"This looks stupid," grumbled Bey Javindar to no one in particular. Though he was supposed to give the impression of a frogman counter attack, dressed in his Ghatian armor, face and arms smeared in mud, armed with Whelp's foreign crossbow, and wearing a soggy frog helmet he scrounged off a bullywug corpse, the Prince was sure he would confuse any enemy that spotted him.

"Even the grandest machine has the smallest parts. Even the grandest machine has the smallest parts," repeated the Prince. It was an old saying his father, a Ghatian hero without peer, used to calm the young prince down when he was frustrated with a lesson. He often interpreted as an analogy of how important the different branches of the military were and how even the unglamorous positions were needed, but as he squatted behind some bushes in the steaming jungle in his ridiculous get up, he wondered if it was simply a lesson about humility.

As Javindar suffered in shame in the jungle, he watched the Khanians. There were two dozen, maybe thirty of the Horse lords in their distinctive lamellar armor. They were overseeing five groups of slaves of roughly ten each. They had attached each group of slaves' necks to several long chains and begin yanking them on to their longships, approximately ten at a time. Though most of their prisoners were frogmen, the Bey did spot some half naked humans amongst the captives, a tan, very athletic, dark skinned people that were a bit on the short side. He didn't recall Wissam mentioning any human settlements on this island, but assumed they were simply located in a more remote location than the Captain had explored.

"Hurry up Whelp, give me the signal," whispered Javindar as he took aim with her crossbow. While the legions of Vinraj seldom employed these foreign weapons, Javindar had at least practiced on one as a child. It had been a gift from a Thyatian noble trying to win his father's favor. While it was a crude and mechanical device that could never rival 'Red Flight', Javindar had played enough with it as a child to become proficient enough with its use.

As Javindar watched with the crossbow aimed at the Khanians, one of the human slaves lost her footing and fell on the sand. A Horse lord fell upon her with a triple barbed whip, flaying her mercilessly as she struggled to get up. A frogman hopped to her defence attempting to shield the woman, but was yanked out of the way by his neck chain, resulting in the whip wielding taskmaster to simply alternate between the two victims.

Javindar's blood boiled at the sight. Why were they Khanians here? Was this a misunderstanding? Maybe their captives were criminals? He had doubts about shooting the Khanians before, but such reservations vanished at this cruel display. He'll deliver Puranas' wrath, and then sort this out later.

Just as Javindar's patience wore thin, the Bey spotted a flash of metal briefly in the jungle on the far side of the beach. Whelp was in position, and it couldn't come at a better time.

Taking a deep breath, Javindar drew aim on the whip wielding Khanian and fired. The bolt sailed high, arcing over his target and nearly struck a prisoner.

Javindar cursed himself as he reloaded, the shot had a larger recoil than he expected, but his missed shot had the desired effect. As one, the Horse lord warriors paused and stared at the bolt, and they all began to rapidly scan the surrounding jungle. Javindar took advantage of their break, and fired again this time adjusting for the kick back, striking one of the warriors square in the shoulder, spinning and knocking him off his feet.

Javindar blinked and was impressed with Whelp's weapon. Though superficially it was similar to the version he used as a boy, it was clearly more powerful while still requiring the same time to load. As he prepared to fire a third shot, the Khanians had an idea of his general direction, and those with shields brought them to bear towards him while those with bows nocked their arrows.

Javindar smiled, as he aimed low and pierced a warrior's foot. The man hopped up in pain, but quickly lost his balance and fell to the sand in pain. The Khanians did not lose morale and were quick to retaliate. The shield bearers began to race towards him while the archers fired a volley towards the Prince. Though he and Whelp had prepared a quick makeshift blind for cover and concealment, Javindar was surprised at how accurate the Horselords' bows were. Most struck his blind squarely while two penetrated the crude defenses and came close to striking him directly.

Between the archers and the advancing swordsmen, Javindar knew that his position was compromised. He quickly scrambled back and made his way deeper into the jungle with the Khanians in pursuit. As he crashed his way through the jungle, he could make out cries from his pursuers. He smiled as he roughly translated 'giant bullywug' and 'chieftain archer' from what little words of their speech he could understand. While he never doubted the accuracy of the Khanian bow, his erratic movements combined with the jungle foliage, easily spoiled their aim as he made it to a small clearing with another makeshift blind awaiting him.

