Characters
Spoiler
Will be added in soon
Spoiler
Added in soon, I promise
Spoiler
As the sun rose over Arkene, it's cold light began to creep across the ends of the great mountain range that ran across almost all of the magical lands that could possibly house a creature or two. As it rose further, it reached the stone walls of a keep hidden in the north, far away from any travler's paths. In this keep were hundreds of creatures, and their magi. A Roc, Talaesys, was perched atop the single tower, watching the sun rise. Suddenly, he let out a cry loud enough to make a dragon in a den a mountain over roar at him. Talaesys simply smiled, his duty as alarm clock done. He took to the air, and soared off, looking for a adventure.
Bandit stretched and yawned, after Talaesys let out his shriek. There was a large, brown direwolf lying at the foot of his bed, fast asleep. As Bandit rolled out of bed, he almost landed on a large, dark green leopard with almost black horns on his head. Luckily for Silent Shadow, he was already awake, and faded into mist before Bandit landed.
“Aw, come on buddy! Can’t you let me land on you for once?” He complained, sitting up and rubbing his head where it had hit the hard stone floor. Shadows growled after reappearing on the opposite side of the room, and stalked out the door and down the stairs to the courtyard of the keep. Bandit stood up, and limped over to the dresser in the corner of the room to get his clothes. When he was halfway there, the direwolf raised its head to look at his master. It immediately whined, and put his face in his paws at the sight of his master half naked and walking across the room.
“Oh, come on Sir Issac. It’s not that bad.” Bandit laughed, turning to smile at his loyal guard dog once he reached the dresser. He put on his pants first, to make Sir Issac MacBriar stop whining, then put on the rest of his outfit. He wore a pair of dark brown pants, with a dark brown shirt with a brown poncho-looking thing with a hood. The poncho was furred around the edges, and had longer fur sleeves that covered his shoulders to make sure it stayed on. It was mostly to keep him warm in Arkene, where his keep was located.
His keep was right at the end of the Alasre mountains, where they began to turn into the flat lands of the north. Perched atop the largest and rockiest of these lower, snowier mountains, was Frostfire Keep. It looked like a old, abandoned fortress, with a single tower visible from behind a large stone wall. But really, it was anything but that.
Creatures from all places in the known world lived in it, big and small, peaceful and aggressive. Frostfire Keep had a large cavern system in the mountain it occupied; all of them were enchanted to suit different creature’s needs. One huge cavern was more than perfect for the creatures from the Jungle of Raza, while a slightly smaller one was well suited for creatures from the Etain Desert. It was like this throughout the cavern system, from ones for creatures from the Caves of Nareau, to a massive cavern for creatures from Silvia Forest, to a cavern for creatures from the volcanic land of Voltar, to one that mimicked the tropical climate of the Callisto Islands perfectly. The Voltar cavern was the lowest, with the Etainian cavern above it, while the Nareauian cavern was closest to the top due to its small size, but several large dragons could still fit in it. Bandit slowly wandered down the stairs with Sir Issac in tow, the Alphyn army behind him, headed to the stables, gardens, and beehives to help Bandit take care of the many creatures in them, and to help him grow the food they needed to survive. It was rather amusing, coming down from the keep’s tower to see a Telvian Panther and a Mist Stalker having a shouting match with a Ice gryphon as the judge. They were literally seeing who could yell the loudest.
“Kira! Shadows! What are you doing? Trying to cause a avalanche?” Bandit called. The two felines jumped in surprise, while the Ice gryphon laughed at them, and chose Kira, the Telvian Panther, as the winner. Silent Shadows hissed at her, and stalked down to the garden to oversee the Etainian Alphyns, and make sure they don’t harm the Moss Snails, Viridis crabs, Vasant beetles, or any other little creature that would hide in there. Kira padded over to Bandit and rubbed her head on his hand. She looked up at him, her big amber eyes staring up at him, begging to come along with him.
“Oh, all right. You can help me with the stables today. Periwinkle, are you alright looking after the beehives today?” Bandit asked the silvery-white gryphon as she walked over.
