Nego looked at the way the people donned in green-colored coats over their black clothing moved through the branches with ease. The person (Saem) moving next to him looked at his footing and then looked at the mark on his neck. 'The watchers still look over us, she's our leader.' 'You … you know about them?'

Saem paused for a while. 'From the tales of lands far away and of the ancient continents, yes. Our leader has dreams.' Nego pondered this and a thought struck him. 'She has been in a prophecy before, I read about it.' 'I'm not surprised. She deserves it.'

'You mean, Yezlih?' 'No, Hilzey or Hazel, whatever you want to call her,' he replied. 'Wait,' Nego said slowly. 'Than why call her Yezlih?' Saem gave him such an absurd stare that Nego became uncomfortable.

'She has the bonding sickness, warrior. Much worse than yours. We seldom call her Yezlih, it is her more regal name. She fought in the second war. She is a seer, a healer and prefers peace. Her visions are more powerful than Mulop or Briggan when they were in their time. She nearly died, and her thanks goes unnoticed. She did much more than just fight the soldiers of Gerethons army.'

Nego fiddled with the clasp around his shoulders. 'What do I call her?' he asked as they continued threading lightly across the canopy. 'We call her Hazel,' Saem said after a while. Nego released Tagu from passive state. The buffalo sniffed the air and waggled his ears. He seemed to know where they were going. 'What spirit animal does Hazel have?'

As if wondering to tell him, and thinking he talked too much, Saem gave him a strange look. 'That, you need to find out yourself.' Nego amused himself by thinking what their leader had. A tiger, maybe a horse or a bear. Tagu stepped across the branches like it was his second home.

They walked for ages and Nego felt his legs burn more. But as they walked, the terrain eventually changed. From the forest to mountains where the temperature dropped a bit more and the dusty valley with smooth rocks stood up to nine feet tall.

The dusty valley turned to black earth with rocks and vines that glowed with a bluish-white aura. White flowers glowed softly and dandelions spread their white, fluffy seeds in the air. Ancient trees with white a white trunk and blue leaves loomed over them while tiny blue flowers glowed, and a small spring trickled water into a little rock pool. There were rocks that glowed in the dark as night fell.

Nego knew immediately that was their base. It was the center of the blue and white forest and everything around it. There was a big, round stone table in the heart of the surrounding rocks. Rough and smooth steps were carved in the stones. There were smaller wooden tables around the stone one, and there were Shadows setting out stone bowls and plates with chopsticks and spoons made out of bamboo.

Hazel wasn't hard to find. She was just a few months younger than him. She wore a white cloak with streaks of dust and dirt on it and camouflage pants, the one that the militaries of Eura wore to blend in with the forest. Her shirt was black, the same color as her short hair that was tucked behind her ears. Her skin was tanned, like she spent the days out in the sun.

When she looked at him, her brown eyes flashed, like she was judging whether he was an enemy or someone to kill. It sent an inevitable shiver down his spine. She held a javelin in one hand and Nego's legs shook a little as he walked up the stone steps. Saem said she preferred peace, but he found that a bit hard to believe, and where was her spirit animal? He leaned on Tagu for comfort, and the buffalo rumbled in response.

Hazel addressed Saem. 'Wash up at the river, you all must be tired, and dinner will start soon.' The group of Shadows departed. She looked at him, than looked at Tagu. 'Well, you are the one I saw,' she said breezily. The minute she said that, Nego relaxed and exhaled. He didn't even know he was holding his breath.

She would look nice if she smiled, he thought. Her hand was tight on her javelin, and he still didn't know if a tiger would come running out of the shadows to pounce on him.

As if sensing his thoughts, she flicked her hand. 'No, no. I don't have a bear, leopard or horse and I certainly don't have a bird of prey. Matrika is very gentle. She's a primate.'

A small monkey appeared on her shoulder with curious, brown eyes. It was white with a black face, hands and feet with a black stripe that ran down the middle of her back. It looked at him and pulled itself up. Matrika gripped Hazel's shoulder tightly and curled her long tail. Nego felt silly for being scared. Her spirit animal was cute.

Then she jumped down and disappeared under Hazel's cloak. 'She's shy, not scared,' Hazel said. She looked at the tip of her javelin as Matrika decided to climb up her outstretched arm. 'Well, the food's cooking. There's rice, soup, deer and wild boar cooking, unless you prefer tofu. Not that I'm vegetarian.' Nego sniffed the air, there was a smell of meat cooking and his stomach growled.

'I'll try a bit of everything,' he said.

Nego sat at the stone table with Hazel and some other Shadows. They put rice and some type of salty soup in two separate bowls and platters of meat and tofu were set on the tables. Tagu was given seaweed with algae. 'Very few of the Shadows were Greencloaks before joining us. We have a small non-poisonous snake, a caracal, a dog, a lark and there's Matrika' Hazel explained when he asked about the Greencloaks Dious was talking about.

'The Meridious have much bigger army than us. Bigger than the conqueror's,' she said as she handed Matrika a walnut, and her voice was deadly serious. Nego chewed on some wild boar as Tagu slurped up his seaweed and sighed happily.

Nego looked at the contents of his clay cup. The liquid was white. 'What is this liquid, exactly?' he asked Hazel. She swallowed her mouthful of Tofu and soup before answering, 'It's goat milk.' Nego wanted to die of embarrassment. Tagu snorted. Nego took a sip. It tasted was thicker, and it was sweet.

Matrika held her clay cup with surprising resemblance to a human. Honestly, he didn't know how a monkey could offer anything actually useful to the battlefield. Agility maybe, and speed, but battle was all about fighting the heavily armed warriors with heavy but effective swords that could break through even the toughest shield.

A fast, agile warrior would probably die trying to pierce through their armor in small jabs that would only scratch their armor. Except he was fast and agile too, and he would die, except for his talent in throwing arrows, spears, knives, darts … anything, really. He had seen the armor the Meridious had worn. Made for slow but effective combat.

As the food was finishing, Hazel made a speech, and silence fell over the forest with the sound of leaves gently blowing in the wind, crickets chirping and the sound of the spring. 'We have an honored guest today, Nego summoner of Tagu, the silver warrior.' The shadows raised their cups silently.

'And I dare to ask him, if he would join us as an honored warrior.' Tagu looked at Nego, and Nego looked at Tagu. The shadows were brave, stealthy warriors, at the moment, he knew he belonged here. 'I do,' he said boldly.

Hazel stood up, and Nego felt the cushion he was sitting on rub against his trouser leg as he got into a kneeling position. 'Than, do you promise to help fend off any bad army that poses a threat to Erdas and remain loyal as long as the Meridious remain?' 'Yes,' Nego said.

'Than I Yezlih, Hazel and Hilzey, make you a warrior,' she said. Like magic, the blue and white flowers bloomed and the forest glowed a little brighter. The shadows drank from their cups. Nego felt his heart swell with pride. Tagu gave him another one of those sopping wet licks which made his hair stand up funny.

The cutlery was cleared and the tables were put away, apart from the stone one which would forever be rooted to its spot. The shadows put their bedrolls on the floor, apart from Hazel, who had a cave for herself, being the leader and all. A few shadows took the first watch and Nego wriggled his fingers under Tagu's shaggy fur.

Hazel's cave had white curtains covering the entrance, and there was her own private and much smaller spring with herbs and vials of her own. Nego would've loved to peek in and see what she had, but that would be a very bad thing to do.

He was part of the People of the Shadows. The stars twinkled at him, and he closed his eyes. Tagu was so very snuggly.