispered to a young Forest Clanner hidden beneath his tree. "Tell them that every one of us in the woods needs to get over here and prepare for an all-out attack. If this is just the personal advance escort, this guy HAS to be way up there in the ranks." Terry nodded and slipped off, and Bo returned his attention to the Dark Dragons. It looked as if the leader was about to come in, and a moment later, two figures did in fact join the soldiers. One of them was a Knight, and the other a very short figure shrouded in a purple hooded coat. The Knight's fawning manner showed that he was obviously the subordinate of the two.

"I'm sorry... I don't know where they are... those men should have been here long ago!" He babbled obsequiously. "Please forgive me, Dreammaster!" Bo hissed with surprise as he sharply drew in a breath.

"Dreammaster... Red Dreammaster Mote!" Mote, the Red Dreammaster, was a member of the Tiamat renowned for his cruelty, said to be able to warp his victims' minds beyond rationality.

"What was that?" The Dreammaster looked up towards the tree, and Bo immediately fell silent. Mote scrutinized it for a few more moments, then shrugged and turned away, speaking again in a strangely high, piping voice. "The men aren't present. That remains the fact, no matter what you think they SHOULD be doing. The woods are not being properly patrolled. I'm afraid I'm have to bring this up with General Folage when we arrive at the fortress." The Knight paled noticably.

"Please, Dreammaster. I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation. I'll have these men here turn out and search-"

"Your excuses are starting to irritate me, Knight." Mote interrupted. "I don't particularly care about your soldiers, really, but the rules ARE the rules. More importantly to me is how you're pissing me off. I think it's time you just stopped talking, so if you don't keep your mouth shut from now on and speak only when spoken to... I will plunge your mind into a nightmare of being slowly burned alive that will last for the rest of your life. Do you understand me?" The Knight nodded quickly and silently. "Good. Now, let's proceed to the fortress." Bo noticed traces of movement in the leaves and realized the other Forest Clanners were in position. As Mote was about to leave the clearing, Bo fired. Five arrows blasted through the air in less than a second, each one of them striking into the hood of the Red Dreammaster. Before any of the other soldiers could react, arrows poured out of the sky like rain once again, burying them all.

"We did it! We killed one of the Tiamat Unit!" The Forest Clanners cheered.

"No... wait!" Bo watched as Mote began to fall over... then shimmered and vanished, along with all of the other soldiers. "Run for it! It's a trap!" As the startled Forest Clanners turned around, triumphant howls erupted from beyond the clearing as the Dark Dragons, alerted to the positions of their enemies, fired their own storm of arrows-not nearly as good as the Forest Clanners, but deadly still. Bo cursed loudly as he watched several of his men fall. "An illusion! The whole damn thing was an illusion! They suspected we'd be here! Fall back, everybody! Out of the woods! Now!" Terry screamed as an arrow pierced his shoulder. Bo dropped out of the tree and helped him up. "Come on! Move!" Helping the wounded warrior, he joined the rest of the Forest Clanners in their retreat as the Dark Dragons gave chase.

"Catch them! Kill them! Don't let a single one of those mongrel dogs escape here alive!" Mote's voice rang shrilly through the treetops. The Dark Dragon soldiers enthusiastically attempted to do just that, but the Forest Clan knew the terrain backwards and forwards a thousand times better than their foes, and they soon outdistanced the Dark Dragons. Even then, they didn't stop until they had reached the edge of the woods.

"Well, that could have gone better." Bo muttered as he laid Terry down on his back. "You okay, Ter?"

"Been better, boss." Terry tried to smile, but it turned into a wince. "I'm gonna be out of it... for a while, I'm afraid..."

"It's all right. Just relax." Bo stood up. "How many others got hurt?"

"Six dead and twice that many wounded." Another Forest Clanner reported sadly. Bo cursed again.

"Shit. No choice... we're going to have to abort the whole thing for now and head back to Tuntar. We can come back once all the wounded are taken care of." His eyes glinted as he smiled at Terry. "And we'll make them pay for every bit of that nasty little trick, I promise you."

"Whoa..." Ryu stopped in his tracks and stared at the horizon. "Is that... what I think it is?"

"Most likely." Nina nodded smugly. "Dad told you that you wouldn't be able to miss it. That's the Stone Robot." Towering hundreds of feet tall, a structure made of yellow bricks could be dimly seen far away. It was shaped like a human, and if one looked closely the head was adorned with a single huge glass blue eye. "And it's still a day's walk away. Amazing, isn't it?"

"Yeah..." Ryu shook his head to clear it. "Wow. Has it ever moved or anything?"

"Moved..." Nina thought. "Rumors say it did once, back in the days of the Dragon War... but aside from that, nothing in centuries."

"Well, I don't know anything that could trump that as a 'silent guardian.'" Ryu pulled out the piece of paper with the directions. "I don't think we really need to go all the way there. Now that we know where the 'silent guardian' is, we can just move on to the next step."

