I need a new water container. Getting tired of the one I have now.

Chapter 8 – The Princess, The Elf, The Demon and The Wanderer Part 8

"Freya come on!"

"SHUT UP!"

"You can't be mad it forever!"

"WATCH ME!"

The Defense force along with Bean, Elfo, and Luci rode on their horses back Southwold. Bean, with her companions, were in the back as they watched Koga and Freya argue upfront. Fergus, who was riding with Sophie had his eyes closed as he rested softly. He did however let out a small chuckle as he listened to Koga and Freya argue. Sophie giggled as well. "My goodness those two haven't changed at all," She said with a smile on her face. "This is the most energized I've seen Freya in a while."

"Really?" said Bean turning to Sophie.

"Yup," Sophie replied with a nod. "Freya was well…still Freya, but she kept to herself half the time. She spent a lot of her time with Barbara helping her out in the inn when she was not doing anything with the defense force."

Archie began to snicker "I guess seeing her childhood crush brought back her spirits!" He chuckled.

"WHAT WAS THAT ARCHIE?" Freya turned her to face him with a death glare.

Archie gasped "N-Nothing! I said, childhood friend! YEAH, FRIEND!"

Koga looks at Freya and smirked "So you missed me huh?" He said playfully.

"One more word out of ye and I'm going to knock your head off!" Freya threatened while pointing her finger at Koga. Koga sighed but had a smile on his face.

"So what's your name?" Sophie said to Bean.

"Oh, my name is Bean," Bean replied. "This is Elfo and Luci,"

"HI I'm Elfo!" said Elfo happily.

"I just introduced you Elfo…" said Bean softly

"Sup Cutie," said Luci with a wink.

Sophie giggled "My name is Sophie! I'm the captain of the archery team for the defense force. " she replied, "The goofball over there is Archie!" She gestures her head towards the crimson-haired boy with freckles.

Archie waves his hand at Bean with a beaming smile "Greetings!" He said cheerfully. "I'm a part of Sophie's team! Although my bow skills could use some work…"

"A LOT of work!" Sophie teased.

"Get off my back already!" Archie groaned.

Bean giggled hearing their short back and forth. After a while, the party had made it back to Southwold. They were greeted by the town citizens waiting by the entrance of the forest. Everyone rode past the civilians as they cheered for the returning party. Once they made it to the defense force headquarters

"KOGA! FERGUS! OH, SWEET HEAVENS!" Barbara cried as she wrapped her arms around Koga and hugged him as he got off the horse. "YOU'RE ALIVE! THANK GOODNESS!"

"Yes the stupid tall bastard is alive!" said Freya as she helped Sophie and Archie get Fergus off of the horse. "Should've left him in the forest!" She, along with Archie and Sophie helped Fergus back into the building.

Barbara then lets go of Koga and gave him a stern look "What were you thinking when you ran off on your own?! What if couldn't handle it on your own? You could've wound up dead!"

Koga waves her down "Oh come on that was easy! Freya's just overreacting! I could've got Fergus back on my own no problem!"

Barbara just shakes her head in disappointment "You've grown to let all of your strength get to your head! Now you're not thinking of anyone's feelings! BAH!" Barbara turns around and storms off back to her inn.

Koga watched her walk away with a confused look on his face. "What the hell has gotten into her? Seriously she's been on my ass since I got back."

"Jeez Koga you sure have a way with women," said Bean as she follows Barbara back to the inn "After all of that I'm going to need a few drinks."

"I'm with you on that," Luci agreed as he followed along.

"Yeah I'm going to need to use the bathroom first…" said Elfo as he followed along.

Bean, Luci, and Elfo entered the bar. The three of them walk up to the front desk where Barbara was cleaning the counter with an angry expression on her face. "I swear that boy is a piece of work! I'll never understand what goes through his mind!" She ranted on.

"Hey Barbara!" said Bean happily as she sat down on the stool.

"Oh, Beanie dear hello! I'm sorry I didn't greet you all when you came back! Are you ok?" said Barbara sweetly.

"Oh it's fine don't worry! And yeah we're fine! My fear of spiders is now through the roof but at least we're alive!"

