Chapter 4

Roan decided that they should camp in a field, so he could see any incoming threats. He made a fire, and he and Myrrh sat around it. Roan was thinking about what those monsters meant, while Myrrh was reading a book quietly. When Roan saw the cover of the book, a horrible realization hit him.

"Myrrh, may I see that book? I wish to check something." Roan asked. Myrrh handed him the book and Roan rapidly flipped through it until he found the pictures of the various monsters. "Bonewalkers, Revenants, we fought all these! Do you think…."Roans voice trailed off as he thought out what this could mean.

"There is an evil power flowing out of the south. I am going there to stop it. I won't ask you to bother yourself anymore, since you've already done so much for me." Myrrh said, staring into the fire. Roan felt slightly guilty about letting this girl travel on her own, then cursed himself. This girl was a dragon! She could obliterate anything that came near her! There was no need to escort her. He would take her to the next village, then he would go his own way. He laid down on the ground and rolled over, careful of his arm. He knew he had to get away from her….

"Roan? Myrrh asked, also laying down

"Hmmm?" Roan grunted

"Thank you for taking time to bring me here. I hope it wasn't too much of a bother." Myrrh said quietly Roan didn't respond, too wrapped up in the day's events. Soon, the both of them drifted off to sleep.

Roan awoke the next morning to heavy armored footsteps close by. He cracked one of his eyes and saw a red clad Grado soldiers walking towards him. Roan stayed still, knowing that if he could fool this guy into believing that he was asleep, he could kill him without much trouble.

"You there! Get up! Now! " The soldier commanded. Roan did not move. The soldier bent down to inspect him when Roan suddenly stabbed his dagger through one of the slits in the man's helm. The man fell sideways without a word. Roan jumped to his feet, drawing his sword as he did so.

"Myrrh! Get up! Grado's men are here!" Roan shouted, causing Myrrh to jump up, staggering from sleepiness. 'Listen, I know you don't like to fight, but if you don't this could be the end of us."Myrrh nodded her understanding as a legion of soldiers marched up to them.

"You there with the manakete. Put your hands up and hand her over!" The leading soldier ordered. Roan shook his head, holding his sword out in front of him. "Ha! You really think you can defeat us when your injured? You're a fool!" The man spat. Archers took aim at them, causing roan to tense up, ready to dive to the ground. He waited for the shots to be fired when arrows sailed from behind them right into the archers, slaying them. Roan took the opportunity to kill the man in front of him, causing the soldiers to scatter.

Roan looked backwards and saw Green clad Rausten knights charging across the field . Roan thanked the heavens for this distraction as Rausten and Grado clashed together in a mix of yelling and swords clanging.

Roan was cutting down Grado soldiers when a cavalier attempted to stab him with a lance. Roan knocked the man off his horse and stabbed him through the gut. He looked around for Myrrh in time to see her get hit with the flat side of a sword. Another man grabbed her small pouch that had been hanging on her side and pulled out a glowing yellow gemstone.

Roan realized that must have been Myrrh's dragonstone. He had read in a book that this was what allowed manaketes to turn into dragons. " LEAVE HER ALONE!" Roan roared, throwing his sword at the soldiers. It impaled a man in the face, sending him falling backwards. The other men grabbed Myrrh and dragged her away into the mass of fighting soldiers. "God damn it!" Roan swore as he charges into the soldiers, pulling his sword out of the fallen soldier as he went.

A few minutes later, Roan spotted a cart a little ways away from the fighting. Myrrh was being shoved into a cage loaded on it. A squad of soldiers stood guard, as well as a man that Roan had once known. Roan's chest was searing, which was a sign that he was overworking himself

"Caellach, let her go!" Roan shouted, causing Caellach to turn around in surprise. Roan had once worked with Caellach as a merc , but not for too long. Caellach was extremely ambitious, too much so for Roan. He would keep going on about how he wanted to be a king or something stupid like that, so he left to go his own way.

"Ah Roan! Long time no see ! What have you been doing all this time?" Caellach asked Roan, ignoring Roan's demands.