"Let me see." Nina looked over his shoulder. "South of the Robot... a snake of blue? That has to be the Despair River! It flows out of the lake in the middle of the Forest of Despair, where the Forest Clan used to live before the Dark Dragons came. The River goes south down the entire territory of the Forest Clan, then turns east and forms part of the southern border as it runs into the sea!"

"So we need to go south of the Forest Clan lands to find it." Ryu nodded. "Great! Thanks, Nina. So how far away is it?"

"Well, we're still north of the forest, but we're near the east side... if we go around it, we should reach the towns of Tantar and Tuntar in a week or so. The border's only a day or two from there."

"All right, let's go." Ryu thought for a moment as they walked. "Tantar AND Tuntar? Why two seperate ones?"

"Tuntar's been there for ages... it's an old town." Nina explained. "Back in the Dragon War, it was a big city of the Forest Clan with the Despair River running right through it, seperating it into east and west sides with a bridge connecting them. After the War ended, the Forest Clan took up living in the Forest of Despair and the city was abandoned. A few generations back, some humans were allowed to move in. They restored only the east half of it, though; didn't need any more. When the Forest Clan were driven out of their home by the Dark Dragons, they went to the west half of the old city and called it Tantar to differentiate it. Now instead of one city, there's two towns, one for the humans and one for the Forest Clan." Ryu nodded.

"And they both fight the Dark Dragons?"

"Afraid not..." The princess shook her head. "The Forest Clan do, but the humans in Tuntar are as meek as sheep. They offer no resistance whatsoever."

"Bah..." Ryu's face darkened. "Idiots. Don't they know what the Dark Dragons are doing? They're just making it easier for them..."

"Keep your prejudices under control, Ryu." Nina warned. "Put the difference in attitude towards the Dragons together with that they're going to efforts to keep the towns seperate, and we can guess that relationships are pretty strained between them. We DON'T want to start anything."

"Right, right..." Ryu sighed. A week later, they moved into Tuntar. As they entered the town, they noticed that something was very, very wrong. The river was completely dried up.

"Not good..." Nina muttered. "Not good at all. Hey, you!" She called to a man who was loitering near the entrance of the town. "What's going on with the river?" He scowled.

"The Dark Dragons, that's what." He spat. "They dammed up the entire river up north where it comes out of the lake. I don't know how the hell they managed it, but the boulders lying in the way are too huge for any of us to do a thing about."

"Let me guess." Ryu growled. "They say they'll unblock the river if the entire land surrenders to them."

"You got it." The man nodded. "They're a group of right bastards, yeah, but there's not much we can do. Try telling THAT to the Forest Clan, though..." Muttering to himself, he stomped off. Nina watched after him for a moment.

"Suddenly, the reason for the species animosity becomes clear."

"Yeah." Ryu sighed. "So, which chief should we talk to?"

"Well, technically, the chief of Tuntar is supposed to be subordinate to the Forest Clan's chief... they don't use the title King, but he had the same authority here as my father does back home."

"Had?" Ryu raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Yeah. With what's been happening here lately, I doubt that authority continues as much." Nina shook her head. "To hazard a guess, the two chiefs are probably equal in power now. We should probably see them both... the human chief first since we're in Tuntar, then cross over to Tantar to see the Forest Clan chief."

"All right." Ryu looked around the town and quickly spotted the largest house. "He should be there. That just leaves the question of how we're going to get in..."

"Leave that to me." Nina smiled and hovered over towards the house. Ryu just shrugged and followed. A pair of guards were standing outside the chief's house. Nina smiled friendlily and landed in front of them. "Excuse me, good sirs, but we need to speak with your chief."

"And you are-?" One guard prompted. Nina smiled and handed him a piece of paper. He read it dubiously, then jumped and showed it to his partner.

"Um... we'll have to get this authenticated by the chief, miss."

"Of couse." Nina nodded. "We'll wait here." The guards went inside, and Ryu stared.

"Okay, give. How'd you do that?"

"That paper was a written letter from Princess Nina of Winlan, asking that the Chief grant an audience to her emissaries. Notice it doesn't specify WHICH Chief. I've also got ones for the King, for the Grand High Merchant, for the Guildmaster... basically, for the rulers of every land in the world. Well, almost... I don't think we'd have much success requesting a personal audience with Emperor Zog. But aside from that..." She shrugged, and Ryu whistled.

"Pretty slick, Nina."

"See, I'm being very useful already." Nina smirked. Ryu chose not to dignify THAT with a response. A few moments later, the guards returned and wordlessly showed them inside. The inside of the chief's house was rather plain and unornate. The only thing setting it apart from a normal residence was the large chair, almost a throne, in the middle of a large room at the center. A wizened old man sat on it, his beard reaching almost to his waist.

"Ah... emissaries from Winlan." He looked at them more closely, and frowned. "So, what are you here for?"

"We'd like to know what you can tell us about the river, your... grace." Nina said, fumbling with the correct mode of address for a moment. The Chief's frown deepened.

"Look for yourself! It's bone dry, all the way! We have to go all the way up north to get any water, and the Dark Dragons assume anybody from here is hostile!" He shook his head angrily. "We'd leave if we could, but they destroyed the only bridge south of here that crosses the river!" Ryu and Nina's faces fell, but the Chief continued his ranting. "If the Forest Clan would just surrender their Ring, then the Dark Dragons would unblock the river, but noooo..."