The Prince quickly took cover in his new position and readied his crossbow. He didn't wait long as a big Khanian crashed through the underbrush, just to catch a bolt in the throat. The big man dropped his weapon and grasped at his neck, even as three of his fellows pushed him to the side and charged directly at Javindar. The prince hoped his cover would confuse them for a little while longer, giving him a second or a third shot, but this suited him just fine.

With the enemy almost upon him, Javindar dropped the crossbow before he broke through his own cover with scimitar in hand and fell upon his attackers. The Khanians paused at the sight of him, an armored warrior adorned with scavenged feathers from the village. Javindar thought the extra touch was a bit silly, but Whelp insisted it would confuse the enemy. Given the surprised looks on his foes, Javindar noted to thank his companion later.

The first Horselord quickly fell to Javindar's blade, too shocked to defend himself as the Bey sidestepped around the man's shield and sliced up and through his lightly protected armpit. As the first man fell, the next warrior was a bit cautious, and was able to bring his shield up in time to deflect Javindar's strike even as his fellows split up and attempted to flank behind him. Javindar anticipated this and took advantage of their cautiousness. He feigned another strike towards the man in front of him before turning on his heels and furiously lashing against the furthest man behind him. This maneuver seemed to catch all three of his foes off guard, as Javindar's scimitar slammed into the man's chest, while the other two were too far away to counter attack.

While Javindar expected the strike to simply knock down his foe, he was surprised as the blade sliced through his lamellar chest piece and almost out his back. Panic briefly gripped him, as he expected his blade to be stuck in his opponent, but again to his surprise the weapon easily slipped out of the wound. Before Javindar could marvel at his blade, his opponents were upon him. His feint had caught them off guard, but with his tricks exhausted, his two remaining foes hammered away at him methodically.

Though the Khanian saber was a roughly half a foot longer than his scimitar, the Prince's height evened out their reach advantage. He also saw the pair sweat profusely under the jungle heat and the weight of their armor, and gave a silent thanks to Nahbob and his enchantment. Still, with one seasoned warrior before him, and another pushing his flank, Javindar knew it would be a matter of time before they caught him. Ignoring the dangers of the situation, the Prince pressed forward at his opponent before him with no regard with the one behind him. He exchanged furious blows and parries with his veteran opponent, resulting in a shower of metal sparks but little damage was done. His foe simply took a defensive stance and fell back and gave ground even as his partner pressed his advantage and struck at Javindar's back.

The Prince trusted his armor, but the Khanian blade easily pierced his side, drawing blood and cutting at his ribs. The warrior before him sensed that the tide of battle was turning and quickly pounced on the injured Prince, but Javindar would not fall so easily. Instead of retreating from his flurry, he stepped into them. The surprised Khanian managed a strike at Javindar's leg, but the awkward range and his armored greave turned away the blow. The Prince in turn endured the strike, and smashed the pommel of his scimitar into the man's skull. The Khanian helmet turned aside the brunt of the attack, but it stunned him long enough for Javindar to grab him by the shoulder and slam him into the ground. Wheeling around once more, Javindar drove his blade downwards into the base of the prone man's spine before attempting a feeble parry against the remaining Horse lord's saber with his gauntlet.

While the Bey dispatched the lead attacker, the flanker's weapon easily slipped past his armored glove and was rewarded with a spray of crimson from his arm. Javindar was shocked at how easy the man's weapon sliced through his armor, and reminded himself of the quality of the Khanate's weapons even as he stumbled back from his wound. The last attacker didn't seem to mind his fallen comrades and simply pressed the Bey back with another vicious exchange of saber versus scimitar.

Javindar's strength was fading against his sweaty but still uninjured foe, but he wouldn't go down so easily. He summoned forth the strength of Puranas and bathed himself in his god's holy aura. The wounds at his ribs and arm mended themselves in a soft glow, and gave the Prince renewed strength.

The flanker's eyes grew wide. "Black magic!" he shouted, before Javindar's blade snaked forward once again and sliced opened the Khanian's throat.

