There was a light breeze. The sun was setting. He was with a girl in the mango grove.

No, that's not right. He was with 'the' girl in the mango grove. The only one he ever loved.

She had a bruise on her caramel hip. He kissed it to make it better.

She laughed. They smiled. He drew her close.

Jimmy reluctantly opened his eyes. He always hated when his favorite dream came to an end, but it was for the best. That was in the distant past.

The young blade sat up, oddly refreshed in a manner he hadn't felt in years. Was it druid magic? They weren't hard healers like clerics, but they were pretty good at invigorating and regenerating. He looked around and saw he was resting on a bed of leaves. From the crashing of the waves nearby he guessed he was still near the beach. He was still in a grove similar to that of his dream, except instead of a lush jungle, he was surrounded by wind twisted trees.

Jimmy suddenly recalled the events of yesterday. Ulfgar, the water elemental, the shark man, the war bat, the Valkyrie looking woman, the entire one sided battle and their unlikely escape. He remembered he was now being hunted by his old comrade and his band of killers.

"It could be worse," smirked Jimmy. "At least it wasn't Raoul, or Sir Jose and Kit. If those guys were after me, I'd be in chains or a coffin by now."

He knew he should have been dead except for the actions of his companion. Jimmy scanned for his rescuer, but saw no sign of Chloe, or at least no outward sign. She might have been hiding in the tree still, but after knocking on various trunks a few time, he dismissed that idea though in reality he had little idea how druid or dryad magic worked.

Unsure of how secure this grove was, Jimmy took stock of his equipment. He still possessed the control stick Hoaglie gave him. It's warm aura still felt weird in his hands, but he had an idea what to do with it now. His clothes and armor were suspiciously cleaned and dried. He was missing some daggers, most likely during the battle and now at the bottom of the sea, but he easily replaced them from his small arsenal in his bag of holding. While rummaging for his spare blades, he took out a few vials of horse scent, and a dusty black bottle labeled shark repellent as well for future encounters. Most importantly, he still had the 'real' grey sword or 'black blade', or whatever Ulfgar called it, and fortunately Chloe's vines still held it in check.

"Ulfy will be livid when he finds out he's been duped," he chuckled to himself. Though Ulfgar, wasn't one of the 'greats', he was as deadly a wizard as one can find outside the ranks of the archmages. Despite his power, that didn't mean he wasn't vulnerable to the old 'bait and switch' scam. A simple Nystul's aura spell, a fancy case he bought for five gold, and sufficient enough 'selling' of the box on his part was enough to convince Ulfy and his killers that Jimmy had thrown it into the ocean and given himself enough time to escape. Jimmy wasn't even sure if Ulfgar had discovered the deception yet, but he knew it was only a matter of time.

Time that Jimmy knew he didn't have much of. He wasn't sure how long he was resting or sleeping, but from the light breaking through the grove, he guessed optimistically it was overnight. If they recovered the box, he doubt they would open it right away, given the danger of its contents, so would take it to a secure spot before discovering the ruse. Most likely near Lower Lueders, but somewhere further if he was lucky.

Jimmy laughed. Luck was something he shouldn't be counting on. Despite his efforts at secrecy, they were discovered before they even started. He had been betrayed and was now stranded on the coast out in the middle of nowhere. If it weren't for Chloe's unusual skill set, he would most likely be dead as well.

As Jimmy considered this, he heard a voice nearby. The young blade fell into a combat stance and faded into the shadows nearby.

The voice was high, feminine, and seemed to be talking to herself in a language he was not familiar with. He considered that it may be Chloe's, but the voice didn't have the guttersnipe cockiness and haughtiness he often associated with her. It sounded musical, happy, and even joyous.

Curious, he slipped through the trees towards the sound, and saw it was indeed Chloe, though in a manner he hadn't seen from her before. Instead of some short stylish tom boy outfit, she was wearing a light toga, seemingly made of woven grass. Her short opaline hair was also noticeably longer, and seemed to have flowers woven into it. Most disconcerting of all, was that she was standing in a grass field, similar to the stuff she was wearing, and appeared to be babbling in that strange melodic tongue to herself.

Jimmy watched, both confused and entranced at her strange conversation to herself. Was she communing with the nature spirits? Or perhaps talking in a secret cypher to betray his position? No, that wasn't it. Jimmy had a good idea who the traitor was and couldn't see Chloe in league with him. It seemed more likely she was relaying a report back to Hoaglie about their narrow escape, but he wasn't sure.

