Once again another chapter detailing the lives, of Kyle, Lyn and all of their friends! I know that my chapters have been kinda long, but you guys should send a review my way and tell me how I'm doing! I love to get those ya know? Yeah and here goes the random generic disclaimer yada, yada, yada... Enjoy!

The sun finally dawned again upon the land, and within the fortress Kyle knew that soon his companions would be stirring. He plucked again at one of the strings on his lyre and listened intently as the sad note reverberated off the mountains far in the distance. He smiled as he heard someone approaching.

"By the sound of the heavy boots I'd say that you are either Jaron, or you are Kent."

The silence immediately alerted the identity of the man to Kyle. The young man leapt down to the ground still holding his lyre and landed in front of the mysterious walker. Jaron all ready to go stood in full armor. The amethyst of his breastplate and spaulders glittered in the sun, and made Kyle squint. His sword was at his side, and his saddle was in his hand.

"Where are you going?" Kyle asked squinting.

Jaron didn't respond to the question, he only stared back with an intimidating scowl. Then the knight stepped around Kyle, walked over to his horse, and prepared his horse for departure. It took him only minutes to do so, and he was soon saddled, gear strapped, and completely ready to go. Then the amethyst knight turned to Jaron, walked over to him, embraced him in a hug to say goodbye and then handed Kyle a note.

"Listen to me," he said. "No matter what happens make sure that Lyndis arrives safely in Caelin." Jaron's gaze intensified. "You've got to promise me!"

Kyle nodded. He knew that Jaron was having some slight problems lately. His faith as a knight had been shaken ever so slightly since he had first met Lyn. No doubt he was going on a holy journey to purify himself…or something that a knight who'd lost his faith would do.

"Inside that slip of paper I handed you is where I'm going and why. No doubt however that you've already figured out why I'm leaving… I just wanted you to know where I was going… You've been a very good friend…I just can't stay around Lyndis anymore. I thought myself a noble man whose mind no thoughts would foul…but I was wrong… I've had horribly lusty thoughts of late and…I just can't stay here any longer."

Kyle put his hand on Jaron's shoulder and an understanding developed between them. Kyle didn't have to say anything to convey what he wanted to say to Jaron.

"I understand…" Jaron said after five minutes. "I know what you want to say, and how you were going to say it."

Kyle nodded. "Thank you for sticking with us this far. I know you think you've done some wrong, but you haven't. I've also had some…less than savory thoughts about Lyn, but I've managed to suppress them."

Jaron nodded. "I understand. But I am a knight. I was trained that if you had thought like that then you must leave your company."

Kyle rolled his eyes. "Oh please. You can't believe that all of you knights were raised with that nonsense stuffed in their brains. I mean for the love of god look at Sain!"

Jaron nodded. "Yes, not all of us kept them that tightly in our mind, however I always have and find it very disturbing that I could falter thus." With his mind said Jaron hopped up onto the saddle and made sure that it wouldn't slide off.

"One thing," Kyle said. Jaron looked down at him as the young man pulled the dragon shaped pin out of his pocket and handed it up. "Do you have any idea what it is?"

Jaron took the trinket, stared at it for a few minutes and then handing it back shook his head. "No, I apologize. The only thing that I can guess is that it is an artifact from before the scouring. You'd think that something like this would be thousands of years old…" But Jaron shrugged. "Well at any rate it's no business of mine. It is a wonderful little jewel though. I've heard that the people used the dragonstones of manakete that they found after the scouring and made them into jewelry much like that."

Kyle stared up with a blank expression. "Manakete?" he asked.

Jaron nodded, but seeing how the sun was rising quickly told Kyle to ask maybe Kent or Sain, or even Lyndis. "The nomads of Sacae have some of the longest recorded history so she might know a little more of the manakete…or mamkutes as they were also called."

Kyle thanked Jaron for the advice, bade him farewell, and then watched as the young man rode away. Kyle stood in the shadow of the rising sun, and then suddenly remembered the small note that Jaron had placed in his hand.

It was a piece of paper that had been folded around six times so it looked like a tiny square. Kyle began the rather frustrating task of opening the note. When finally he'd gotten it all completely undone Kyle placed his eyes on what seemed to be a key part of the note. Then after getting a feel for what was truly going on he read the whole thing.

"Dear, Kyle," the young man read aloud. "No doubt you caught me leaving because you were already up. Congratulations and why are you always up so early in the morning?! It doesn't really matter. All that truly is important is that I impart to you the exact details of my departure. You see, I was once the son of a powerful lord of Lycia. He was gifted a fife from the old king. Our fife was taken over by Laus, and my family was left to die with the peasants.