"Um..." Ryu blinked. "Couldn't you just go to the Tantar side of the river, then go south? The river only turns east..."

"Do you know what a mountain is, you young idiot?" The Chief fixed him with a withering glare. "If so, maybe you'll understand when I tell you there's an entire range of them south of Tantar and west of the river!"

"I... see." Ryu nodded. The Chief just waved a hand in disgust.

"Take these fools out of my sight!" The guards nodded, and Nina smiled frigidly.

"Very well, sir. No need to escort us, we were leaving anyways. The air has turned a trifle rancid in here." And with that, she and Ryu turned and exited the building. Once they were outside, the princess dropped the smile. "Well, that was a complete waste of our time..."

"Wait..." They turned as a young lady slipped out of the door behind them. "Please don't be too hard on my grandfather, miss..."

"Nina." The Princess smiled. "You're the Cheif's granddaughter, then?"

"Yes..." She shook her head. "He's not normally like this... it's just that the times have been really hard on him. Ever since the river dried up, he's been acting strange..." Now she seemed on the verge of tears. "He won't even let me go over to Tantar to see my fiancee..."

"You're engaged to marry a Forest Clanner?" Ryu blinked. She nodded.

"Yes... but I know that he's been going out to fight the Dark Dragons. And since I can't go over to Tantar, there's no way for me to know if he's hurt, or..."

"We're going to Tantar right now." Nina told her. "If you can give us his name, we can find out for you..."

"You... thank you..." The Chief's daughter bowed her head. "His name is Terry... he's the grandson of their Chief. If you can... tell him Amelia sent you." Ryu nodded, and he and Nina left, heading towards the bridge. As they crossed over to Tantar, several of the people there turned their heads to look at them.
"Been a while since ANYBODY crossed that bridge..." One young Forest Clanner said by way of greeting as he walked up. Like all Forest Clanners, he was canine, completely furred all over with a wolflike head, although he did not have a tail. "And you... miss, you're a Wing Clanner. I take it you two aren't from around here."

"Nope, we come from the west." Ryu smiled. "People over in Tuntar seem kind of unfriendly."

"Well, we're not exactly kindly disposed towards them either, but to other people, we're happy to see 'em." He shook Ryu's hand. "So, what brings you here? I doubt it's the Dark Dragon invasion..."

"Actually, that's exactly what it is." Nina showed him the same letter as she had the guards back in Tuntar, and it had a similar effect.

"Oh... okay, I'll run it past him... this way." He led them to a house just as large as the Tuntar Chief's residence, but unlike there, they were brought inside right away. Also like in Tuntar, the house was normal-looking inside save for an old Forest Clanner, his fur iron-grey, sitting on a large chair. He raised an eyebrow as he read the letter, then laughed.

"Emissary? Please, Princess! Did you think I wouldn't recognize you?"

"It has been ten years, your grace." Nina smiled winsomely.

"Nonsense! And just call me Lupin. We don't need to stand on ceremony here. Who's your friend?"

"This is..." Nina hesitated and looked at Ryu, who nodded. "...Ryu. He's a warrior from Drogen... a Light Dragon."

"Drogen?" Lupin blinked in surprise, then smiled. "Would you by any chance know a Light Dragon about my age named Theo?" Now Ryu was surprised.

"You know my grandfather?"

"Ah, you're his grandson, then!" Lupin nodded. "Yes, me and Theo met when we were young. How are he and Esma, then?" Ryu's face darkened.

"Not well, I'm afraid. The Dark Dragons attacked Drogen and burned it-"

"WHAT?" The Chief came to his feet instantly, swearing like a pirate.

"I feel the same way." Ryu agreed. "So I'm on the same pilgrimage as my grandfather went on all those years ago, except UNlike my grandfather, I have some very definite ideas about what I'm going to do when I'm done involving Emperor Zog. Right now, we need to get south."

"I see..." Lupin sank back into his chair, evidently finished exercising his vocabulary. "Well, I'm sorry, but that's not likely to happen. The bridge is out, and with the river dry, you can't even swim across. Don't even think about climbling the sides; they're far too steep."

"Yes, the Chief of Tuntar told us much the same." Nina shrugged. "Albeit in much more unfriendly terms. The question is, what to do about it?"

"Bart has been acting very strange lately..." Lupin thought about it. "Well... the bridge can't be rebuilt until the Dark Dragons have been chased out. If we tried, they'd just destroy it again."

"All right then." Ryu nodded. "We'll go help with the effort. Speaking of which, how's that going?"

"We've got the home advantage, they've got numbers." Lupin shrugged. "We're picking 'em off by the cartload, but more just spring up in their place. I'm afraid unless we take down some kind of commander, things will turn nasty... and the last time we tried that, it turned very bad on us. My own grandson, Terry, was injured..."

"Terry?" Nina's eyes grew wide. "Is he going to be all right?"

"Well, yes..." Lupin nodded. "He'll be fine with time... but you've never met him. Why is that such a thing?"

