JustinTime: Thanks for the review :D tear drops in emotion and thinks "Oh, my first reviewer… I'm so excited :D"… aaaaand here you have the explanation about the Arborum. So that you know, "árbol" means "tree" in Spanish, ok? So the Arborums are named like that for the trees and that's why they're called that way. "Treerum" didn't sound very good to me. By the way, when I have the whole description of the other races I'll publish a whole document about them, ok? ;)

Techwitch: Thanks for your review :D. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I can assure you: this story will be long. The problem is that I only have time to upgrade on Mondays, so please be patient, but expect upgrades on Mondays or twesdays, ok?

What is an Arborum:

The Arborums, or Tree-people, like they're usually called, are a very special civilization.

Their skin is white, with deeply marked greenish veins, light eyes with colours that go from green to sky blue, their hair is finely arranged with leaves, pieces of wood, flowers and mud and from their heads grow a little plant that actually is… a part of their bodyes. I spite of their short stature (maximum 1,60 mts – make your own conversions, please) and their thin complexion, they're fantastic hunters, masters of the bow and arrow, something according to their extraordinary senses of sight and hearing, and an almost perfect equilibrium (did I say perfect?... no. Perfection is a road, not a goal. Arborum proverb)

The Arborums can live more less 500 years, unless they die for "natural" causes (if you're caught on a fire or a sword decapitates you, you NATURALLY die J) so a 50 years old Arborum is a teenager.

Like the name says (in Spanish), the Arborums live in trees, alternating between the upper part of the trees and the roots, according to the time of the year.

During the summer, in the upper part of the trees is too hot and glyphons hunt frequently to feed their babyes while in the lower part of the trees is more fresh and humid, you can hunt, fish and collect mushrooms. Is also a good time to teach to the joungs the art of riding on a wolf (a very usefull ability, and above all during the winter). All this makes the Arborum to prefer living "Down woods" during the summer. Of course, during the winter the thing changes. The woods get full of hungry creatures in search of refugee from the snow, but in the upper part there's more light and the glyphons almost don't bother and the wind is excellent to play how to fly on Yip-Yukies.

This is only for the populations that live in meridional weathers, because the ones that live in the ecuator of the world migrate for other reasons to what they call "Upper woods". In any case, even if the weather doesn't demand it, the moving "Down woods-Upper woods" is almost sacred, because they say that in that way you get away from the problems for a while and can look at them from a different angle if you get out of them and look them from outside.

They're also dedicated to agriculture and ingeneering, using complex systems of ropes and elevators, floating bridges, lifting structures and a very noticeable trap system, they make their settlements to resemble true fortresses. They even build complex systems to carry the water that they can use to fight the fire in the woods and they can cut trees with the precision of a clock maker to make a "firecutter" (I don't know the word in English for this, sorry L ). The arborums have no problems with eventual Timber as long as they cut only what they need and the tree they're cutting is really very old, because they'll surely plant another.

The Arborums are good mages, great healers, and the best rangers and archers. Beastriders by excellence. They have very good manners and respect other people's costumes (from respecting to practicing them is a whole other thing).

Now... let's continue with the story, ok?

Chapter 1: Into the trap:

It was summer in the northern hemisphere in the world of Geetah and a very lovely morning in the house near the woods where Kedri found hostage to sleep in those days. It was very difficult for her to find hostage at any inn because of her policy of "I don't enter where No One Knows isn't welcome". She understood that humans could be afraid of a wolf, but she wouldn't let her only friend to spend the night all alone in the streets and nobody offered their barns to them. She wondered why this woman, that lived alone in the woods (and was a human) let her stay inside with her wolf.

She had been following the band of barbarians for 30 years and whenever she was close to them something happened and they slipped away.

A week ago she was doing exactly that: following tracks, when she saw a group of men that held Pelavin's insignia asolating the roads of the woods. "Pelavin" she thought "your power is growing every day. One day you'll pay for everything you've done, I swear" The bandits were attacking and old and helpless woman and she couldn't let that pass, so she decided to help the old lady and attacked them. She had gotten a sword recently, but was better with the bow and arrow, so she started shooting the few arrows she had left, and after she was out of arrows, she fought with the sword. The bandits didn't take this short joung "thing" very seriously until she came charing with the sword, but when she killed 2 of them the rest of them escaped. Kedri was also seriously wounded, but she didn't realice that.

"Cowards" she muttered while she sheathed her sword. The woman was just staring at her. No One Knows was unharmed. She fainted.

When she opened her eyes she was lying in a comfortable bed, and No One Knows was lying by her side.