"Oh, you're up," said Chloe suddenly as she turned to face Jimmy. "How was your rest?"

The young blade was surprised she could see him, since he was 'supposedly' well hidden, but breathed a sigh of relief when she was scanning in his direction rather than looking at him directly. Did he trip a seal? Was he too loud? Perhaps it was his scent?

Before he could guess, Chloe turned to her right to some unseen patch of air, spoke something in that strange tongue she was conversing with earlier, and then laughed merrily, before waving good bye to some invisible thing. Jimmy was trained to spot hidden objects, especially those of demonic taint, but was troubled when he could not spot whatever she was talking to.

Though Jimmy was undecided if he was surrounded or if Chloe was crazy, he stood up anyway, giving away his position. It was out of character for him, but she trusted the girl and waited to see what would happen next.

"They asked if I had claimed you. Made you mine, " chuckled Chloe as she skipped her way to him. "I told them you were too old, and they were welcomed to have you if they liked."

"Who?" asked Jimmy as he scanned the field. He saw nothing out of the ordinary and that troubled him greatly. He hated it when he was at a disadvantage.

"Eh? The pixies and sprites. Mischievous little buggers. They're kinda small, and hard to see unless you know what you're looking for," explained Chloe as she began to brush the wild flowers out of her hair.

"They made me a dress and braided my hair," she added as she twirled about for him to inspect. "Now I'm like a folksy country gal."

Jimmy kept one eye on her, while the other scanned the field for these tiny fey. He didn't spot any while he blankly nodded in approval at Chloe. Jimmy simply did not feel safe, until they made their way out of the open and back into the grove.

"Okay now what?" asked Chloe as she finished removing the flowers. She also did a little trick where she was able to shorten the length of her hair without cutting it, but Jimmy guessed it was some weird druid trait.

"First off, thank you for saving my life," said Jimmy as he awkwardly bowed to her. While he had been in court many times in the past, he wasn't sure about the proper way to show respect to the young girl.

"Aww, that was nothing," blushed Chloe. "Just doing my part. I hope I didn't go too crazy when I was doing that loony 'Chloeverine' thing, but I thought it might sow panic or at least confused them."

Jimmy nodded as he retrieved the short green staff that Hoaglie gave him. "Secondly, I release you from whatever hold that dwarf has hold on you," he said as he threw her Hoaglie's control stick. "You're free to go now."

Chloe looked in confusion as she simply stepped back as the stick landed in front of her. "Eh? What are you talking about?"

"The stick. Hoaglie's control staff or whatever it is that he keeps you under his control. I was never big on slavery, whether it be human trafficking, enchantment spells, or even demonic binding and thaumaturgy. It just feels dirty in my opinion, though in most cases it's out of my hands. However in this instance I do have some control over the situation. I was going to release you after we reached the Academy since Hoaglie wanted you along. Seeing how the mission has now gone sideways and I prefer working alone when things get tough, I've decided to free you now. I'll say I lost the staff during the battle against Ulfgar. That's plausible enough for that greasy little dwarf."

Chloe raised an eyebrow and looked at him suspiciously. "I don't think you undertand the situation."

Jimmy scratched his head. "You're probably correct, but I understand it enough. Does he have some type of tracking spell on you? A geas perhaps? I'm not a mage, but I can dispel it if you want. I have ...certain means at my disposal. Or at the very least I can give you a head start against the Teamster hounds. Myself included I guess heh."

Chloe gave him another puzzled look, before stooping down and picking up the green stick. She then walked over to Jimmy and shoved it snugly between his belt. "You keep that. Hoaglie gave it to you, not me. "

"Eh? I don't understand."

Chloe chuckled. "Apparently not. Let's just say, I work for that 'greasy' dwarf voluntarily. Pixies and Sprites are cute, but I'm a city gal at heart. As you know, you can't make a splash if you don't have a cash so that leads me to my line of work. But its all good, give me the bright lights and the big city any day. That green ole bumpkin stick is tied to me, but not in the way you think. "

Jimmy glanced at the stick, and saw how fresh shoots and leaves grew where she touched it. "How does it work then?"

"Mind your own business," she sniffed as she raised her chin acting all insulted.

"Please?"