"We met Amelia over in Tuntar." Ryu explained. "She asked us to check on him... Chief Bart won't let her come over to Tantar."

"We were guessing as much..." Lupin growled, then sighed. "Well, he's sleeping right now, but I'll tell him. Anyways, back to the subject... I take it you two are both experienced fighters?"

"I've got an entire Dark Dragon company and one of their Knights on my kill list; Nina's got the Magician of Karma on hers." Ryu smiled, then frowned. "Have there been a lot of zombies around here over the past few days?"

"Yes, actually." The Chief raised an eyebrow. "I've heard of the Magician of Karma... let me guess. He had contact with the Dark Dragons, and after Nina offed him, his zombies became theirs."

"That's as far as we figure it." Ryu shrugged. "Well, we chased the Dark Dragons out of my home lands and those of the Wing Clan, and we can help do the same here." Lupin nodded.

"I don't doubt that... there's only one problem. The Forest of Despair is no ordinary wood... there are trees EVERYwhere there. If you had one of our best archers with you, that would be different, but..." He thought a moment. "Here's an idea. We have a member of the Builder Clan, Dorban, living here. He's old and grumpy, but there's a chance he'd agree to make a saw for you that you could use to help clear your way through the forest. It's worth a shot, at least. Either way, once you get there, find one of our archers and have them take you to Bo. He's the best archer, and leading our side of the war in the field." Ryu smiled and nodded gratefully.

"Thank you, your... Lupin. We'll go talk to Dorban, and we'll head up north as soon as he's got that saw ready, if he'll make it." Lupin smiled as well.

"He lives in a grey building near the south part of town. You'll be able to tell which one by the smoke coming out of the chimney from his forge. I hope I'll see you later, my young friends."

"Nice fella." Ryu told Nina as they left. "You've met him before?"

"I had forgotten..." She thought back. "Nine years ago. He and my father met, along with a lot of the other rulers, like Firdan in the west... they were discussing forming some kind of alliance against Zog, who was just starting to show signs of his ambitions. As I recall, Lupin, Khel of Bleak and Gartes of Prima were particularly for it, but it never worked out... shame."

"Yeah..." Ryu shook his head. "Well, that's in the past now. Look, there's smoke... that has to be Dorban's house it's coming from." Approaching the residence in question, he knocked politely.

"Come in." A rusty-sounding voice grunted. Ryu shrugged and did so. The house was more of a workshop; most of the space was taken up by the anvil, firepit and tub that were essential parts of a smith's work. A suit of armor was on display in the back next to a stove and a bed, and racks of weapons, mostly arrows, lined the walls. Hammering on the anvil was a gruff-looking old member of the huge, bovine Builder Clan. His mane and beard were as iron grey as Bart's fur, but the muscles on his arms were still as wide as Ryu's legs, and he was using a sledgehammer as if it weighed nothing on a glowing red sword. "Well, don't just stand there. What do you want? You're not from around here."

"We... hoped we could have you build something for us. A saw." Ryu asked hesitantly. Dorban grunted and threw the sword he was working on into his tub, raising clouds of steam.

"Impossible."

"Huh?"

"You heard me." Sighing, he leaned his hammer against a wall. "Weapons, I can make. Don't LIKE making them, but it's not exactly an option here right now. So I make them. But good tools, things that people actually will use for honest work... no. Not with what I've got here. These weapons are just made of hack-rate iron; I don't mind, because I don't like them anyways. But I'll bash my own head in with this hammer before I make ANY good tools out of junk iron. It's a matter of pride."

"Junk iron, eh?" Nina fished through her pack and took out the lump of iron ore she had accidentally dislodged in the Aura Cave. "What about this?" Dorban snorted.

"Probably crap. I'll take a look, though..." Grabbing it, he examined it, carelessly at first, then more excitedly. Several minutes later, he looked back at them with an entirely different attitude plain on his face. "Little lady, where did you get this?"

"The Aura Cave in Winlan." She smiled. "So, is it any good?"

"Missy, I haven't seen iron ore this quality in years." Dorban placed it on his anvil and fetched his hammer. "A saw, you say? All right, then! For this quality ore, I'll make you a saw that could cut down the entire forest! Now get out of my hair so I can work, okay? Come back here this time tomorrow." Ryu grinned.

"We'll do that, then. Glad to be of service."

"General Folage." All the soldiers in the command room of the fortress bowed as their commander entered the room. Folage just shrugged as he walked over to his chair and sat down.

"Enough with the pleasantries. Give me the reports. How many of our men have we lost to the Forest Clan TODAY?"

"Uh... seventeen so far, my lord." One soldier checked a piece of paper. Folage nodded, unfazed.

"All right, and how many of theirs have we taken down?" Another soldier checked.

"Let me see... six."

"Good job, we outnumbered them again." The General shook his head. "Oh well, plenty more where ours came from. If we run low we can always order some more from Scande as many times as we need until this place is flattened." He noticed one of his soldiers was looking disturbed. "Something wrong, you?"

"Just..." The soldier shook his head. "You make it sound like our soldiers are nothing more than... some kind of livestock."