However my parents made their way to Caelin where they left me in the care of their good friend Marquess Hausen. Once there they departed for lands unknown. I was only about five at the time and yet I remember as clear as day, and so thus I'm going to find where my parents went and why.

You friend,

Jaron Paraos"

Kyle shook his head. It was horrible that now they'd be down by one person but…Jaron had done what he had deemed right, and Kyle had no business getting in his way. Then Kyle turned back toward the fortress that seemed to loom only a few feet away.

The dawn was breaking slightly now, and though Jaron had left but a few short seconds ago Kyle was sure that his friend was regretting the decision. As he walked back to the fortress door Kyle was quite sure that Lyn, and the rest would have questions as to exactly where Jaron was.

Sure enough as he walked through the main entrance to the fort Lyn suddenly appeared and asked, "Where's Jaron? I saw that his bedroll was gone, as well as his saddle, and food."

Kyle responded simply, "He left."

Lyn cocked her head to the left. "What? What do you mean he left?"

Kyle quickly , "He left. He packed up his stuff quickly." Kyle would say no more and before Lyn could ask another question Kyle had walked away further into the fortress. Kyle was also beginning to become afraid of Lyn, for the same reason that Jaron had become scared of her. Kyle was afraid that he was falling in love.

Inside of the fortress the air was heavy with moisture yet, cold as if someone had awoken from a nightmare. Kyle made his way through the fortress and began to wake everyone up. He noticed Kent and Sain in their bedrolls. Kent was slumbering peacefully while Sain was cuddling up to his pillow.

Kyle stretched his foot out behind him and gave a sharp and merciless kick to Sain's side. The knight awoke groaning and half-opening his eyes. As the man stared up at Kyle with an almost glass-eyed look Kyle glared back.

"Oh…good morning Kyle!" Sain managed to say between a yawn.

"Get your ass up!" Kyle said rather harshly. "I wanna get moving fast."

Sain got slowly to his feet, and tapped Kent to wake up his friend. The other knight glanced at his partner for a moment and then seeing Kyle's death stare got out of his bed and began to put his boots on. Their breastplates sat off to the left and were resting against their bags. Kyle picked the two pieces of armor up and dropped them in front of the two knights.

"Get into these, pack, and come see me when you're done." Kyle's voice was harsh, angry, and impatient. Neither of the two knights had seen this side of him before and it was more than slightly intimidating.

When Kyle got into the back room of the fortress he noticed Wil sleeping in one corner, Florina sleeping in another and Lyn's bedroll in the center of the whole room. Kyle walked over and tapped Wil on the shoulder. The young archer blinked, looked up and muttered a good morning.

"Get up," Kyle said not as harshly as before. "Pack up your stuff and get dressed."

Then Kyle made his way over to where Lyn's bedroll was. He rolled it up, tied it into the knot that would hold it and walked over to Florina. Kyle tapped her lightly on the shoulder. The young Pegasus knight woke with a fright and stared with wide eyes at Kyle.

"Come on," Kyle said in a gentle voice. "You've got to get up. We're getting ready to move out." Yet the girl didn't move.

"Did you hear me?" Kyle asked.

Florina nodded.

"Then get up!" Kyle said a little louder.

"I… Need you both to leave… I need to get dressed." Kyle looked by Florina's bag and sure enough there were her clothes in a neat little pile.

Kyle shrugged, noticed that Wil was dressed and packed, and beckoned his companion out the door. Wil picked up his bedroll, quiver, and bow and followed Kyle out of the central area.

The two knights were walking outside with their travel gear in hand smiling and laughing to each other. Lyn was busying herself with trying to gather the last of the firewood. Wil walked outside and settled himself on the horse that he'd been using to travel around.

The moment Wil had left however Lyn suddenly stood dropping the wood. She walked up to Kyle and said in an almost inaudible whisper, "Kyle I need to talk to you."

Kyle froze on the spot. He waited for Lyn to continue speaking. But when he was sure that she'd found another task to do he began to walk out the door. Lyn however grabbed him by the back of his shirt and pulled him into the fortress. She waited as Florina walked past them holding onto her gear and saddle.

Then she began to speak. "Alright listen… I haven't told anyone else this, but I'm afraid for my grandfather. If he's down there with an evil granduncle who's determined to kill me and have the throne then no doubt he's doing something to my grandfather. I'm afraid of poison…and of imprisonment…" She shook for a few minutes and then turned her head to Kyle with an imploring gaze. "Tell me… Do you think that we have any hope of reaching him in time? I've not told anyone else of my fears…and they're eating me up inside."