Kedri had stayed with this woman for 3 days, helping her and making all the hard jobs that she couldn't do… it was a way to pay for her room after all, but she thought it was time for her to leave or she would loose track of the barbarians she was following. She got up from her bed and looked herself in the small mirror that was hunging on a wall in the room. She wasn't particularly beautifull, but she thought she wasn't ugly too.

- "Do you need anything, Kedri?" the familiar voice of the woman came from outside the room

- "Just breakfast, if you're so kind" the joung Arborum answered while she started fixing her hair with mud and flowers she found at the woods the day before, then she arranged the leaves of the plant she had in her head. It was a small jasmine plant and she loved the way it smelled in the summer. When she was finally ready she went down and ate breakfast with the human lady. She had already told her that she should be leaving today, so the woman wasn't surprised when she announced to her that she was leaving and she gave her a bundle of arrows and a small bag full of Kedri's favourite candys: sweetened ants. She smiled widely when she saw them and sayed "WOU! THANKS!"

- "I know you're out of these, so I wanted to give this to you as a gift. I bought them when I went to the market very early this morning"

- "Thank you, Laura" Kedri smiled at her and gave her a hug "and thanks for all that you did for me also"

- "Aw, that's nothing! You helped me first. That was the least I could do. Just take care, have good luck and come to visit whenever you're around, ok?" Kedri nodded and left.

She and her wolf friend walked for hours. They didn't even stop to hunt and eat, but they finally found what they were looking for: a footstep.

Kedri got on her knees and touched it. It was fresh.

- "Maybe we're lucky today, No One Knows… smell. What do you think? Is it from them?" the wolf lowered his head and smelled the footprint on the ground. "Yes" he told to her mentally and nodded. Kedri smiled

- "This is our day. They can't escape from us now, ok?" she sayed while she got up and started climbing to a tree to get a better view.

She saw the murderers of her family a few mwters ahead. They were enering a very strange thing. It looked like a portal, but to where? She climbed down again and motioned No One Knows to follow her. They approached the portal. It looked blue but she couldn't see through it.

Without any second thought she looked at the wolf, took him in her arms and jumped through the strange portal. She found herself in another forest and when she looked back the portal was still there. Kedri and No One Knows sighed in relief.

- "HAHAHAHAHA…" they heard not too close and then the voice of a male started muttering something that she couldn't listen very well, but using the senses of her wolf she heard something about a recent pillage and raping.

Kedri thought of a plan. She wouldn't be able to face them all if they were together, so she needed them to spread. She would face them in turns and silently started to climb a tree and get away from their camp. Away enough to make a little noise so that they would hear it. She told her wolf to stay where he was in case she needed a backup.

"Crack!" she broke a dry piece of wood in the tree where she was and used the senses of her wolf to see what happened at the camp. One of the men heard her and got up.

-"What's up? Seat down or I'll eat you food" one asked.

- "No, I heard some noises. I thought Pelavin told us this forest had no dwellers" Pelavin again. Kedri thought she should have known it.

- "Ok, then go check" and the man that heard the noise went.

It was enough of using No One Knows's senses. Time to use her own.

She saw the man coming and tensed the bow, pointing it to him. Her heart was beating so hard that she had to force herself to be calmed. "Not yet… not yet…" she told herself while the man was approaching. He stood right under her, looking to both sides; not occurring to him to look up. Big mistake.

Kedri tensed the bow a little more and let the arrow flow directly to the back of his neck and through his throat. He fell to the ground, unable to scream and the arborum climbed down the tree. The man was not yet dead, but she decided to decapitate him… just to spare time, and then she hid the body behind some bushes.

She climbed up again and started using the senses of her wolf again. The men were eating, but the time passed and the other didn't come back. One of them sighed with discomfort and started walking in the same direction.

- "Probably he's taking a lick somewhere. I'll go hurry him" he sayed to his friends and left. Time to use her own senses again. She got another arrow ready.

This man, anyway, was smarter than the other. He stood in exactly the same spot that the first one did, but he did look up. When he saw her he didn't recognize her and he did scream for help, but it also was too late for him. She released the arrow with great precision and it hit right in the middle of his forehead.

Mentally, Kedri gave No One Knows the order to join her where she was. The men had heard the crying for help and they were already running to that place, swords ready to fight. The wolf could see the men running towards where his Arborum friend was and followed as fast as he could.

Kedri saw the men coming, and coming fast. She had time just enough to take out a new arrow. The men were running right to her tree, but what was worse was that the first of them saw her over the branch… and charged against the tree! Kedri let the arrow fly through the air, but missed, because the man hitted right in the moment when she was shooting at the one behind him and hit only in his leg.