"So?" Folage smiled. "You've never met Lord Jade, have you? That's exactly the way he thinks. As far as the Gold Lord is concerned, the lives of our soldiers have only one worth. Accomplishing Emperor Zog's directives, use as necessary in whatever quantities required. An attitude echoed by the rest of the Tiamat Unit, one of which, I remind you, is here at this fortress right now. Just be glad YOU're not on the front lines, soldier."

"Y... yes, sir." The soldier turned back to his work, and General Folage began examining some troop movement particulars. After about an hour, a new soldier entered the room and bowed.

"My lord, the Red Dreammaster requests your presence."

"Huh?" Folage frowned. "Oh, right. Again? Very well..." Sighing, he stood up and dropped his work, then picked it back up on second thought. "He might want to look at these, I suppose... never mind coming, soldier, I know the way. Help these others here." Walking down the halls of the fortress, he soon located his destination and entered. Mote was sitting at a table, with a brightly-colored mat representing the Forest of Despair laid out in front of him. There were small figurines standing on it representing their soldiers; tin for their own men, and clay for the enemy Forest Clanners. Mote moved them according to dispatches on known troop position brought to him every hour. Folage shuddered; the Red Dreammaster's hands, coming from the darkness of his robe's sleeves, resembled blood-colored spiders as they creeped across the forest mat. It creeped the hard-bitten General out, but he strained himself to show no signs of it. Not that it mattered, he realized as Mote's head turned towards him, hidden by his hood as always. They said that he could read your brain as easily as look at you.

"This war is not going well, General." Mote declared in his high-pitched voice. "I see many more casualties on our side than theirs, day after day, with no sign of things changing."

"They aren't going to, your grace." Folage sat down in a chair on the other end of the table. "The Forest Clan have lived in this forest for centuries. They know its layout perfectly, every tree, boulder and bush. They also have superior fighting style in this type of terrain; in deep forest, archers always trump foot fighters. Or just about anything else, for that matter. It's no surprise to me at all that we're losing more men than them; quite frankly, I knew that would be the way it goes ever since we first occupied the Forest of Despair." Something twitched under Mote's hood; lips twisting in amusement?

"Be careful, General. You're walking treacherously close to treason. Questioning Emperor Zog's decision is the highest form of it. I'd hate to have to pull that out of your brain for you... I wouldn't be able to tell what else might come out with it." He giggled, and Folage fought a wave of nausea.

"Ah... but it's not treason, your grace. I haven't yet mentioned OUR advantage, the one that negates theirs." He gestured at a sack lying in the corner full of more tin soldiers. There was none such for the clay ones. "Numbers, Dreammaster. Numbers. They can keep killing our boys until the next Dragon War, and it won't change a thing here. If we sacrifice five men to take down one of theirs, they'll run out a long time before we even come close. No matter how many of ours they kill, it won't make a difference. We can just get more; they have no such luxury. We'll just keep at it until, eventually, they run out and that's the end of the game."

"I see." Mote leaned back in his chair. "Crude, blunt, totally devoid of real tactics, but I suppose in this case it's effective enough. However, wouldn't it be much more efficient to mount an attack of our own on their capital?"

"We tried that." Folage shook his head. "As soon as our soldiers got clear of the forest, arrows came out from behind them like it was raining. Except raindrops don't drive through your brain. So no, attacking Tantar won't work." The Red Dreammaster started to say something, then stopped and shook his head.

"Whatever. Just keep at it. What about our prisoner? How is he doing?"

"As well as can be expected." Folage shrugged. "He's not exactly a spring chicken, you know, but he's still alive. We're keeping him in the cell next to Pog. The people haven't figured it out yet, so that'll probably get us their surrender a few more weeks earlier if it stays that way."

"Good." Mote nodded approvingly. At least you're doing something right, he thought "And about Pog... can't you keep that infernal beast quiet? His noise is interfering with my meditation... and you don't want that to continue, do you General?" Folage gulped and shook his head.

"Ah... no, sir. We'll try to keep Pog quieter." Mote nodded.

"Throw him a soldier if you have to, just make him shut up tonight. After that, I'll be returning to Scande, so it won't be an issue. One more thing... I recieved an... interesting report recently."

"Oh?" The General raised an eyebrow; anything that the Red Dreammaster would find interesting had to be big.

"Yes. It seems that there's a Light Dragon in the area, along with the Princess of Windia. There's a very high chance they'll be coming this way soon, and they may be a bit of a trouble."

"All right..." Folage shrugged. "I'll tell the soldiers to watch out for them. Is that all?"

"There's a bit more to it than that, General." Mote grinned beneath his hood. "They have the Earth Key with them." Folage's eyes grew wide.

"The... as in, THE Earth Key?"

"Yes. THE Earth Key. As in, one of the Goddess Keys. If they come here, make sure they do not leave. Emperor Zog WANTS that back. Am I clear?" Mote's eyes glowed red, and the General saluted, sweating.

"Crystal, your grace!"

