{All non-player characters and the Guild Wars universe belong to NC Soft and Arena Net. I am simply presenting my own character through the story. Thank you.}

Chapter 15

"Are you sure just the two of you will be okay for this?" Signa asked worriedly. Signa's mouth pushed forward in a pout and as her brows furrowed the dark circles under her eyes became more pronounced. She hadn't gotten good sleep in weeks and it had been noted by her friends.

"Of course we will be fine dear don't you worry." Zleeda reassured with a cheerful smile, "We'll only be a couple days I promise."

The other day Silvery had been talking about where she had come from and about her homeland as she was a native Krytan. She had been born and raised in the port city of Lion's Arch and she had made her way through the Shiverpeaks by a rather strange road. Usually if one wanted to travel through the shiverpeaks one went through the Borlis Pass and the Frost Gate; however, Silvery reported that both had been blocked off by Stone Summit and that the good dwarves of the mountains had locked themselves up as a result to defend against the invaders. She had to take the longer, northern route through Anvil Rock and Iron Horse Mine. This caused worry in the group as their Prince was still holed up with King Jalis and he had been due to return several days before. After much debate it was decided that two of them would clear the path to the Borlis pass so that the people of Ascalon could move safely, and then all of them would light the torches of Borlis pass and make sure that they reached the Prince.

The two chosen to clear the path to Borlis Pass were Kalen and Zleeda due to Zleeda's insistence and Kalen's hunger for a bit of action. The two warriors worked well together, and seeing that Signa was too tired -though she wouldn't admit it- and Q's abilities were not well suited to the task, everyone finally came to an agreement that they were the best choice.

"Why do you think they're called the 'Stone Summit' Kalen? Do you think their base lies on the summit of a stone mountain of sorts? Oooh or maybe they gather together for an annual summit at a table of stone in order to discuss dwarfy things" Zleeda chattered as she walked alongside the burlier warrior towards the South.

"Frankly, I have no idea Zleeda" Kalen replied, withholding a groan. The fiery-haired woman had been speaking about nothing at all their entire walk, and they had not encountered a single enemy since running across one measly Juniper Bark. The centaurs were still regrouping and as of yet not a single 'Stone Summit' dwarf had crossed them.

"Well there's got to be a reason right? A dwarf doesn't just wake up and think, 'Oh I'm going to start a kingdom today and I think I'll name it the Stone Summit because why not' now do they?" she persisted.

Kalen finally let out that sigh, "Probably not.."

"Hey what's that?"

"What's what?" Kalen looked up wondering what could possibly be interesting in this constant stretch of snow and dirt. He saw two little men walking down the road in their direction turning a bend around a hill not too far away. They were covered head to toe in unattractive-looking metal armor and spoke in deep tones in the dwarven language. Kalen reached for his axe and immediately pulled it out with excitement, "What do you mean 'what's that.' That is exactly what we are here to fight! Come on!"

The big Carpathian barreled forward excited by the action surely to be had. Zleeda wasn't long to follow and soon she was laughing like nuts sword held aloft. The dwarfs alerted by the sound of two crazed humans coming for them shouted out curses and turned around to run as fast as their little legs could carry them. Kalen and Zleeda followed as they fled back around the hill and into a small depression in the path behind another hill.

Kalen skidded to a half after running around the bend and he grabbed Zleeda's arm staring at what was a Dwarven war camp blockading the way ahead. The two frightened dwarves ran on into the camp shouting in shrilly voices, "Humans! Humans!" Kalen gulped as every single eye, or at least he imagined eyes for all their faces were hidden by metal helmets, was on them. "Zleeda," he whispered quietly, "We should get to a more defendable po-"

"BANZAIII!" Zleeda shouted with glee running straight for the huge camp of dwarven enemies.

"Or we could just rush in and wing it.." Kalen muttered watching as every single dwarven soldier mobilized and converged on her, "Ahh forget it, ASCALON!"