Kedri hit the floor. Hard. For the proximity of her foes she couldn't take out a new arrow, but yes her sword. She unsheathed it and fought the barbarian with all her strength. Soon No One Knows came to her aid, right in the moment when the second man reached her. Kedri didn't even have a second to look at her friend. She focused on the first man.

No one was using a shield, so she needed to dodge the hits that she could. Kedri wasn't as good with the sword as she was with the bow and arrows. It didn't mean that she was completely useless with it, but she tried to make every hit count. Soon she found herself fighting 2 men instead of one. No One Knows was very busy killing the other.

One of the men tried to hit her in the arm while the other tried to hit her stomach. The first one missed and Kedri could easily dodge the second hit jumping over his sword. She went for the first man's leg and hitted, but the guy seemed to ignore the pain. Kedri wasn't shocked, but the second hit of the one trying to aim for her arm did hit her. Kedri was in a big disadvantage.

No One Knows, in the mean time, who was fighting with claws and fangs, wanted only to hit the other man's neck. He tried once and again, and the man hitted him with his sword a few times, but seemingly he never fought a wolf before. No One Knows got his neck and as much as the man fought to get rid of his fangs, he didn't let him go. The sweet taste of his blood, and revenge, was too sweet for the wolf to stop. The barbarian bleed to death and he could go to help Kedri.

The fight wasn't short. Kedri dodged and hitted almost all the time, but she still was very damaged. No One Knows helped her too, but the barbarian that he fought knocked him unconscious.

"I'll take care of this dog later" thought the evil man when No One Knows hitted the floor, totally unconscious and bleeding, and went back to fight the heroine, who was almost finished with her opponent. No One Knows successfully bit his neck, just in the same way that he did to the other man, and the Barbarian was bleeding, but he still wanted to fight this Arborum, that he could now say, and with all reason, that was a pain in his ass

"One last hit and this one's fryed!" Kedri thought while she dodged and gave him the last cut. The man fell to the ground and she heard a familiar voice from behind.

- "So… Little daddy's girl did learn how to use a weapon…" the barbarian sayed. He had indeed recognized her. "I underestimated you. I should have killed you when I could. You've grown up to be a pain in my ass". Kedri didn't see his face, but he was truly angry.

- "Yes, you should have done that, because I'll give you no chance now" She turned around quickly, her short sword full of her enemyes blood, and aimed for the man's stomach, giving him no time to fight back. The last barbarian jumped back, while he laughed at her intent.

- "Hahahahahaha… you'll have to do better. I'll eat your dog friend after I'm through with you… Daddy's Girl" he sayed while he aimed for her body too. He was very injured, but was too proud to recognize it and he was trying to hide it from her.

- "We'll see that… AND HE'S NOT A DOG!" Kedri didn't even bother in dodging that last attack. She just faced his sword and successfully attacked him. She thirsted her short sword all the way into his stomach. The wound in her own stomach was deep, but not deadly. She got in her knees, not dropping the sword, and let the own weight of the barbarian do it's work against him. He spilled blood through his mouth and she let him fall "… and DON'T call me Daddy's Girl" she sayed while she sheathed her sword back, looking at the dead man with hatred in her eyes. Then she turned to her wounded friend.

- "No One Knows… No One Knows… are you ok?" the wolf didn't answer. He was too weak even to whine. He was barely breathing, so she took him in her arms and started walking to the only place where she knew she could get help: through the portal, to the old lady's house.

She hoped for the best, because it was the only place where she could ask for help, so she crossed the portal, with her wolf in her arms.

Kedri did get a huge surprise by the other side… an unpleasant surprise, though, because as soon as she arrived to the forest…

- "You were a pain in the ass, young lass." The tall human spoke. He was surrounded by fully armed guards. She didn't recognize the voice, because she never spoke to him personally, but certainly she did recognize the face. Tall human, short black hair, black evil eyes, somehow always young...

- "Pelavin" sayed Kedri. Her voice almost fading. She was about to faint for the blood loss

The evil tyrant grinned evilly

- "So you DO remember me… good" Pelavin motioned his guards to take the wolf away from her. Kedri tried to hold him, but she wasn't strong enough to do so.

- "No…" she muttered and fell to the ground, still conscious.

- "Yes." Pelavin approached her and looked at her "You caused too much trouble… Kedri, right? Well, now is MY turn." He looked to his remaining guards "Take her to the Black Mountain"

- "And what should we do with the dog, Boss?" the guard asked.

- "That useless furball?" Pelavin asked and the guard nodded "Argh! Just kill him" Pelavin sayed with a dismissive gesture of his hand.

Everything turned black for Kedri in that exact moment, but she knew Pelavin meant everything that he sayed.

No One Knows was doomed.

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A/N: Wait for chapter 3. This is just getting started :D:D:D:D... REVIEWS, PLEASE!