"Not complaining about not being a king, that's for sure. Now let her go!" Roan growled. Caellach smirk as he turned his back to Roan.

"Ha! If you want to fight me, too bad! You aren't even worth my time. You're crippled and there's no way you could beat me anyway. Men, take care of him." Caellach said, walking away. He stopped when he heard the soldiers shouting and screaming and then complete silence. Most of Grado's soldiers were retreating, so Caellach was doing the same. He slowly turned around to see Roan covered in blood, all the men slain.

"Never turn your back on me Caellach!" Growled savagely. Caellach looked slightly impressed as he drew his sword. Roan's chest was seared with pain as he coughed violently into his hand, and when he withdrew it he saw blood. Not good. He was more messed up than he thought. He had to end this quickly before he ended up dead.

Caellach made a hand movement to the other soldiers, who were waiting for orders. They began riding off with Myrrh in the cage, quickly disappearing into the woods. Roan would deal with Caellach, then go after them. "I hope your ready to die!" With that, Caellach leaped forward, swinging his sword. Roan moved to block it when the blow rattled his arm. He was surprised at how much stronger Caellach had become, but was not about to give up yet. He ducked and parried, remembering Caellach's fighting style.

After a few short minutes, Roan knew that he could not win with only one arm. He was in enough pain to make him kneel over, but he couldn't with Caellach constantly attacking him. He had to end this. Roan swung at Caellach's head hoping to put an end to the battle when Caellach twirled his sword then smashed it against Roan's with so much Force that Roan's sword broke . Roan fell backwards as the shock of the hit traveled through the hilt of his sword and into his arm.

Before Roan could make a move, he felt cold steel touch his neck. Roan froze, knowing that If he wanted to, Caellach could take his head off. "Is this all you were capable of? I must say I'm disappointed. I expected more from someone who has a hatred for the Grado Empire." Caellach smirked as Roan gritted his teeth. Between the insane pain in his chest and the arrogant man in front of him, Roan wasn't sure which one was making him angrier. He was waiting for Caellach to make a wrong move when a thunderbolt sailed out of nowhere, causing Caellach to dive to the side.

Roan crawled to a fallen soldiers sword and grabbed it. He turned to see Caellach fleeing into the woods while thunder bolts were raining around him. Roan staggered to his feet, only to see Saleh hurrying towards him. Ugh. How ironic that he shows up to save me. Roan though sourly. Saleh stopped in front of the battered mercenary, looking concerned.

"What on earth happened to you? You're a wreck! Plus your lucky I showed up, because Caellach would have killed you! That man is-"Saleh was cut off as Roan gave him a murderous look.

"I know very well what that man is .I used to work with him. Why do you think I left him?" Roan said quietly. Saleh looked around, then a horrified look crossed his face.

"Where is the Great Dragon? What has happened to her?" Saleh asked him, worried.

"Grado took her. And I'm going to get her back. Roan said shortly. He slowly made his way to a soldiers abandoned horse while Saleh thought about this.

"Which way did they go?"Saleh asked Roan, who was gathering fallen supplies and rations from the dead soldiers.

"Use your head. Where would they be going?" Roan said, finally climbing onto the horse with extreme difficulty.

"Down south. Okay. I will search Grado for her. Where will you look?" Saleh asked.

"I am going to Jehanna desert to see if she might have been sold to slave traders. I am going now before Rausten reinforcements get here ask start asking me questions."

"I guess you want payment right? I know how you mercenaries work." He pulled out a small bag that couldn't of had more than 50 coins in it. "Here, take it. It's not much, but it's all I got." Saleh said, holding it out.

Roan fought against his every instinct to take the money. Right now, that dragon is grado's hands, partially because of him. If he hadn't left Saleh in the woods, they might not have been stuck in that battle at all.

"You know what? Keep your money. It's not enough to be of any use to me." Roan said, feeling grumpy. He was going soft, damn it! A month ago he would have never refused money!

"I knew there was a spark of decency inside of you, my friend. Are you sure you're going to be alright?" Saleh asked.

" Yeah, I'll be fine. See you around." With that , Roan rode off into the forest, quickly disappearing.