OoO( 7 )OoO

Mikal was a bandit that had lived his entire life stealing, pillaging, robbing, and anything to do with the sort. He had even made a name for himself by raping a few of the women from Bowerstone. He snorted as he recalled those happy times, sneaking through the darkened streets and into peoples houses. He considered himself a man of class, only choosing the finest among treasure and women, which is why he was at Orchard Farm that day.

He and his band had taken a job from the classiest lady in Bowerstone, Lady Grey. He figured, 'Just steal a few items from Orchard Farm and Lady Grey is mine.' He liked to imagine himself in bed with Lady Grey and stopped to picture it now, but all his pleasing thoughts were interrupted as two of his bandits screamed for their lives. Looking at the entrance to Orchard Farm, he saw arrows fly like angry hornets and slay his bandits.

"Hmm...no guards use longbows, so they must be heroes." he said. Turning around, he stared at a young man with dark armor and a chainmail helmet on. "Looks like your up." he said.

"I told you, I'm only here to for the stones. I'm not killing anyone, and I sure as hell don't work for you." he said forcefully.

"I'm not asking you to kill them, I'm asking you to stop them from killing my bandits!" shouted Mikal.

The man grumbled and ran towards the gate. When he arrived two guards tried to jump on him, but were quickly disposed of with a burst of energy that sent them flying backwards. He used his will to create a shield around his body and ran for the barn. Arrows flew and bounced off the protective force, much to the annoyance of Lyle.

The man quickly grabbed the box set on the ground and began to run back across the grounds. Lyle growled and jumped out of the tree he had placed himself in. He flew through the air and crashed into the man, sending the boxes tumbling forward. As another bandit tried to grab the boxes, Lyle hurled a fireball at him, making him fly backwards and roll around on the ground screaming in pain.

The man turned and threw Lyle off of him with another force push, not even getting a glimpse of his face. Quickly, he got up and grabbed the boxes, then ran for the gate.

Lyle got to his feet and chased after him. Raising his hand, he threw another fireball at the man, but it veered off due to some unseen force. Lyle, now furious yelled, "Whisper! The gate!" he shouted. More bandits ran down from the pass to try and help their comrade, when the man stopped.

Turning around, he said, "Lyle?"

Lyle stood there for a second, then said, "Van?" Taking his helmet off, Van was now visible for everyone to see. "What are you doing working for bandits?"

"I'm not, I was hired by Lady Grey..." he said.

"So what now?" asked Lyle as he clotheslined a bandit and stabbed his sword into his chest.

Van looked around and sighed. "Damn you Lyle." he said, then turned and started firing lightning at the oncoming horde of bandits.

Mikal watched from the top of the hill as Van turned on his bandits. He growled furiously. "I'm going to kill him myself." he yelled and ran down the hill.

As the heros fought the oncoming bandits, Lyle noticed Mikal running down the hill. He smiled and stepped forward, when Van held him back. "I've got him." he said. Lyle nodded and tore through another bandit that attacked him.

Mikal ran forward in fury as Van stood in defiance. He raised his scimitar and slashed at Van, who ducked the attack with ease. "Not as defensless as those Bowerstone women huh?" asked Van.

"What?" asked Lyle.

"I knew this low life as soon as he told me his name. Robbery, breaking and entering, assault, rape. He's got the criminal book down. I was going to grab the bounty on his head after this mission, but then you came along." said Van as he dodged another swipe of the sword.

"I see." said Lyle. Whisper walked up to them after she had finished the rest of the bandits.

"So, are you on our side or theirs?" she asked.

Mikal was furious that his opponent wasn't taking him seriously. Van's shield wouldn't even let him scratch his opponent. Mikal thrust his sword forward in anger, but the blade was caught by Vans shielded hand. Taking the helmet, he swung it with tremendous force and cracked it over his opponents head, sending him to the ground unconscious.

Whisper looked at Mikal. "What now?"

"Well, dead or alive, he has a bounty. So I'll turn him in for the money and be done with it. I think he will learn his lesson." said Van. Lyle said nothing and walked forward. Van looked at his friend. "Lyle, whats up?" Lyle raised his sword and to the surprise of both of his friends and the guards around them, he thrust the blade through Mikals chest and pierced his heart, killing him. "Lyle! What are you doing?" shouted Van.

"He's a bandit, he deserved it." said Lyle, then walked away to retrieve the stolen box.