"Oh, all right," sighed Chloe after a short delay. Jimmy was surprised she capitulated so easily, but from his past dealings with her, he guessed she wasn't the type that was big on keeping secrets. "I might not the world's most knowledgeable dryad but I do know a couple things from mom."

"You knew your mother?" asked Jimmy surprised, as he recalled the tragic story of the Dryad of Blackstone.

"Yes, and no," shrugged Chloe. "I grew from a seed after she died. I've never met her personally, but I have access to her memories. "

"How's that possible? Do you have a communal mind or something?" asked Jimmy in surprise.

"Something like that. I think racial memory is a more accurate description. It's hard to explain, but it's like taking a peak into your mother's and a hundred other generations of your ancestors' diaries. Yes, that's about right. It's like reading a book about your past. There's some interesting stuff if I dig deep enough, but most of it is pretty boring and I feel detached from. I can recall their thoughts and knowledge, but I don't really have a grasp on their inflections and emotions."

"That's …that's really strange," said Jimmy. Though he had battled over a hundred variety of demons he had never encountered anything like this before.

"Aye. It's really weird when I know how much my mother loved my father, but I don't really experience the full depths of her feelings," shrugged Chloe.

"Anyways, I'm not exactly sure the proper magical terminology, but that stick is a part of me. I need it, and it needs me. Normally a dryad is tied to a whole friggin tree, or even a forest but since my particular forest is gone, all I have is that stick. I don't need to keep it next to me or anything like that, but I do need to have it close every once in a while. It's like how vampires are tied to their coffins I guess or mermaids are tied to their magical sea shells."

Jimmy was about to correct her on both her examples but decided to let it pass. "So why do I need to carry it, why don't you carry it?"

"Well, for one thing, I would probably lose it," grinned Chloe. "I'd probably misplace it, it would take root, then I would be stuck somewhere till I get Hoaglie to hire a wizard to extract it or something. But seriously, it's just a precaution. It's hard to explain, but let's just say it works out best if we're not always together."

Jimmy nodded he wasn't going to press the point since Chloe herself seemed not to know the answer." Alright, I guess I'm stuck with you till this over then, which means we need to take an assessment of the situation and plot a plan of action."

Chloe gave hopped on a tree stump, trying her best to look attentive as she gave him a thumbs up.

"First off, we were betrayed and Hoaglie needs to know," explained Jimmy. "Unfortunately whoever ratted us out will probably be waiting for us to return."

Chloe shrugged. "That's fine, I'll just send a sparrow messenger to the boss and explain our situation. He'll extradite us back quick. This whole sword business is too much trouble then its worth."

Jimmy shook his head. "We are currently shielded from divinations, but they'll be watching for a messenger or sending spell, and probably have a contingency spell to intercept it. Once they do that they can narrow down our location. We'd be better footing it back home, but they'll probably be expecting that too, and have more mundane methods to keep an eye out for us."

Chloe rolled her eyes."They can try to stop us, but I doubt they can. The woods aren't my thing, but as you can see, I'm the frigging queen of the trees here. I'm big boss in this domain. Numero uno, alpha predator, top of the food chain. I mean, just look at me," she said and spun around again to emphasis her point and show off her pixie dress.

Jimmy grinned. "Yes you are, which is why we won't be heading home north, but we'll be striking out on our original mission south. We'll do what they won't expect."

"Eh? They wouldn't expect it, because it would be stupid," said Chloe. "They got us beat. Let's give them this round and regroup while we still have that stupid sword of theirs. That's the safest thing to do."

Jimmy shook his head again. "No, it's because of this sword that we should head south. I mean just think about it. They infiltrated the 'guild', destroyed a smuggling barge and pretty much all hands on deck, and even assembled a team of crazy killers to get this blade back. Not to mention all the effort they spent just to get this sword in the first place before we managed to grab it from under them. They want this sword whatever it is, and they want it bad, which means it's extremely valuable. Maybe not to us, but definitely to them. Knowing Ulfy, he's going to redouble his efforts once he realizes our deception. If they want it that badly, then I think we owe it to them to find out how much this is worth exactly and charge them a suitable a pretty coin for our trouble."

"Now you're talking," clapped Chloe. "Wait. Ulfly? Who's that?"

"Ulfgar," explained Jimmy. "The guy on the bat that attacked us. An old comrade of mine. A dangerous warrior mage of the north from the ranks of the Lion. If he's involved you know this is more than just a race to cash in on stolen property."