"Good. You're dismissed, General." Mote watched him leave and shook his head. There was no need to tell him about the other information he had learned about this... Ryu... that would be for Folage's hopefully more competent successor.

"Well, there's the Forest of Despair." Ryu sighed. They had recieved the saw with Dorban's thanks three days ago, and were now drawing close to their destination. Ryu hefted the saw as they met the border. "Solid trees all the way... looks like we'll be using this puppy right off." Bending over near a likely-looking candidate, he started hacking, then grinding at the trunk near its base. It only took about ten minutes before he made it through and the mighty plant toppled. "Timber!"

"I got out of the way a long time ago." Nina laughed. "Now that that's over with, shall we be going?" Ryu nodded and the two of them stepped over the stump and into the Forest. Nina waved a hand in front of her face to clear away fog. "Foggy here... and dark. I can barely see..."

"I can handle that." Ryu assured her. "Sharp eyes. Don't worry." He stumbled over a tree root, and Nina moaned.

"Why am I not reassured?"

"Very funny. This way." Ryu led the way through the trees for a bit, then stopped. "Hold it. Think we've got trouble. Smells like zombies... over there." He looked around the other side of a clump of trees, and froze. Two monsters were standing there. They were not zombies. They were human skeletons, riding decaying blue horse corpses, each armed with long lances. Silently, their skulls turned to look at Ryu and Nina.

"Uh..." Nina stared. Ryu took a step back, then bolted.

"RUN!" Nina quickly followed suit in the air. Once they were a good deal away, they stopped to catch their breath. The monsters showed no sign of having followed.

"Zombies, huh?" Nina gave Ryu a look. He held up his hands in defense.

"Hey, give me a break. Corpses all smell alike, and I didn't know this forest had indiginous undead." He looked around. "Come on. Should be this way."

"Why did I let you lead?" Nina muttered several hours later.

"Come on. We're doing fine." Ryu insisted.

"Then why have we passed that tree right there five times now?"

"Shh!" Ryu put a finger to his lips, breaking off the bickering. "Something's coming. Hide." It was another pair of the skeletal riders, maybe even the same ones. This time, though, the warrior and the Princess had the advantage of surprise. They looked at each other and nodded once before moving instantly; Nina darted above the first monster's head and smashed his skull open. While his partner stared, Ryu ran forward and sliced across the chests of both horses. With a squeal, they collapsed, and the remaining skeleton was easy prey for Nina's rapier. Ryu checked to make sure they were all dead, then wiped his sword off on a tree. "Hey, they aren't so tough."

"That was nicely done!" A voice came out of the trees. "Don't move. There are five arrows trained on each of your hearts." Ryu instantly froze, and Nina hovered exactly in place. A Forest Clanner dropped out of the trees and examined them. "Nope... you're no Dark Dragons. So, are you just stupid travelers, or..."

"Actually, we're reinforcements from Tantar." Ryu explained. "Chief Lupin sent us here... are you Bo?" The Forest Clanner shook his head.

"Afraid not... Bo went inside the fortress on some kind of a sneak mission. Stupid in my opinion; bows and arrows are twenty times more effective in the woods than indoors, but he was the boss. So, Chief sent you... the way you took care of those two Skull Riders, I believe it." He waved towards the trees. "Arrows down, men. They're on our side." He turned back to Ryu. "Like I said, our weapons aren't too good indoors. Swords, though... I'd say you two have a better chance of helping Bo than all of us combined."

"You want us to go into their fortress alone?" Nina groaned. "I knew it. Mom always told me the outside world would get me killed. Boy, did she know what she was talking about."

"We'll do it." Ryu nodded, ignoring her. "Show us the way." The Forest Clanner nodded and led the way through the trees. With him at the front, they were able to make much better time; he seemed to instictively know where nooks and crannies between trees were that they could slip through. When Ryu commented as much, he laughed.

"It is instinct, friend. We're called the Forest Clan for a reason. Every one of us knows how to move through the trees in his cradle." It still took several more hours to reach the fortress, however, and though he couldn't see it through the foliage that blocked out almost all light, Ryu guessed that the sun was going down as they arrived. The Dark Dragon fortress was a singularly unimpressive-looking squat stone building, almost perfectly cubed. It was noticably lacking any sort of windows. "They filled the windows in after they learned how far away we could fire through them from." The Forest Clanner explained.

"We'll just use the door, then." Ryu shrugged. "We'll look for Bo."

"Be careful." The Forest Clanner said by way of farewell. "There's booby-traps all over the place inside... and there's something up in that place... something strange..."

"That's cheery." Nina commented as they walked inside. Almost immediately, they were confronted by a pair of Dark Dragon soldiers in orange armor. One had a bow, one a lance.

"Hold on there." The one with the lance called out. "Just where do you think you're going?"

"Nobody gets past us." The bowman laughed. "We're very sharp guards! Stupid move coming here!"

"Stupid move challenging us, you mean." Ryu snarled, charging at the bowman. Nina went for the lancer, but his moment of surprise passed, and he managed to keep her at a distance with his weapon.

"What's wrong, birdy?" He taunted. "Come closer!"