OoOoO

Lyle walked back to the Guild by himself. Van took Mikal's body to the Bowerstone guards for his reward and Whisper decided to visit her brother Thunder in Knothole Glade. As Lyle walked through the door, he was instantly confronted by Maze.

"Lyle, I would like to speak with you for a moment." said the wizard. Lyle said nothing and walked with his teacher. "Lyle, I saw what happened at Orchard Farm, and I must say I am surprised at your brutality."

"Are you Maze?" he asked.

"Listen Lyle, I know where you are going with this. Just because bandits killed your family when you were young doesn't mean you can take your revenge out on every bandit out there."

"I did nothing to be ashamed of." said Lyle.

"Doing something illegal and doing something to be ashamed of are two different things Lyle. Bandits are free game and are allowed to be killed at will, but killing an unconscious man, bandit or not, is nothing short of murder." said Maze.

"You of all people should understand what they did. You saw my village and what they took from me, my mother, my father, my sister, and my life! They took it all from me without an ounce of mercy! Why should I show those mercy who would give none when asked?" yelled Lyle.

"Because you are better than them!" shouted Maze back. Their shouting had attracted the attention of everyone in the mess hall. "Or at least I thought you were." said Maze. He turned and left Lyle standing speechless.

Lyle looked at everyone staring at him and glared. "What!?" he shouted and they all jumped in surprise, then went back to their food in silence.

OoOoO

Lyle slept the rest of the day away. The long day was washed away in his dreams, only to bring nightmares of his childhood back. He stood in the middle of his village and watched his loved ones burning alive, screaming in agony. He covered his ears to try and block out the screams, but they only became louder and louder, almsot driving him deaf.

Lyle opened his eyes and saw in front of him a dark figure. The man stood shadowed by his red cloak which flapped in the breeze that fed the flames around him. The man looked at Lyle with piercing eyes, his face still shadowed. A dark smile formed across the mans face and he walked up close to Lyle, then bent down close to him.

Lyle was terrified, but he couldn't move to run. He stared into the mans eyes, filling him with fear and hatred.

"Boo!" shouted the cloaked man, and Lyle awoke, terrified and sweating profusely.

He quickly looked around to make sure he was back in reality, then relaxed. He wiped the sweat from his head, then got out of the bed. Standing to his feet, he walked down the stairs of the Bowerstone Inn and into a room of crowded people. They all went silent as he walked down the stairs and just stared at him. Lyle looked around and continued to walk down the stairs.

He stopped at a table where a large built man was staring at him. Lyle couldn't tell if these people were ashamed of him, or afraid of him. After a moment, he decided to find out. Looking at the man, he figured that he had been a hero before for a good few decades, not an easy man to scare. Suddenly, Lyle jerked his body forward as if he were going to hit the man, but stopped, a typical intimidation technique. The mans reaction answered Lyle's question clearly enough. The man fell backwards out of his seat in fright and started to crawl away.

Everybody in the inn glared at Lyle as he exited and said nothing. Lyle decided to go back to the guild for some reading. It would be a healthy way to take his mind off the world, something he seemed to want to do a lot these days. When he had arrived at the guild, he grabbed a book without even looking at the title and walked to the library on the other side of the Will training area. It was his favorite place to go when he was troubled by his dreams because the peace and emptiness inside shut the outside world off.

He walked inside and closed the stone door, then looked at the place. It was beautiful as usual. A soft grassy floor covered the entire place and in the corner was a small pond that shimmered as the pyro flies, as Lyle had come to call them, sent dim light across the surface making it look like liquid gold. It was a small place, but extremely comfortable with four bookshelves on the wall and a table and chair in the center.

Lyle walked over and sat at the table, then lit the candle in the center of it with a half made fireball. Dim light now flooded the walls and Lyle layed the book on the table. As he saw the title, he nearly threw the book at the wall in anger. "Arctic Monsters" was the title of the book, but Lyle just sighed and flipped through the pages. After a while of flipping he stopped at a page with a familiar monster on it. Looking at the page, he read...

Snow Troll

Average Weight: 4200 lbs.

Average Height: 8 foot and 5 inches

Diet: Balances between minerals found under arctic tundras and dead plants.