Kyle scratched his chin not entirely certain how to answer the question but he nodded his head and replied, "Yes. I'm completely sure that your grandfather shall hold out until we make it to him. If your granduncle is indeed using unscrupulous means to try and take the throne of Caelin, then myself and your other friends shall help you to kill him, if it should come to that."

Lyn smiled widely, but still had tears in her eyes. "Thank you Kyle… You've been there for me, you know that?"

Kyle shrugged. "I'm just a soldier. You're the leader. You're the one that has the real power here."

But Lyn shook her head. "No Kyle. I mean that ever since we started this whole adventure you've been here by my side. You let me go with you. You convinced me that I should leave home in the first place. This has all happened because of you."

Kyle stood for a moment in the awkward silence and then quickly said, "Uh, I think that they want us to hurry up. We should go." Then he ran outside and mounted the horse that he was using for travel.

When Lyn walked outside Sain quickly looked around counting horses and people on them then finally said, "Lady Lyndis has no horse! Hers must have gotten lose last night!"

"No," Lyn said with a sad voice. "I didn't want to risk him getting hurt, and so I let him go last night. I'll just ride with Kyle here."

Kyle, who hadn't been paying attention until that point, was about to protest until he felt Lyn's hands around his stomach and felt her breath on the nape of his neck. Then Kyle knew that already it was too late to try and argue and so with a sigh and with his cheeks turning red, he snapped the rains and urged his horse forward. As they rode on however Dorcas caught up with them.

The group traveled long until the sun had sunken almost below the mountains again. Lyn had suggested that they stop for the night and everyone agreed with her. Kyle agreed almost sadly, because they'd not made the distance he'd wanted to, but he didn't want to really argue with Lyn. So the group had set up camp only a few miles from their target destination.

The tents, bedrolls, and fire had all been set up and everything was ready, when suddenly Lyn announced that she and Florina were going to take baths. The moment that the two disappeared Sain got to his feet and said that he was going off to get firewood. Kyle always suspicious of Sain, and his lust-filled habits left after and wandered around the woods for a little bit. When he finally found Sain, the knight was behind a bush, a pile of sticks near his leg, and peaking through a bush.

"Sain!" Kyle cried. The knight jumped and saluted, but quickly went to ease when he saw that it was only Kyle.

"What are you doing?" Kyle asked. Sain put a finger to his lips signifying to be quiet and then pointed through the bushes with a smile. Kyle walked forward sat down beside Sain and looked through the same bush. On the other side, Lyn and Florina had been preparing to get out of the water. Before they did however Kyle stopped looking and turned to Sain. In a whisper he began to yell at the knight.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Kyle screamed in a whisper.

"Be quiet!" Sain said. "They'll hear us!"

Kyle got to his feet. "I'd rather have them hear!" he screamed. "I'd rather someone found out what you're doing!!"

"Kyle?" Lyn asked shocked. "What were you doing back there?"

Kyle looked down for Sain but saw that the knight wasn't there. He had no choice but to admit the truth.

"Sain had gone looking for firewood after you two left. I didn't really trust him so I followed I found him here looking through the bush. I had no idea what he was doing so I looked through for a moment, to see what was going on. I was disgusted with him when I saw what was going on. I mean spying on someone is just rude. I am sorry that I peaked on you two even for a minute," Kyle said while facing his back to them.

"You can turn around now. We're halfway decent," Lyn said with some slight annoyance in her voice.

But as he was halfway around suddenly Florina cried, "No! Please don't turn around!"

So Kyle faced the other way. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry I didn't mean to offend."

Lyn was laughing. "You didn't offend. Florina is just very timid and shy around men remember?"

Kyle nodded and then quickly walked off. He didn't want Lyn to scold him for being there even though he was quite sure that she understood the situation. He wasn't sure if Florina would demand some kind of apology, and if so Kyle was prepared for that.

As Kyle came back into the clearing that the group had set up camp in it was getting even darker than it had been when he'd left. Sain was seated upon a small rock that he'd carried toward the fire that had been made. Kent was sitting on a log, and Wil was simply sitting on the ground. But when he saw Kyle coming Wil got to his feet, walked over, and patted Kyle on the back.

"Well done!" the archer said smiling. "I can't believe that you actually went peaking on Lyn and Florina! Well? How'd they look?"