"A... augh!" A scream came from the left, and he half-turned his head to see his partner go down, spewing blood. That was all it took; before he could get back in position, Nina stabbed through his arm, forcing him to drop his weapon. Another thrust in the face finished him.

"Thanks, Ryu." Nina nodded. "That bowman could have been trouble for me."

"Why do you think I took him?" Ryu grinned. "Come on, let's go." He started down the hall, but Nina grabbed his arm.

"Wait!" Taking a rock off the floor, she threw it down the hall. As soon as it touched the ground, a pit opened. She nodded. "Booby-traps. Come on, let's take a side hall." Shoving the bodies of the guards into the pit, they edged around the fortress, making sure to avoid the main hall. As they neared the north end, another pair of guards accosted them, again a lancer and a bowman.

"Halt! Intruders...!" Before they could react, Ryu and Nina were on them. These two were no more skilled than the first ones, and the fight was short and ugly.
"Crud. No pits around to hide these ones in." Ryu grumbled, looking around. "Ah, a closet. Come on, let's get them inside. It's no good leaving them out here."

"Yeah, yeah..." Nina rolled her eyes as she hauled the Lancer across. Once the bodies were hidden, they took stock of the situation. To their left was some noise, and voices; most likely, where the soldiers' quarters were. To the right, stairs leading downwards.

"Check those out first?" Ryu asked. Nina nodded, and they went down. Just to be on the safe side, they avoided the main hall in the basement as well. As they moved down a side passage, something caught Ryu's eye. A prison cell, with three guards... and inside was the Elder of Tuntar!
"Is that...?" Nina whispered, and Ryu nodded.

"Yeah, it is. Let's go... we've got to help him, even if he is a jerk." As they stepped out into the open, one of the guards spotted them.

"Huh? Are you here to rescue the chief! Don't make me laugh!"
"How about we make you bleed instead, then?" Ryu moved forward. Two of them with lances moved to block him and Nina as the bowman retreated to get a good shot. Ryu swore and started chopping at the surprised soldier's lance, hacking it into pieces of firewood as he moved closer. The last swing sent the lancer's head flying. He looked at how Nina was doing.

"Ryu! Look out!" She shouted. On instinct, Ryu moved his head to the side, and an arrow whizzed past. Growling, he charged. The bowman blanched and fitted another arrow. before he could loose it, though, Ryu's sword chopped it-and him-in half. Nina had finished her lancer as well. They turned towards the chief, who had just noticed them; he had been sleeping on a cot.

"Oh, hello. I'm Chief Bart. Are you here to rescue me?"

"Uh... yeah." Ryu nodded. "But if you're here... who's in Tuntar?"

"An imposter, of course." Bart snorted. "A Dark Dragon plant using some kind of magic to look like me and stir up animosity against the Forest Clan."

"Of course!" Nina agreed. "That's why they're so hostile. Well, we'll clear that up when we get back! I'd hate to be that imposter when your people get through with him!"

"Of course, of course..." Bart agreed distantly. His eyes brightened at a sudden thought. "I've got an idea! Their weapons stores are right down the hall from here... why don't we sabotage them?"

"I like that idea..." Ryu whistled, then grinned. "I think that could pretty much kill their chances of winning anything here." Nina frowned.

"I don't know... shouldn't we be getting out of here as soon as possible?"

"Nonsense, miss! It'll only be a moment!" Bart opened the door to his cell and walked down the hall, with Ryu and Nina following. At the end, he flipped a switch and another barred door opened. "Right in here."

"Okay, whatever." Ryu shrugged and walked inside. Nina's eyes widened, and she lunged for him.

"Wait!"
"Too late!" Cackling gleefully, the Chief flipped the switch again, and the door slammed shut behind them. "Idiots! I can't believe you fell for that! Here, Pog! It's snack time!"

"Pog? Uh-oh..." Ryu gulped. Nina glared at him as she readied her rapier.

"I hate to say I told you so, but..."

"Then don't! Holy-" The rest of Ryu's exclamation was lost in the double roar of the beast ahead. A furry lower body with four legs the size of a cart was bad enough, but what was above it was worse; TWO reptilian heads on snake-like necks, one red and one blue! "What IS that?"

"Whatever it is, it thinks we're dinner!" Nina yelled. "Keep it off while I cast a spell!" Ryu nodded and moved between the Pog and Nina. The blue head hissed and opened its mouth, spitting out a blast of icy air. Ryu blocked it with his wooden shield and sliced at the neck, but it twisted aside, and he only cut scales. Nina finished her chant, and red sparkled settled on Ryu's sword.

"Thanks... hey!" Ryu blocked again with his shield as the red head released a fireball. Unfortunately, his shield was made of wood. Cursing, he threw the ruined piece of burning slag at the blue head. It hissed again and moved to dodge it, and Ryu jumped up, slicing at it. This time, his aim struck true, and blood flew. The red head blasted fire again and knocked him down, but Nina was behind it, and blood came from there as well. Slowly, Pog stumbled over to a corner, and fell. Nina flew over to Ryu.

"You okay?"