"Eh it wasn't that scary," said Luci with a shrug.

"Yeah I'm sure I saw you screaming along with me big bad demon," said Elfo, smirking at Luci.

Luci then whacked Elfo in the face with his tail knocking him off the stool.

"OW!" said Elfo.

"As I said it wasn't that scary," Luci said one more.

"Well, all that matters is that you three of you are safe!" said Barbara reaching over and rubbing Beans cheek softly. "Now, here you go! Drink up!" She places three full mugs on the table.

"You read my mind!" said Bean, as she along Luci and Elfo take big sips out of their drinks and lets out a big sigh of satisfaction when they were done.

The front doors to the bar opened and in came Koga. He strolled over to the front desk and sat down. He had his chin rested in the palm of his left hand and had an annoyed look on his face.

"Hey Koga," said Elfo staring at him.

Koga responded with a grumble.

Barbara didn't take too much attention from his attitude and asked "Is Fergus ok?" Koga replies, "Oh yeah he's fine; he's at the headquarters resting up." He then began tapping his fingers on the side of his cheek. Luci grins "You think he's ok enough to ask questions? Like what was it like to sleep with a spider girl? I wonder if the hairy legs got in the way!" Luci then laughs at the thought.

"Luci ew…I'm trying to drink here," said Bean in a disgusted tone. But then she wondered "Where do you even put your thing in a spider?"

"Oh my god…" Elfo said placing his hands over his pointy ears. "Please change the topic!"

"No, I wanna talk about Spider Sex!" Luci said in a devious tone towards Elfo. Elfo let out a grumble of annoyance.

Koga turns over to Bean "Hey Bean…you're a girl…"

Bean paused for a moment "Uh…yeah…I am?" She said raising a brow at him. "You just realized that now?"

"If you were mad at someone…what would it take to make them forgive you?"

Bean thought about it for a moment. "Well, I'd want to them to get on their hands and knees and beg for forgiveness as they cry their hearts out like the pathetic worm that they are. Then they'll realize that they'll never cross me again."

Koga, Elfo, and Luci just stared at Bean.

"Why are you women like this?" Koga said, staring at Bean in utter shock.

"What? Those are reasonable demands," Bean said as she took another sip of her beer.

"And you wonder why you're single," said Luci.

Barbara crossed her arms and stared at Koga. "So you're worried about trying to get Freya to forgive you eh?"

"Well yeah of course!" said Koga placing his eyes on Barbara "I don't understand what her issue is! If I can handle something on my own I can handle it! People should just be glad about that! I can do all of the work twice as fast and they don't have to worry about losing anyone! I'm strong enough to take on a small army if given the chance!"

Barbara shakes her head once again "Oh Koga; we know how strong you are. But you're not thinking about how others feel about you! You're only thinking with your strength! And let me tell you something, strength isn't everything! They'll be times where you can't rely on how strong you are. Having people that love and care for you is just as important as any strength! Remember that!"

Koga didn't know how to reply. All he did was place his left elbow on the table and place his chin in the palm of his hand. He would then trail off into his world in deep thought.

Bean began to think about Barbara's words. She began thinking about Dreamland, she thought about her father, her mother Dagmar who passed, her step-mother Oona, her step-brother Derek…and her- "NO!" Bean thought as she shook her head. They didn't care about her…if they did she wouldn't have run away from home. As soon as her sadness began kicking in Barbara filled up her mug. Bean looked up at Barbara who smiled at her. "Looks like you could use another round deary." She said softly.

Bean smiled up at her "Yeah…I do…" she replied tiredly.

Koga would get up from his seat and he walks past Bean, Elfo, and Luci. "I'm heading to my room. Just knock if you need me…" He said as he disappeared off to the back.

"Is he going to be ok?" Elfo asked.

"Oh don't worry about him; he needs to think more often!" said Barbara.

Once that was done the bar began to empty and nighttime was arriving. Bean along with her two companions was in their room getting ready for bed. It seems as though Koga decided to sleep in his room tonight. Bean lay's on her bed staring up at the ceiling. Luci looks over at Bean "Sooo…what are we going to do?" He asked.