Kyle immediately met Wil's smile with a stern glare. "Let me make this clear. I didn't go peaking on them. You can thank your friend Sain for that one. It just happened that he was doing the peaking and when I got there I was completely disgusted by his behavior that I stood up and was caught." Kyle then turned his attention to Sain. "YOU left me there to be caught and take the blame for peaking. You are no knight."

"What are you talking about?" Sain asked. "I passed the training! I am a..."

But quickly Kyle retorted. "YOU ARE NO KNIGHT!! A knight is a man, and a man stays and takes responsibility for his mistakes. You fled and left me to take the responsibility for both of us."

Sain was immediately silenced and Kyle stalked off. When Lyn and Florina came back from their bath in the lake Kyle immediately turned the other way and when they walked by him and rejoined their friends he did so again.

So the rest of the night was mostly uneventful. Sain and Wil had a few contests to see who the better man was, and neither would take a loss so the contests kept going on for a while. Kyle got to his feet when the sun had sank low behind the mountains and made a lavish dinner overtop of a roaring fire. Then he took a meager chunk out of a loaf of bread, took a drink of water and went to bed while the others enjoyed their meal.

Early in the morning just before the sun was rising Kyle awoke to find himself in a field…or at least a part of the forest that had been cleared. The trees had enormous gashes in them as if a bear ten times the size of a normal animal had mauled them. There were also scorch marks upon some grass on the edges and many of the flowers had been reduced to cinders.

As he made his way back Kyle was in a daze. He felt as though he'd just awakened from one of his nightmares except this time, it had been in real life… How had that happened?! Or more importantly what had happened? He wandered past the trees with all their numerous claw marks, past the blades of grass that were slightly burnt, beyond the rocks that seemed to have been bitten in two.

When finally he came into the clearing where the campsite that he'd left had been he noticed everyone shivering around a morning fire. Wil, Florina, Lyn, Sain, Kent, and Dorcas were all gathered around a small campfire huddled together and shivering slightly. When he walked in everyone seemed surprised to see him. Seeing how everyone was on one side of the fire taking up the giant log that had been placed Kyle dragged a rock over and sat down on it instead.

"What's going on here?" Kyle asked confused and a little tired.

Lyn looked up at him, smiled and said, "Didn't you hear them last night?"

Kyle scratched his chin for a few seconds and said, "Them? Them… Nope don't remember any sounds last night. The only thing that I know of is this morning when I woke up I had this horrible ringing sound in my head. It was a loud roar, and I thought it was pretty weird that I woke up hearing that."

"I'm surprised that you're still alive after last night!" Lyn said.

Kyle stared at her. "What do you mean?"

Lyn sighed. "Late last night there was an enormous roar. I woke up to see what it was, and I saw from where you were sleeping a dragon! It looked like it was holding something and when I went to look your bedroll was missing. I was so worried that you'd been eaten last night! I woke everyone immediately and we've been waiting for you to return. We packed up everything so just in case we had to ride on we could." She paused for a moment before going on. "Unfortunately we were unable to salvage your tent. It was torn beyond repair."

Everyone rose from their places around the fire and walked to their horses. Kyle walked over and looked forlornly at the remains of his tent and, realizing that nothing could be done, picked up his rucksack and went to his horse.

"Where is he to sleep tonight?" Sain asked.

"I can simply sleep in the open!" Kyle suggested.

Lyn shook her head at Kyle's plan. "No. You and I can share a tent Kyle, just like Kent and Sain."

Everyone seemed surprised at her plan, and a few, Sain especially, protested, but Lyn was quite sure that her plan had almost no flaws. So Lyndis' Legion set off once again in the direction of Caelin. The weather would most likely turn foul soon and so they all rode hard and long into the day.

About the time that the sun was going down the cadre arrived in a small border town. It had a few houses nearby, an armory and an inn far off in the distance. A nice warm and soft bed for the night would be better than the arrangements that they'd had for most of the trip and so all consented to sleep in the inn.

"The maids at this inn are said to be some of the most beautiful, and food is said to be as good as the women!"" Sain said laughing to himself.

Wil quickly added his own opinion. "I've been to this inn and if the food is as good as the women then we'll have a fine night."

Kyle looked back at Wil from his horse. "You mean you've stayed here before but haven't eaten here before?"

Wil shook his head. "No. I was more concerned with…other matters."

Kyle glared at Wil. "If you were half as good an archer as you are a womanizer, then you'd be unbeatable."

Wil smiled and shrugged before ordering his horse forward with the rest. Wil no doubt didn't really mind being called a womanizer, but didn't retort to call Kyle one. For fear maybe that Kyle would kill him and another reason could be that Wil just didn't want to.

