Chapter 2

The crickets chirped around Valkron as he watched the blazing fire. The Peco snorted in its sleep. Somewhere beyond the trees a Rocker joined in the song around him, while a Fabre squished past him. There was a sound not unlike a heartbeat as a pupa sat quietly in one corner of the dense forest.

He'd been heading for Payon, but the offer kept coming back to him. It wasn't tempting him or anything, but he mulled over it. Why had the king been so desperate? It must be a serious threat. Most people wouldn't take a hundred million zeny lightly, especially concerning mercenaries. These days all they wanted was money. Money, money, money.

And he'd thrown in an Emperium, too. It was a dream of every mercenary to start up their own guild. It meant having an emblem, respect and honour. It meant glory, fame and power. Of course, then there were the guild castles to conquer, and that was a prized favourite with everyone, not just mercenaries. He'd seen one of their wars. It was bloody, violent, crazed, wild and, above all, fought terribly. He'd never seen a draw before just because all the members of both guilds had been knocked out.

It wasn't really proper night yet, but he'd been riding his peco for three days. It wasn't surprising that it should sleep first. As a knight he disliked walking, because of his armour, but sometimes there were times he had to walk, and no questions asked. He leaned back on his hands and looked up into the dark blue sky. A few early stars were peeking out.

There was no movement or sound except that of the fire, before Valkron leapt to his feet, drawing out his sword. He looked around warily, listening, watching. He did not need sound or movement to alarm him - he was trained enough feel the presence of an intruder.

There was no movement, and then a Poring bounced out from some bushes. Valkron relaxed and put a hand over his eyes. His awareness had its disadvantages.

The Poring looked up at him happily, and then bounced away in another direction. He watched it go resignedly and turned to settle back. So much for training.

There was a 'pop' that sounded very similar to a Poring getting killed.

An eddga came into the ring of firelight thrown out by the fire. It fixed its cat eyes on Valkron and growled. The knight swore under his breath, pulling out his sword, but the cat had already charged. He whirled aside, aware of a ripping sound as the cat's claws tore into his cloak. Fire blazed along the blade and he plunged the blade into the monster's arm, wrenching it as he passed. A long bloody gash appeared in its arm, but it simply turned and swiped at him. Valkron reacted a second too late. As the air was sent out of him he thought: Oh, damn...

A few seconds later he hit the ground, but as he had learned years ago from his own experience a man lying down exposes a lot more than a man standing up. He got up and wiped the blood away from a cut near his mouth, ready to fight back.

The tiger-like creature was quite intelligent, for something that spent most of its time smoking with a pipe. It too stared at him. Knight and monster stayed like that for a few minutes, and then both attacked at the same time. Fire flared, before they leapt back down and stayed still. Valkron felt the sting of pain on one leg. Wincing, he looked down to see a rip in the thick leather around his leg. He mentally cursed himself for not paying attention.

The tiger attacked. Valkron, caught unawares, barely dodged it. He slammed the flat of his blade into the creature's body and felt muscles harden against the impact. It was a basic swordsman skill, so he was hardly surprised that it hadn't affected the creature. Then the full mass of the creature hit him, sending air out of him again. He gritted his teeth, pressed the flat of his sword on the creature's belly, and pushed with his might.

It took him a long time, but finally the furry, warm, stinking mass got off him. It was that or risk the long blade sinking into its belly. The knight staggered up, grimacing in the smell it had left behind. He badly needed a wash now.

The eddga sent an impact blow back at him. Since he was still dazed from what had just happened, it knocked him off his feet. He tried getting up again, but he was winded. Somewhere in his hot, hurting head there was a pool of calm, a cool ball of tranquillity. It thought: I let my guard down.

As he struggled to get up, he looked up through a red mist to see the Eddga ready to do it again. One more hit, and he was going to be plain mush. He had to get up. His legs secured footholds in the ground and he heaved, just as the impact whirled towards him again.