"Do what?" Bean asked.

"Oh, I don't know; Leave?" Luci replied, "You have missed out on so many chances to run away; I don't have enough fingers to count them."

"You don't have that many fingers, to begin with," said Bean as she continued to stare up at the ceiling.

"That's beside the point. So what are we going to do?"

Bean turns over just closes her eyes; What was she going to do? If she was being honest she didn't want to leave Southwold. She loved talking to Barbara; she and Freya had become somewhat good friends and the townsfolk were so nice. She didn't want to leave. "I don't know Luci…just let me rest already…" She replied annoyed. Luci just shrugs and curls up in a ball. "Your funeral girl…" He said before closing his eyes.

As bean closed her eyes she felt a wave of different emotions from inside her. The first sudden emotion she felt was immense worry. The worry wasn't from being taken back to dreamland but from something else. She didn't know where this was coming from. The next emotion was sadness; It wasn't from earlier when she was thinking about her family. But…one face popped up in her mind when she was about to doze off.

"Brother…" She whispered.

Memories of the past began to fill her dreams throughout the night.

Morning arrived as Bean wakes up to the sound of birds and the chatter downstairs. Bean lays up stretches, but she flinches a little bit. Bean had forgotten about the wound on her shoulder that was still healing. Bean looks around the room to see Luci and Elfo was not in the room. As Bean was about to get out of bed and pull the covers off of her; the memory of her dream began to flood her mind. Bean paused for a moment taking them in. Why was she remembering all of this now? "Am I missing him?" Bean thought. "Why am I thinking about it? He doesn't even care about me…" Bean takes the covers off of her and heads downstairs. Once she arrived at the bar she saw across the room that Luci was sitting at the table with the same citizens he was playing cards with yesterday.

"I got you this time you feline!" said One player.

"Oh really?" Luci replied confidently.

"I got both of you!" said Another player. He places his cards on the ground. "Beat that!"

"BAH! TAKE THIS!" said Another player. He places his cards on the table and everyone else groaned tossing their cards on the table in defeat.

"Not bad boys; But that won't be enough!" said Luci as he laid his cards on the table. The one player who thought he we one slams his fist in table cursing. Luci just grins and takes the money on the table.

Bean laughed softly as she walks over to the front counter and sits down at the stool. "Morning Beanie!" said Barbara gleaming.

"Morning Barbara," said Bean with a half-smile. "Hey, have you seen Elfo?" She asked placing her arms on the table and laying her head down on them.

"Oh the last time I saw him he went out with Koga to watch him train!"

"Train? As strong as Koga is I didn't think he still needed it," said Bean surprised.

"Oh, he hardly ever did when he was still growing. He usually did it when he had something he thinks hard about!"

"Freya?" Bean said

"Freya," Barbara nods. The two of them would then share a laugh.

"So where does Koga train? I wanted to talk to him if I saw him down here."

"He should be out by the big tree that's in the heart of the town! Go up a hill that's to the right and he should be there!"

"Thanks, Barbara!" said Bean getting up from her seat. "Oh, can I get a drink for the road?"

"Of course dear! Here you go!" said Barbara pouring her a mug.

Bean grabs a mug and she takes a sip "Thanks, Barbara!" Bean looks over at Luci "Hey Luci I'm heading out! You wanna come?"

"Yup!" Luci hops off the table carrying a bag of coins. "Catch!" He tosses the bag of coins to Bean "Second time I made money for you! You're welcome!"

"Yeah yeah come on," said Bean as Luci hopped on her shoulders and the two of them head out of the inn.

Koga stood firmly still as he, with one hand, swung his greatsword in a downward motion and stops before the tip of the sword hit the ground. His greatsword was around 50 inches long with a grey furry pelt tied around the hilt. Elfo sat on a log with both his elbows rested on his thighs and both his hands cupped around his chin. Koga had his shirt off revealing his small but well-fit body. Koga looks over at Elfo for a moment and stares back at his sword. "So why'd you want to come? I'm sure this is pretty boring watching me do this over and over," Grunted Koga as he swung his sword again.