They crossed the border and suddenly Sain shouted that they were near Araphen. It was only about three or four days away according to Kent. Kyle smiled. Soon Lyn would be in Caelin and Kyle would be done.

But as they all crossed the border a group of men ran across after them and ran ahead. Kyle immediately told Lyn seated just behind him that bandits had raced ahead and were no doubt blocking the road. Kyle, Lyn, Wil, and Dorcas jumped off their horses and prepared to fight. Florina, Sain, and Kent readied their weapons and made sure they had a good grip on the reigns of their mounts.

Suddenly as Kyle watched the movement of the bandits he noticed two other shapes emerge from the woods on the other side of a clearing. He was clueless as to who they were, but he could tell that one was a mage and the other a cleric. Kyle and Lyn both raced at the pair that had emerged.

As they neared the two watched a battle between the mage and an archer. The mage was hit by an arrow and then quickly countered by striking the archer with a fireball. The archer didn't die even though he seemed to be greatly injured.

Lyn ran to the cleric and began to speak while Kyle raced at the archer leapt over the man and lopped the bandit's head off. It landed near the mage who cringed from it as it rolled past him.

"That's why I prefer magic…" the young mage mumbled as Kyle approached. "Well friend, looks like I've got you to thank for being alive.

"My pleasure," Kyle said with some annoyance for the rather fussy and clean mage. "It's good to help people. Why don't you help us get rid of these freaks so that we can all get on our way?"

The mage smiled, allowing his slightly long purple hair to bounce and said, "Sure. Seems fine to me. I have no aversion to fighting alongside you and your friends." Kyle turned to see that the entire group was now advancing.

Kyle smiled as he turned back to the mage and the two stood there for a few moments with indifference. But suddenly Lyn called to Kyle for help. Quickly Kyle ran to Lyn and thrust his blade into the chest of an enemy that was nearby.

"Thanks," Lyn said. Kyle smiled.

"Don't mention it. I like to help out."

"Oh!" Lyn said remembering the cleric behind her. "I almost forgot, this is Serra." The cleric smiled and waved.

'Oh great,' thought Kyle. 'Another airhead that's just what we need.'

"Serra takes a great fondness in helping her allies with her staff. She might be of great help to us. That mage is her personal escort to Ositia. His name is Erk and he's very…er…clean, according to Serra."

Erk seemed slightly embarrassed and frustrated. "Yes well, I'm simply her escort to Ositia. After that I go my own way. I'll help you as far as that."

Kyle nodded. "Well at least you're helping us. That's what really matters."

However there were more to deal with, and Kyle watched as a little north of him and Lyn and Serra Kent and Sain were charging the rest attacking the main force. Lyn and Kyle both started over the hills and took an archer by surprise. Then a swordsman took Kyle's attention while Lyn ran off to deal with the leader of this band. The enormous man, was wielding his axe, and commanding some authority.

Lyn struck but the bandit dodged nimbly and struck her, leaving a large gash in her leg. Lyn fell to the ground and held her sword up to block. The bandit leapt high into the air and let his fell axe drop onto his helpless victim. Lyn closed her eyes and prepared for the end. But as the axe struck her there was the sound of clashing metal. Lyn opened her eyes, and saw a sword resting effortlessly overtop of her body, and holding off the bandit's axe.

There was some struggling from the bandit leader, some strange grunts and like, but there was no sound from her savior. Suddenly there was a strange flip of the sword and the bandit went sailing into the air. A gust of wind seemed to blow past her and as the bandit landed, and got to his feet Kyle stood in front of the man with his sword through the leader's chest.

Lyn got to her feet. There was the slight rustle of grass, and the sounds of battle not too far away, but from Kyle…not a word. The young swordsman drew his weapon from the enemy letting the body fall to the ground. Then he began to clean his sword with a white cloth. When Kyle was satisfied that his sword was clean he sheathed it.

Lyn approached him. She was speechless.

She was about to say thank you when suddenly Kyle turned his head toward her. "You're welcome," was all he said before he walked away.

Kyle turned around to see that the group was now swarming her, but she kept looking back at him. Why? Why didn't she just take the accolades of her friends? It didn't matter to Kyle if they thought that she was the hero. But it apparently mattered to her.

Kyle turned away and shook his head, trying to clear his mind. Something was troubling the wind, something unnatural with unholy goals in its mind. The evil was setting vile things into motion. It didn't matter how they got their ends achieved so long as they did.

"The Black Fang…" Kyle whispered to the setting sun.