“Yes, I am fine with it.” She replied, waving her tail to gesture the Silvian Alphyns to follow her to the hives. Periwinkle and the Silvian Alphyns headed down the same tunnel that Silent Shadows had taken. The Savannah Alphyns ran after them, rushing to catch up to Shadows, now that they realized he was gone. Bandit, Kira, and the Savannah Alphyns walked after them, leaving the cold, bare courtyard behind as a light dusting of snow began to fall. The gardens, stables, and beehives were in enchanted caverns, just like everything else. In the cavern where the beehives were, there were flowers of all kinds, and of all colors, blooming and blossoming in the warm, magical light. Everywhere one looked, there was a large gold and black or silver bee, collecting pollen to bring back to one of the three large hives. One of these, a golden Aculeus that was slightly bigger than the others, buzzed over to Bandit. She crawled into his hood, and perched on his head, cuddling into his white hair, her head just barely visible under his hood. She was about the size of a deck of cards, and was as friendly as a excited puppy. Her three silver friends, who were about the same size as her, buzzed over to say hello. One of them decided that the stables would be a much better place to be than the hives, and perched on Kira’s head, obviously expecting a free ride. The other two joined her, and Kira was happy to oblige. Of course, with a bee that big, nobody really would say no. All of the other Aculeusi continued working, buzzing little hellos as the stable’s work force passed by their cavern.
Bandit smiled as he passed the gardens, where Silent Shadows and the Savannah Alphyns were working. Sir Issac barked a greeting to his mate, Meadowsong, as she carried a rose imp back to the rose bushes on the far side of the cavern.
It was the perfect temperature in the tunnels thanks to several enchantments that kept the cold air out of the tunnels, and therefore preserving each creature’s habitat. Bandit had tried very hard on the enchantment, working for at least three months, possibly more. His phoenix, Flame, had helped him perfect it in The Keep so he could use it on his own keep. Bandit stopped when they reached the stables. The others entered, and began to clean the stalls and let the creatures within out to the meadow, which was attached to the stables. A dark green serpent with orange feathers and a yellow underbelly was draped across the door to one of the stalls that held a Dark Pegasus. It raised its colorful head as he approached.
“Hello, Tristan, why are you up here, girl? I thought you didn’t like leaving the Raza cavern.” Bandit said, worried that something might be wrong with the lower habitats.
Tristan let out a happy chirping noise, and spread her green and orange wings. A letter tumbled out of the feathers, and Bandit bent down to pick it up. Kali, the Golden Aculeus, crawled off of Bandit’s head, and sat on his shoulder, buzzing impatiently. The Dark Pegasus in the stall kicked the door, neighing angrily.
“Oh, hush. You’ll be out in a minute.” Bandit told her. The Pegasus sighed, annoyed. Bandit leaned against the stall, as Tristan the Raza Quetzalcoatl wrapped herself around his arm and rested her head on his shoulder, waiting to see what this letter was for. Bandit broke the seal, and opened the letter, and began to read it aloud for his companions.
“Dear friend, it read, we have a problem at some of the Raza outposts. Someone has been setting them ablaze. We need a good mage to come down here and help us control these fires, and figure out who is causing them. Please inform us if you are too busy or cannot come for any reason. Sincerely, Lux Tide.” Bandit knew exactly who Lux Tide was. He was the owner of the Razian Trade Company, who specialized in trading goods from the Jungle of Raza. Bandit didn’t like him much, but someone could get hurt in one of those fires. He opened the Pegasus’s stall, and she trotted to the meadows after stepping on his foot.
“Real nice, Stardark!” Bandit shouted after her. Stardark whinnied, and kept trotting. A light brown Hippogryph with cream-colored horse hindquarters and a gentle smile on her beak approached him.
“Bandit, I think you should go. Take Kira, Silent Shadows, and Tristan. We can take care of the keep while you’re gone.” She said, scraping a talon on the ground. Bandit suddenly noticed that Stardark, Twilight Star the Dark Minicorn, Arkinine the Hellhound, Christmas the Coal Wyrm, Deadlie the Decessus, and Sparkler and Widowmaker the Arkai had gathered. He could hear Mintwing the Rewin Ancient breathing outside the stables. Bandit looked at his keep guardians, his dear friends who he would never part with, and sighed.
“Alright. I’ll go.” He looked at Summer Sandstorm Lightwing, the Hippogryph. “You might want to tell your parents that I’m leaving.” He said. Sir Issac looked up at him. “And Issac, you and your family is in charge of security. If anything goes wrong, send me a letter and I’ll come right back.” Bandit knew that his creatures would find a way to reach him, even if he was on the other side of the world.
“Mintwing, I hope you’re ready to take me there.” He called to the large dragon, as the other guardians dispersed as Summer Sandstorm gave them orders. Mintwing snorted, and began to head to the courtyard to prepare for a long flight. Bandit watched Sir Issac run off. Kira sat by his side, the three silver Aculeus still on her head.
