Chapter 3

Roan had gathered his belongings together and was ready to get going the next morning…Myrrh on the other hand, was not. She insisted that they wait for her friend to show up before they left, leaving Roan in a slightly bad mood. He wanted to get out of there and find Valter as quickly as possible. Roan had seated himself by the door, thinking about the past week's events. He ran his hands through his dark blue hair, thinking about why the war had started. He couldn't care about the war, as long as it didn't affect his paycheck. He was just curious as to why Grado would invade at such a time of peace. His thoughts were interrupted once again when a man in tan robes walked in the door.

"Hello, Great Dragon. I'm ready to depart." He stopped when he notice Roan sitting there. "Oh, who might this be?" He asked Myrrh.

" This is Roan. I found him lying hurt in the forest, and brought him back here. I think he fell out of the sky…." Myrrh said, smiling at the thought.

"Hmmm. What were you doing out in the forest? Darkling woods can be a dangerous place." The man said, shutting the door behind him.

"You could say a creep named Valter Picked me up and dropped me out of the sky. I guess I learned to fly." Roan laughed humorlessly.

"Saleh, he is going to come with us for a while. Is this ok with you?" Myrrh asked the man. However, Saleh was distracted by what Roan had said.

" Valter attacked you? And he dropped you out of the sky? How did you survive? You shouldn't be alive!" Saleh said in a mix of shock, and being impressed.

"Heh, Valter's gonna regret not making sure I was dead. I'm going to hunt him down if it takes me forever. Now, may we go? I have no wish to be here any longer." Roan said with finality in his voice. He picked up his long sword and walked out the door.

The small group traveled through Darkling woods, making fast progress. Myrrh and Saleh were talking, while Ran traveled in silence. Talking led to friend ship, and friendship led to suffering. He had no friends, only comrades. The men he had trained with. Comrades, nothing more. If you had friends, you had to take unnecessary risks. They die, your heart gets torn in half. Roan had experienced that once, he had no desire to go through that again.

As they traveled, Roan was examining the forest watching for signs of trouble. As they walked, the air began to grow chill and a fog began to descend upon the small group. "Everyone stick together! Something's not right!" Roan called to Saleh and Myrrh. There was silence as Roan listened for a response .

Suddenly, a scream broke the silence as Saleh shouted something. There was a boom that signaled magic, and Roan was about to run towards it when something lunged out of the fog at him. Roan jumped backwards, drawing his sword as he did so. A revenant stood in front of him, slowly making its way towards him. Roan smirked as he twirled the sword. This was different now. He knew what these thing were capable of, and now he could exploit their weakness. The Revenant lunged at him again, but Roan was ready. He ducked under the revenants claws as he swung his sword, cutting the creature clean in half. His chest twinged as he stood up, making him wince. He had to be more careful. He was gonna hurt himself if he overexerted his injuries.

Roan sprinted through the thickening fog, searching for Myrrh and Saleh, when a sword slashed out of the fog , slashing his broken arm. Cursing at the top of his lungs from pain, Roan swung his sword and killed whatever it was that hit him. He edged up t the remains of his attacker and saw that it was a skeleton, gripping a rusty sword. Roan would think about that later. For now, he would concentrate on staying alive.

Roan gripped his bleeding arm, cursing under his breath as he ran .The mercenary stopped at a tree and listened, hoping to hear something. Footsteps were running towards him, causing Roan to release his arm and draw his sword again . He realized that they were light and quick, not slow and heavy like a revenant. He was about to tackle whatever it was when a girl crashed into him

"Myrrh? What happened? Where's Saleh?" Roan asked, then saw deep cuts on her arm. "Why didn't you turn into a dragon? You could have fried those creeps!" Roan said,

"I …don't like fighting…" Myrrh whispered, causing Roan to roll his eyes. Roan removed his splint and used the fabric to cover the cuts. "We have to find Saleh!" Myrrh said, but Roan shook his head.

"I'm not running around in this fog looking for him, not with these undead wandering around. He's a magic user, I'm sure he can handle himself. We need to get out of these woods. Come on, stay close behind me!" Roan said, and he set off, Myrrh staying close behind him. As the pair made their way through the forest, Roan prayed they were going in the right direction. They ran into a clearing where the fog was a little lighter and stopped. In the clearing were about five revenants and 3 skeletons.

"Myrrh, stay back. I can handle this." Roan said, twirling his sword. He was sure he could take them on if he was careful.

"But Roan! You're hurt! And I-" Myrrh started, but Roan cut her off.

"No, Myrrh. If you don't like to fight, leave this to me. I have some aggression I need to get off my chest anyway. Besides, I'm sure you will only get in the way." Roan said bluntly, rotating his sword arm .This is going to be fun. Roan thought as we walked forward.

He started running towards the undead, feeling the rush of battle take over him. Roan cut a revenant in half, and dodged a skeletons sword. He tossed his sword up in the air while he used a knife to deflect a another skeletons sword. He jumped up in the air , grabbed his sword, and brought it down on a skeletons head, shattering it. Roan spun around swinging his sworn, cutting a revenants head off. He stopped and looked around, catching his breath. His chest was starting to hurt, and there were still 3 revenants and two skeletons left. Roan pictures Valter's face on all of the creatures, took a deep breath, and charged forward .

Ten minutes later, nothing remained of the undead creatures. Roan was exhausted, and his chest was in extreme pain again. But he had taken his built up aggression out on them, and was feeling in a much better mood. He made his way back toward Myrrh who was standing there, looking horrified. "You could have really hurt yourself! Why didn't you let me finish them?" Myrrh asked, examining Roan's damaged arm.

"I needed to take out my anger on them , so I didn't take it out on you. So now, we should get going." Roan said, walking through the fog.

"Shouldn't we look for Saleh? He should be here somewhere." Myrrh said, but Roan had no plans to look for some guy he hardly knew.

"If he's out there, he'll find us. I have no desire to be in this forest any longer. So we are going." Roan said, and with that he set off, Myrrh behind him. He stopped for a moment to check Myrrh's bandages, then resumed walking.

It's happening again. I'm getting attached to someone. I have to get away from her. Mercenary rule number 1 : never get attached to your clients. Roan cursed to himself quietly and decided to consider himself cursed after all.