Valkron looked up muzzily. He could see the air being displaced by the attack. The leaves on the ground whirled upwards and around the blow. The calm spot in his mind quietly said, There's nothing I can do now, except shield my eyes. His arm went up, and it was just in time. White-blue light filled the area and so did a very cold, strong wind.

After a while the light faded away. Valkron lowered his arm, aware that impact blows did not cause white light. There was a white-blue glow emanating from something very large in front of him. He blinked twice, trying to clear his vision, at the same time reaching out to touch the thing.

It was very, very cold. Vapour was rising off it. It was also a white translucent colour.

It was a wall of ice.

Valkron felt it, feeling somewhat detached. It was real ice, that was for certain, but he was sure he was in the forest, not in the mountains.

The wall shook, as if something behind it was hitting it with full force, but it still stood. There was only one kind of person who could do this in Rune-Midgard.

'In a bit of a tight spot there, eh? Here, I'll clear it off.'

Lightning flashed above the wall. It struck something on the other side. There was a yowl, which brought Valkron back to his senses.

'That's an eddga!' he said. 'It's not just any--'

'I know, I know, I've been watching you for the past half hour anyway.' This time he was sure it was ice that struck from the skies, before a mighty gale hit the area. There was a long, drawn-out yowl from the other side, which faded away. Valkron, still staring at the wall, heard someone move behind him, and the wall of ice dissolved away.

'Funny, I thought you were a pretty good fighter when I was watching you.' The owner of the voice was walking closer. 'But still, when it comes to endurance nobody can top it. What do you specialise in?'

Valkron turned around. Standing in front of him was a wizard - the tallest he'd ever seen, probably about six feet. He had flaming red hair, with one lock of it covering his left eye. The eye that was visible was a bright golden. He was also wearing a pair of headphones and a wide grin with a leaf sticking out of it.

'Speed,' he said shakily.

'I see. Not for close combat. I thought you knights always were.' The Wizard rubbed his head. 'In that case, would a potion come in handy?'

Valkron raised an eyebrow, despite his tiredness.

'Ah. All right.' The man looked around the place as if looking for some other topic to talk about, and then shrugged. 'Oh well. Can't avoid the question.' He stuck out his gloved hand to Valkron. 'Name's Emeth. What's yours?'

'Valkron.' There was a brief sensation of falling, before everything faded away.

When he opened his eyes, the sun was up, but most of it had been eclipsed by a large red hairy moon. He focused on it, and it became Emeth bending over him.

'Good morning,' he said.

'Are you trying to be funny?' demanded the knight.

'No, I'm being nice,' said Emeth, without a trace of irony. 'You won't know how people wake up without a nice greeting to start off their day.'

Valkron groaned, and sat up. The Wizard sat back and watched him massage his head.

'Payon's just ahead,' he said. 'If you can get up I'll run ahead and grab a couple of rooms in an inn, how's that? I know some good inns in Payon.'

'Thanks, but no.' Valkron sighed. 'I can get there on my own, and I have my own experience.'

He got up from the ground, but then with a yelp he slid back down. He had forgotten about the cut on his leg.

'I suppose I must,' said Emeth, in a non-committal way. With much scrabbling he got Valkron to his feet. He grabbed the knight around the back. 'Any protest, before I continue?'

'No.'

They reached Payon before noon, which was just as well. The Archers' Village, as it was called because novices aspiring to be archers went there to train (but no one said anything about the hunters' guild, which was also there), was almost deserted in the mornings. There was relatively nothing to do there, so the residents had a tendency to lie in.

The innkeeper didn't even raise an eyebrow at the both of them, when Emeth had half-limped, half-walked in. He simply gave what the wizard requested and even suggested a healer who was just up the street for free. Once up in the room Valkron took his place on a bed and Emeth calmly seated himself, chewing his leaf contentedly. They remained that way for the rest of the day.

It was well into the evening when the knight finally got up by himself.

'You heal well,' remarked Emeth casually, who was still sitting nearby.