"Huh? Oh no, it's not! I think it's cool how you train!" said Elfo honestly.

Koga just chuckled "I usually don't do this often," He smiled as he thought back to the first time he did this training method "It's not recommended. I remember Fergus always telling me how redundant it is to do this."

"Well, I will admit it does look pretty tiring," Elfo said, watching Koga's arm as his mucle flexed. "Doesn't your arm hurt?" He asked curiously.

"No, it doesn't," Koga said as he held up his greatsword and he stares up at it. "It never did."

Elfo stared up at the sword as well. "How come you never use it?" He placed his eyes back on Koga.

"My greatsword? I never felt I needed to," Koga said simply. "I mean it would be overkill to use a greatsword on one person."

"I mean you could've used it on the spiders," Elfo said.

"I could've," Koga agreed. "But like I said; I didn't feel like I needed to." Koga would then grip his greatsword with both hands and starts swinging it in a downward motion.

Elfo then began to stare at Koga's body. He placed his on all of the scars that covered his back, shoulders, stomach, and breast area. "So many scars…" Elfo thought. "Hey, Koga…"

"Yeah?" Koga replied, grunting.

"Don't you ever get scared?"

"Scared of what?"

"You know…coming close to dying…"

Koga stopped swinging his sword and began to think. "Well…" He paused for a moment again. "Uhh…well…yeah I guess I get scared a few times. But hell It can be exciting too!" He lets out a laugh. "I mean coming close to death! Being backed into a corner fighting for your life! It's thrilling!"

"Wow…you aren't scared of anything huh?" said Elfo with an admiring smile.

"I mean when you've traveled and been to the places I've been too the feeling of fear wears off!" Koga chuckles. His laugh sounded so childlike.

"Have you been around the world?" Elfo asked eagerly.

"Nope. Not yet!" Koga said stabbing his greatsword into the ground and wiping the sweat off from his head. "You know you keep asking me questions; what about you? How'd you end up with a princess and a demon?"

"Oh! Well…" Elfo rubs the back of his head. He went on to explain how he got tired of living in his elm and wanted to go beyond making candy and being happy all of the time. Once he left his elm he found himself in the kingdom of dreamland and walked in on a wedding between Bean and Prince Merkmier.

Koga let out a loud laugh "You crashed a royal wedding! Impressive for your first time away from your elm!"

Elfo smiled softly "Haha…yeah it is huh?" He taps his two index fingers together "After that, we ran away from Dreamland, and…well we ran into you."

"Yeah you did," Koga said as he takes his greatsword out from the ground, cleans the tip of the blade, and places it back in the scabbard.

Elfo stared at the grey pelt that was wrapped around the hilt of the sword. "What's with the pelt?"

Koga stared at the wolf pelt "Oh…it's…" He went silent for a moment. "Just something to help me whenever I need some encouragement. It helps me remember I'm not alone."

"Oh…" said Elfo. "Yeah, I bet it can be pretty lonely out there. Traveling by yourself and all…"

Koga hoists his greatsword over his shoulders "It can be at times. But I don't think about it a lot," He grabs his shirt gripping it in his other hand. "I guess I don't mind being by myself. I was alone on my travels when I was 16. Although at times I did have traveling companions. Then I joined the order of the sword but I didn't stick around with them that long. He looks over at Elfo "I'm heading back. Ready to go?"

"Yeah I am!" said Elfo hopping off the log.

The two of them would walk down the path down the hill heading back into town. Little did they know…they were being watched. From afar. Three members of the order of the sword were eyeing them down through a telescope.

"There he is…" said One member.

One member laughed "Check out the Elf. That's the one Douglas mentioned."

"This is the first time I've seen an elf! He's pretty cute!"

"So what are we going to do sir?" A member asked Hector, who was sitting on a rock watching his members' scout Koga.

"That's good a question…" said Hector. He turns to another member who was examining a flower she picked. "What do you think Lavander? How shall we tackle this?"

The woman with bright purple hair and bright red lipstick. Her eyes were grey and her skin tone was lightly brown. She raises her head and looks over at Hector. "Silently," she replied.

"They'll never know what will hit them…"