His axe lashed out and met dwarven arms and skulls. The world became a blur of bright, clanging armor; rudimentary, metal swords; and red, dwarven blood. He stepped to the right to avoid a sword, he ducked to the ground as an axeman missed his head, and he swung his axe again and again clobbering the metal men out of his path. It had become late noon before the last Summit Dwarf fell, a warrior named Toris Stonehammer as he'd kept on shouting.

"Whoo!" Came the voice of Zleeda as she skipped over the bodies of a few mesmers, "We did it! That was so much fun!"

Kalen looked up from where he sat upon the dwarven general's chest plate, "You're crazy."

"Yup!"

"We were outnumbered four dozen to two"

"Uh huh!"

"Remind me to purchase a leash the next time we go out together."

"Hey!"

Kalen shook his head unable to fight back the grin that came to his face. He was battered with a thousand new bruises to be welcomed in the morning as well as a cut down his forehead, but he'd be damned if it wasn't a good time. "Alright you nut let's get a move on. It's nearly nightfall and we're wasting time sitting here."

"You're the one sitting there, I'm standing up thank you very much."

Kalen grunted holding back a laugh, "Yeah yeah, let's just get a move on." He stood and slowly stepped over bodies towards the south west and onward to the Borlis Pass.

"How much further?" Kalen asked gruffly as he brushed snow from his shoulder pads again. They were deep in the mountains now and a blizzard had picked up.

"Don't ask me I've never been through the Shiverpeaks before although I'm starting to truly understand what they meant by the 'shiver' part of it" muttered Zleeda.

"I advise that you do not go another step further travelers" came a voice from above. Kalen raised his head to look at who was confronting them. A single man stood on a ledge just above the path. Kalen squinted his eyes in an attempt to identify the stranger, however the constantly falling snow combined with the heavy garb the stranger wore prevented him from doing so.

"Who are you to block the path of the Prince of Ascalon's own guards!" he shouted vehemently.

"My name is Drow Elvis, son of Bertram Elvis. I've just come from the dwarven kingdoms bearing warning" replied the traveler in a calm and reasoning tone.

"What warning is that? Show your face like a man!"

The stranger let out a soft sigh before he fell to the ground like a shadow. He landed softly in the snow and stood straight. He was quite tall reaching about six foot and he wore black and purple robes made for the cold. He carefully removed his snow hood from his face. Drow had skin as black as coal with piercing red eyes and snow white hair. "The Borlis Pass is invaded," he began, "The torches that lead the travelers through the dangerous blizzard have been doused and centaurs patrol throughout the peaks. I barely made it out myself and was just on my way to make sure no one goes wandering in without knowing what's out there. The pass entrance itself is just around the corner."

"Centaurs? So deep within the mountains?"

"No they were humans who somehow melded themselves with horses; yes they were centaurs" Drow answered starting to get just a little bit annoyed.

"I see, nonetheless we must bring our people through to the promise-land of Kryta. Is there no way to forge a way through?"

"If a group larger than ourselves could be brought together to go in through the dark and light the torches ahead of the rest it might be done; however, the task would be quite difficult. The pass is treacherous in the dark and it takes a special type of fire to solidly light all the torches. On top of that the centaur chief must be killed in order to send the centaur troops in disarray."

Zleeda chimed in in excitement, "It's that great?! Woot I'm in! Come on Kalen let's go get the others and forge this thing! It'll be a blast!"

Kalen couldn't help but grin at the younger warrior's enthusiasm, "Well I don't see how we could pass it up. We really do need to get through here. Let's get headed back immediately. Where are you headed Drow?"

Drow raised one slim, white eyebrow, "Me? I am headed no where. I too came from Ascalon however, if you two truly are Ascalonians I might be pleased to see some of my old Ascalonian friends."

Zleeda frowned, "Well, yes um maybe you will see some of them. News I'm afraid doesn't travel over the mountains well it seems. Ascalon and the Kingdom of Rin itself have been obliterated by the Charr.. there are very few of us left."

The young man frowned sadly, "Oh.. I see. Then I would wish to accompany you in bringing whomever is left to safety. Lead the way warriors and let's hope the mountain doesn't swallow us."

(Thank you for reading this series and please review/comment/message me with your feedback or just to say hi! Have a magical day!)