Before Javindar could celebrate his victory, he stopped and listened. He couldn't hear any more attackers, which meant either two things. The remaining Khanians were fools and had gotten lost in the jungle, or that his plan had failed.

Fearing for Whelp's life, Javindar scrambled back and grabbed her crossbow, before making his way back to the coast. His attack was supposed to draw them off, giving Whelp a chance to free the slaves in the confusion. He obviously drew some off the beach, but there were no sign of the others. Hopefully Whelp saw this and aborted her rescue mission, but she was a bit of a hot head. The Prince's pace hastened as the possibility of losing her ….

KRAKBOOM

Javindar raised an eyebrow as the sound of thunder echoed through the jungle. He didn't recall it being cloudy today. Was it some type of magic…..

Before he finished his thought, the jungle before him literally shattered into a cloud of splinters. Javindar was thrown back, as his arms and face were bloodied by wooden shrapenel. He quickly summoned another surge of holy energy to heal him, before another section of jungle exploded before him, though this time harmlessly roughly fifty feet to his left.

At first Javindar wasn't sure what type of magic was being used, but through the dust and still raining sand and debris, he could see puffs of smoke from the War Kaylons, followed by the thunder once again, before another section of jungle exploded off in the distance. This process repeated itself a few times as Javindar took cover. The barrages hammered the coast in a seemingly random pattern. Javindar was shocked. It appeared to be a weapon. While inaccurate, it was capable of devastating effect. When did the Khanate possess such a weapon?

The answer remained unanswered as the Prince scanned the battlefield. One of the long boats had set out to sea, full of mostly Khanians. The two other boats laid strewn on the beach, inexplicably cracked in half. What was more shocking was that an old man in yellow robes was flying high ahead, raining fire on a woman walking on water.

It didn't take long to realize who the woman was. Javindar knew Whelp could work divine magic, but was surprised she was taking the fight to the Khanians especially with their captives seemingly freed. Was there a few left on that last boat? What was more surprising to the Prince was the old man in the yellow robes. Not only did he seemingly dance in the sky, throwing spells as easily as the greatest Gurus and Mystics of Vinraj, but oddly enough he thought he knew the man.

Argar or Aurugar or something like that. The old guy used to watch over Prince Vleda and himself when they were children. A kindly old man that entertained them with an amusing magic trick up his sleeve. Javindar always knew he could work magic, but not on a level like this. The old geezer always seemed a bit distant or perhaps senile, but Javindar never considered him dangerous.

As Javindar watched, he considered calling out to his old mentor. Surely he could be reasoned with. While he wasn't sure why the Khanians were in the middle of the Sea of Dawn taking slaves, if anyone could resolve this it would be Auruger, or Argah, or whatever his name is. Just as the Prince was about to shout out to him, the old man in the yellow robes ignited the sky with lightning, and rained it down on Whelp. The warrior woman barely had enough time to conjure forth an ethereal barrier, barely shielding her as the water exploded harmlessly around her into a fine mist. While he couldn't see her directly Javindar was still shocked. He wasn't sure if the old man's magic was not as powerful as it seemed or if Whelp's magic was much greater than she led on. Regardless, watching the old man rain more lightning down on the mist below made the choice easy for him. He took aim of his crossbow and fired, striking the robed man in the midsection.

The old man stopped his barrage and stared at his wound. Javindar noticed he looked at it more in annoyance than in pain. Instead of continuing his attack against Whelp, the man flew towards Javindar, his eyes and mouth taking on a fiery red glow.

Javindar fired once again at the approaching old man, but missed miserably. While relieving Whelp was a good thing in Javindar's book, even the Prince knew that she was more capable of weathering the old man's magic than he was. His noble deed seemed like a good idea up until the point the old man breathed a cone of fire towards him.

Though Javindar couldn't directly feel the heat of the fire, he felt his skin burned and blackened under his armor. He should have been burned alive, but Javindar summoned the divine aura of Puranas once more to stave off his injuries, buying him time to retreat deeper into the jungle.