"Heh, an old friend of yours I see. Just like your lost princess?" smiled Chloe.

Jimmy ignored her question and began brushing away the leaves and twigs from the ground. After clearing a sufficient area, he began to draw a map of the coast. "By my guess, we're roughly here. About two thirds of the way to Grom City in the dangerous region known as the Shattered Mountains. There are some military forts further in the mountains near the caravan passes, but they'll be expecting us to head that way regardless if we go north or south. "

Chloe looked at the map, and pointed a bit further south to Jimmy's mark. "We're actually closer to half way there. The pixies told me so."

Jimmy frowned at being corrected, but welcomed the news. "Alright, this makes it a bit easier then. While there aren't any proper human settlements along the coast, that doesn't mean this place is uninhabited. My old ..teacher.. showed me a few hidden orc forts, tiefling enclaves, and as you can guess, smuggling dens that are hidden here. We can seek shelter and supply from them as I work our way to Grom City."

"Orcs? Tieflings? " gulped Chloe nervously.

Through judging her recent show of power, Chloe should be able to handle herself, however the reputations of the two former races gave the young girl pause. People often jest that orcs win a lot of battles but few wars, that didn't mean they were pushovers. In fact, of the humanoid races, Jimmy thought of them as the toughest of the lot. Bigger than goblins and hobgoblins, fiercer than gnolls, able to punt ten kobolds with a single kick an orc was not to be trifled with. With their ability to fly into a berserker rage when pushed, an orc can easily bring down a much larger and powerful foe if it landed a lucky hit with their great axes, and given their sheer numbers and fearlessness, the chances of that were good. The ones that lived in the Shattered mountains weren't as big as their wilder brethren to the south, but they were big enough, and have enough wits and cunning about them to make them twice as dangerous.

Tieflings on the other hand were just plain weird. Because of their demonic heritage, Jimmy had plenty of run-ins with them in his past profession, but oddly enough the young blade never judged or looked down on them. These bizarre twisted half demons were often shunned more because of their looks than any evil intent on their part, and Jimmy could guess why a number of them turn to the dark arts. They were in the minority, but there were enough of them to propagate their vicious circle. If enough people call you a monster and treat you like one, chances are you will eventually act like one, thus inspiring another generation of hatred, and thus spawning more demon worshipping Tieflings. Still, he had met many that broke that stereotype. Often they took pains to hide their heritage, but Jimmy didn't blame them. Most people consider them deceitful or cowardly when they hide their true nature, but Jimmy would probably do the same if the alternative was being chased out of town by an angry mob. Unlike the portly but heroic Half elves or beautiful angelic Aasimar, Tieflings often inspire revulsion in people when they realize what they were, with a few notable exceptions of course. One of the bravest and oddly enough, most beautiful people Jimmy has ever met was a tiefling.

"Are you alright?" asked Chloe. "You were kinda looking into empty space for a few second there."

Jimmy nodded as he recovered from his nostalgia. "Just thinking about an old friend," he sighed as he turned his attention back to his crude map. "Anyways, we'll lay low for a few more days. When the danger has passed, we'll strike out for one of the 'settlements' around here to resupply before striking out again for Grom City. We'll play it by ear from here till we leave the mountains. Ulfgar might still have some scouts combing the area for us, and given his aerial advantage, we should lay low."

"There's no griffons or giant bats in the area, we can move out right away if you want," declared Chloe smugly.

"Eh? How can you be sure?"

"The pixies told me."

"Oh… then I guess we should get going before we wear out welcome with them," smiled Jimmy as he made his way out of the grove. Chloe returned his grin as she hopped off her stump and followed.

"So….is this going to take a while?" asked the dryad.

"A week, five days if the weather cooperates and we don't get attacked," shrugged the young blade.

"So…. Since I told you about Dryads….do you want to tell me about your princess?"

Jimmy considered simply ignoring her, but it was hard when he looked into her big pleading green eyes and when he considered her actions had just saved him. "Alright, what do you want to know," he conceded. "I told you about our first kiss, do you want to know how we met?"

"No way, tell me about when you first made out….give Chloe here some nasty details! I've earned it!"

Jimmy closed his eyes and conjured up the image in his head. Instead of cringing at the details he found himself smiling. "There was a light breeze. The sun was setting. I was with her in the mango grove…"