'You've been there for practically the whole time,' said Valkron, gingerly massaging his leg. He had a feeling he'd known the wizard's name from somewhere, although he'd never met the red-haired fellow until now. 'I thought you wizards normally have something more important to do. I've always seen your people walking in Prontera all alone with your collars up to your noses as if you're doing something suspicious.'

Emeth blinked. 'Um...why are you saying that? Our collars are like that. We're loners, that's all.'

'And you don't have anything else to do?' Valkron was also sure he'd seen Emeth before, but it was more of a glance at him than an actual looking-at.

'Nope.'

After a while Emeth looked back at Valkron and said, 'You're a King's mercenary, aren't you?'

'Yes. What about it?' said Valkron grudgingly. 'I don't really like the job, but these days I don't have much choice either.'

'You heard of the threat, hm?' said the wizard, taking out his leaf and inspecting the bite marks on it.

'Ye-- wait a second.' The knight gave him a suspicious look. 'How'd you know? I've met plenty of civilians who don't know a thing about it.'

'You're talking to a King's mercenary here.'

Ah. So that was it. There had been an assembly of the King's mercenaries fairly recently, and that was where he'd seen the tall wizard making his way through the crowd. It was not too hard to spot him, come to think of it.

'I've never seen wizards as tall as you,' said Valkron, looking about for his visor and accessories. 'They always seem to stoop so that they look inconspicuous. In my opinion they look bloody conspicuous, anyway.' He located them on a small table near the door and went to get them.

'Stupid, isn't it?' said Emeth, still in the same casual voice. 'Well, I know that plenty of people would respect a tall wizard, at any rate, so I don't stoop.'

The knight gave him a look, which was totally wasted because Emeth wasn't watching him. 'I'd like to know why're you're still here. Any fellow who knows me would at least get me here and then leg it when they had the chance. '

'Point number one, I don't know you.' Emeth coolly put the leaf back in his mouth and took off his headphones. 'Point number two, why should I? Point number three,' here he looked at Valkron, 'I thought you'd be wanting someone to come along so at least you've got someone backing you up when you deal with the threat.'

'I've told the recruiters that I'm not tagging along for the ride,' snapped Valkron. 'And I mean it. There's no benefit for me, one way or another. Why do you think I specialise in speed for?'

'Why do you think other knights specialise in endurance for?' said Emeth.

The knight opened his mouth, and then closed it again. He could never really answer that question. Besides, he was starting to get the feeling that the wizard was a lot cleverer than he appeared to be.

'I don't like people being with me,' he said finally. 'That's all.'

'The infamous Valkron?' said Emeth, picking lint off his cloak. 'The one who was reported to have cleared the gates of Glast Heim when Wraiths threatened to attack Prontera from there? The one who took on Moonlight Flower in Sograt and not only survived but won, against all expectations? You've got a pretty good reputation for a knight specialising in speed and a lone wolf at that.'

'Look here, I don't know why you're telling me all this but it's a fine time for you to,' said Valkron. 'I appreciate your help with the eddga, thank you very much, and for bringing me here to recover, but now I think it's time we should be going our separate ways.' He turned and walked out of the room.

As the knight walked down the flight of stairs leading to the reception area, he shook his head. He was downright fed up of people. It was true that he didn't like people to follow him around. Those who did manage to get to follow him gave it up shortly afterwards because he treated them like nuisances.

'Wait, Valkron!'

The knight rolled his eyes, but stopped anyway. He knew people like Emeth didn't give up so easily. It was just difficult to find them.

There was a clatter from the floor above, which indicated Emeth was standing at the top of the stairs. 'It looks like you don't know,' he said, sounding breathless. 'The King has emphasized that every mercenary has to have a party consisting of at least two or more people. He's given a heavy penalty to those who don't obey this rule.'

'And you want to join me, is it?' said Valkron, not looking at him.

'What other choice do I have?' said Emeth. 'On that subject, everyone has followed the rule, so what other choice do you have?'