As he fled, Javindar was struck down by bolts of magic at his back. A lesser man would have been knocked flat, but Javindar simply stumbled before regaining his balance to continue his retreat. He couldn't fight the man at range, the crossbow was no match for his magic but if he somehow took the flight deeper into the jungle, force him into a melee situation, then perhaps….

Once again Javindar's thoughts were cut short as the jungle before him burst into a fiery wall. Javindar looked and saw that the wall stretched hundreds of feet in both directions, cutting off his path of escape.

"Where will you run now little frog man," said the old man in halting Khanian.

Javindar almost laughed that his ruse was still working even as he realized his end was near. Despite his rescue plan going disastrously wrong, at least he bought Whelp some time to escape and that was good enough for him. He turned to face his opponent with scimitar in hand, and was about to shout his war cry when the old man was suddenly engulfed in what appeared to be a storm of sleet. Javindar wasn't sure what was happening but he heard the familiar voice of Nahbob behind him.

"Catch sir!" his servant shouted as he threw Red Flight and a quiver of arrows into his hand.

Javindar caught his ancestral weapon, and drew what appeared to be a shark tooth tipped arrow.

"I couldn't find teeth big enough for your Khanda, but they did make decent arrows," explained Nahbob. "Err...nice frog costume."

Javindar ignored the comment. Red Flight was in his hands and it hummed with power as he unleashed arrow after arrow into the sleet storm. While he was a good enough shot with a crossbow, he was unmatched in skill with the bow. Though the old man was obscured, Javindar found his mark as a monstrous ear splitting roar erupted from the cloud.

Javindar and Nahbob stopped and stared at each other, unsure of what magic the old man was about to summon. Instead of facing a renewed magical assault, they caught a glimpse of the old man fleeing the sleet storm, racing back to the ship with his yellow arrow pierced robes stained red. Javindar stared at his bow, barely believing the old man survived his deadly arrows.

"There's three War Kaylons near the coast here, they've taken slaves," began Javindar as he caught his breath.

Nahbob nodded. "I know sir. I came to investigate when I heard the first round of thunder. I saw the last part of the battle, but I'm afraid it's not over yet. "

Javindar nodded. "Of course not. Whelp is still out there. We have to double back and…"

Before Javindar could continue, Nahbob grabbed his armed and intoned a spell. While Javindar could have attempted to resist the spell, it was natural for him to simply accept his servant's magic. He wasn't prepared when a door opened up before him, sucking the pair of them through and onto the deck of the Mermaid's tail.

Though the ship didn't appear to be fully repaired, it was patched up enough and in the water. Wissam nodded at Nahbob and shouted orders at his crew.

"Set sail for Grom City!" boomed the big Captain.

"When we heard the unnatural sounds and saw the smoke the Captain decided to set sail right away," explained Nahbob. "I was just fortunate to find you before he left the bay."

"Whelp is back there! We can't leave her!"

"Don't tell me what I can or can't do on my ship Prince, or you'll be tossed overboard! " said the Captain sternly before Nahbob intervened.

"There are three hostile War Kaylons nearby with a mage of exceptional power and weapons that I've only heard rumors about. We cannot engage them directly. As for Whelp, I saw her walk on water while fighting that mage. She's resourceful and powerful enough to escape and rendezvous with us if she keeps her head."

Javindar shook his head. "I won't leave her behind, I'm going back with or without you," he said as he prepared to hop overboard before the ship was too far out to sea.

Nahbob looked into his master's face with pleading teary eyes. "Sir, think of your quest. Holy Sampada and all of Vinraj depends on you. You can't throw it away for Whelp…even if you love her."

Javindar wasn't sure if it was the reminder to his duty, or Nahbob's acceptance of his feelings for Whelp that kept him on the boat.

"Wh..What about the location of the scroll. Only Whelp knows where it is."

Nahbob stifled a sniff as he shook his head. "She trusted me and told me its location or more accurately the identity of its current owner after our run in with the sea serpent. That was too close of a call, and even she knew the importance of the mission. She…she would want us to continue as well."

Javindar let the words sink in and his heart gripped tightly. He knew Nahbob was right as usual, but that didn't help. He simply took his leave from the deck of the Mermaid's tail and made his way to his cabin, before collapsing on his bed in exhaustion and sorrow.