Snow Trolls are common among cold climates such as the glacier valleys or the Antigra mountains. They will always be found in cold weather and can not last 24 hours without a constant tempurature of below -20 degrees. If outside of its habitat too long, it will overheat and die withing a day of leaving.

Always aggressive, they can be found smashing random objects to pieces on the cold plains. Are very territorial and will kill anything that comes within range of their murderous bludgeoning arms. Unlike its relatives, the Snow Trolls ice covered body rather limits its movement and strength capabilities. The average Snow Troll can toss a 200 pound boulder only 100 yards as opposed to the 500 yards of its relatives, the Earth, Rock, Onyx, and Coal trolls.

Lyles eyes widened as he read the last passage. Standing up he began to calculate in his head. "The Snow Troll weighed about four thousand pounds according to the impact it made, and about eight foot even. Now, thats less than average so say that he could throw a two hundred pound boulder only ninety yards." he said thoughtfully. "Alex weighed from one hundred to one hundred and ten judging by her...figure. So do the math and...he would have thrown her about a hundred and eighty yards at most. Thats still within swimming distance and landing in water couldn't have knocked her out...could it?" he asked. His eyes widened and he ran out of the library and back to Bowerstone.

OoOoO

Lyle ran back to Bowerstone and into the inn, almost impaling one of the guards as he tossed his sword to him, and his bow to the other. Screeching to a halt everyone gasped and looked at him, expecting him to explode and kill everyone. Lyle looked around and spotted the man he was looking for. Walking up to him, he said, "You...you were there when Briar Rose was challenging me weren't you?" he asked. The man nodded. "Are you also the man who said his sister was in Hook Coast when I killed that troll?" The man nodded again. "Good, where is your sister now?"

"S-She runs the barber shop in town..." said the man.

Lyle patted the man on the back and ran out of the inn. "You fool! You told that killer where to find your sister!" shouted one of the other men at his table.

"Oh no, I didn't think..."

"After him!" shouted a patron and they all led a mad charge after Lyle.

Lyle made it to the barber shop in record time. As he went inside, he saw a woman bending over the chair and inspecting it. "One second please." she said, and Lyle sat down. After finishing, she turned around and smiled at him. "Okay, may I help you?" she asked. Lyle was surprised at her attractivness. She was rather tall and had pale white skin. Her ebony hair was tied into a ponytail and had several decorations sticking out of the base of it. She wore a black dress that showed curves to die for with fur trimmings around the edges.

"You aren't afraid of me?" he asked rather distracted.

"I see no reason to be. All you did was killed a bandit, they all deserve nothing less if you ask me." she said.

Lyle smiled and scratched his head. "Uh, thanks...Anyway, I came here to ask a question." he said. She nodded and he continued. "Do you remember back in Hook Coast when I was fighting that troll?" he asked.

"Oh yes, you were very brave." she commented.

"Thanks again." he said standing up. "But what I came to ask is if you remember what the ocean was like on that day."

She smiled. "Luckily for you, I happened to be staring at the ocean before the troll attacked. It was quite calm that day, a very beautiful sunrise too I might add..." she said, but her speech was mumbled as Lyle grabbed her and kissed her. Her eyes widened when he let go and she put a hand over her mouth. "O-Oh my..." she said blushing.

"Thank you much, I have to go now." he said and ran out the door again.

She smiled. "Hmm...I'll have to go there more often."

OoOoO

The group of inn patrons bent over half way there and stopped to take a rest. One of them looked up at the sun and said, "That boy can run sure enough..."

"Look! Here he comes!" shouted one. They all stood up and grabbed the makeshift weapons they had brought with them. "Spread out so he can't get through." They did as told and watched in fear as Lyle the Sabre sped towards them at amazing speed.

Lyle looked in the path and saw the road block ahead of him. Angrily, he yelled, "Get out of the way!"

"Not until I avenge my sister!" shouted one of them.

"What?" he asked. Growling, he said, "I don't have time for this." He ran faster and all the villagers shook as he approached. Lyle ran and slammed a foot down in front of them and launched himself into the air and landed on one of the villagers shoulders. Launching himself again, he landed on the other side and kept running.

The villagers just stood there petrified, waiting to be slain. The one in front opened one eye and looked, then opened his other and looked around in surprise. "Huh? Where did he go?" The others opened their eyes and looked around as well, not noticing their dazed comrade on the ground.

Lyle continued to run with a smiled on his face. "Van, I got some good news."