"Just a little singed... look out!" He shoved the Princess aside as the Pog's heads extended out and snapped at her. "You're still not dead? Come ON!" As the Pog got back to its feet, the heads continued biting at him together, and try as he might, he was unable to fend them both off at once.

"That's it, Pog!" The Chief gloated. "Chomp them to bits!"

"I don't think so!" Suddenly, five arrows protruded from Pog's chest. The two heads stared incredulously, and then all four eyes dimmed over, and it toppled, this time for good. The Chief goggled.

"Pog! What happened? You're not getting away with this, Ryu!"

"How did you-" Ryu started, but was interrupted by the same voice that had apparently killed Pog.

"He'll be getting away with a lot more than that, General!" Another arrow hit the switch that controlled the door, and it swung open. "We mean business!" Ryu threw his head back and laughed as Nina blinked.

"Who-?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Ryu smirked at the "Chief." "What do you think? Have you figured it out? Or do we need to tell you? What do you think... Bo?"

"So you know who I am. Yeah, that's my name." From down the hall, a lone Forest Clanner walked. He was tall and lean, but muscular, and his fur was a brown darker than the normal gold. "This bum was actually telling the truth to a degree. The chief in Tuntar IS a fake. I rescued the REAL one while you were distracting this jerk and his pet. Thanks." He cocked an eyebrow. "You have the advantage of me, but your introductions will have to wait. We've got somebody to deal with."

"Yeah..." Ryu and Nina glared at the fake Chief. "We don't take kindly to tricks like that, buddy. Why don't you show us who you really are?"

"Well, if you insist..." Chuckling, the old man crouched, and his wrinkled skin flowed like melting wax. When he stood up again, he was a middle-aged man with a wide mustache clad in the orange, ornate armor of a General. "I'm General Folage, commander of this warzone! You wish to fight me, then?"

"You got it." Ryu and Nina advanced, and Bo joined them, backing Folage up against a wall. "Any last words?"

"I doubt I'm the one needing them, really." Folage smiled arrogantly, drawing his own blade, as long as Terrack's had been. However, Folage was much more muscular than the Knight.

Doubt he'll be getting tired easily, Ryu thought. Whoa! He jumped back as the sword smashed into the floor where he had been a moment before. Fast, too! "Nina! Does that spell work on any weapon?"

"Yeah!"

"Use it on Bo, then!" Ryu moved forward and locked swords with the General. Folage was stronger and had the heavier blade, but Ryu was still able to hold him.

"No need for that, actually." Bo smiled and raised his hand. "I'm bringing out some heavier artillery." The air above crackled, and a bolt of lightning struck Folage's head.
"Argh! So, you know lightning magic..." Folage snarled. "Well, you're not the only one with tricks like that!" He shoved Ryu's sword aside and pointed his own at the archer, and a fireball flew out from the tip into him. Bo went flying.

"Hold on!" Nina changed the spell she was casting, and blue sparkles settled over Bo. "There... increased resilience instead of pumping up your weapon!" Bo got back to his feet and smiled at her.

"Thanks!" He loosed a few arrows to distract Folage, then followed them up with a puff of freezing gas. The General attempted to slice it in half, and was rewarded for his stupidity by having his entire arm freeze.

"No!"

"Yes!" Grinning, Ryu sliced the entire arm off, and Folage screamed.

"NO!" Suddenly, he grinned and snatched up his sword with his other hand. Caught off guard, Ryu was hit across the chest; it was only by rolling back at the last moment that he was able to avoid being completely sliced in half.

"Ryu!" Nina yelled. "Bo, keep him off me!" She flew over to Ryu and bent over him, casting a healing spell. Folage laughed and started towards them, but stopped as an arrow bounced off his shoulder armor.

"Keep trying to go for them if you dare." Bo pulled out another arrow. "Next time, I won't miss." Folage growled and started for him.

"Fine, then! You can die before they do!" Another blast of ice hit him, but this time he kept moving, forcing through the ice shards. Bo tried to fire a third, but it sputtered and died. Folage laughed and raised his sword. "All tired out, are we? Don't worry, I'll make this quick!" Suddenly, he choked, and his other arm went flying in a spray of blood.

"Nice trick, being ambidextrous... but it wasn't enough." Ryu grinned, lowering his own sword. Folage looked from one warrior to another, panicking.

"Damn you all! You've won the battle, but not the war! The river is still dry!" He turned and ran towards Pog's cell, but there was a thunk, and he fell forward as an arrow sprouted from the back of his head. Bo grunted and strapped his bow to his back.

"Nice shot." Ryu congratulated him. The archer just shrugged.

"Fairly average. Shall we be going, then? The real Chief Bart's waiting for us with my men up on the first floor." Nina nodded.

"You've taken the fort, then?"
"Yeah. A lot of the soldiers got away, though, when the tide turned... and even Folage's death here doesn't mean that much, since apparently another General was coming in to replace him anyways with a legion of reinforcements."

"Great." Ryu groaned. "Oh well, at least we pissed them off here, and got the Chief back. Shall we be going?"

"All right." Bo smiled, and the three of them turned and walked back down the hall. "By the way... who are you two again?"