“Kira, could you go get Silent Shadows? I need to go visit someone.” Kira looked up at her friend, gazing into his eyes.
“You think it’s him, don’t you?” she asked, her tone gentle, and voice still slightly raspy from her illness she had a few weeks ago.
“Yes. I do think it is.” Bandit admitted quietly. Kira blinked, and then stood to begin her walk to the courtyard. “Well, have fun visiting whoever you’re visiting.” She said as she exited the stables. The three silver bees took to flight, and perched on Bandit’s shoulder, next to Kali. They buzzed excitedly as Bandit started down towards his destination. He passed the Nareauian cavern, then the Silvian, then the Razian, and as he kept walking past all of the caverns, the Aculeusi’s buzzing became more and more confused. Bandit soon stopped at a large wooden door with glowing blue designs on it, and two unlit torches on each side of it. The designs appeared to depict a large sea serpent, a fish, a large squid, or possibly a octopus, swimming in the sea, with the serpent’s head out of the water, while a red design above them appeared to be a firey bird of some sort. As Tristan and the Aculeusi looked closer, they could see another glowing marking on the serpent’s head, one that seemed to change from a pale blue, to a bright orange as they looked at it.
Bandit took a deep breath, and said a simple spell that would light both sets of torches. As the torches burst into flame, the door began to creak open. The first thing that struck Tristan as surprising was the fact that there were giant gemstones growing out of the floor and walls of the cavern that glittered in the light, in all colors of the rainbow, thanks to several large holes in the cavern’s ceiling.
It’s just like the Caves of Nareau! She thought, remembering her trip there to help Bandit find a small gemstone to give to a friend. The one she found was bright green, with stripes of orange and yellow, of course, but Bandit thought it was very pretty anyways, and chose it to give to his friend. Tristan also noticed that the ground behind the door created a large, perfect semicircle surrounded by dark water. Bandit was now standing in the middle of this semicircle, looking for something in the dark waters. She unwrapped herself from Bandit’s arm, and flew over the water, trying to find what Bandit was looking for. Suddenly, a large green serpent’s head broke through the water very quickly, scaring Tristan, and making her fly back to Bandit faster than she ever had. She quickly zipped past a startled Phoenix, and into Bandit’s hood, poking her head out ever so slightly, eyes wide with fear.
“Hello, Destar.” Bandit said calmly, greeting the Forest Leviathan by name. Destar smiled at him, happy to see his old friend once more. A purple Koi fish swam up and poked her head out of the water, and a Kraken appeared seconds later, eager to see Bandit once more. The phoenix Tristan had flown past earlier was now perched on a pale yellow crystal near the water that appeared to have grown perfectly as a perch, but upon closer inspection, was actually carved to be that way.
“Hello, Bandit.” as the Phoenix spoke, patterns and designs lit up in the crystals, depicting the four creatures and the pale blue and bright orange figure going on many adventures, from the Callisto islands, to faraway lands, with no known name to the people in this small spot of the world. In one, Kali and Tristan recognized the form of a gryphon, and assumed that that was when they met Josh Lightwing, the Gold Gryphon, patriarch of the most powerful family in the keep, husband to Alabaster Queen the Light Pegasus, and one of Bandit’s few father figures. As the four bees and Quetzalcoatl admired the multicolored depictions, Bandit and his four old friends began to discuss what was worrying him.
“Are you sure it’s him?” Destar asked, in his gravelly, deep voice once Bandit was done describing what was happening in Raza. Magic, the Koi, looked worried, as did Deepie, the Kraken.
“Not really, but it might be.” Bandit sighed, looking to Flame the phoenix for help.
“I think you should go and stop him. You know him best. You know his strengths, his flaws, his breaking point. You must go. You must stop him.” Flame met Bandit’s gaze, and the mage knew his friend was right.
“I better get ready then. I don’t want to keep Mintwing and the others waiting.” Bandit said, looking at all of his friends in turn.
“Farewell, and good luck be with you.” Magic sighed in her beautiful voice. She viewed Bandit as a son, a son who she might lose on the journey he was about to embark on, if their fears were correct.
“Good luck, Bandit. And beware the Raznaks. There have been more attacks than usual this season” Deepie croaked, her beak slightly submerged.
Destar leaned down and nuged Bandit. “Don’t mind them, those two old ladies. You’ll be fine. A Frost-Fire can always achieve what they put their minds to.” He told Bandit, winking. Bandit smiled, and hugged his ‘brother’s’ nose. His family had no official last name, but Destar and Fame had given ‘Frost-Fire’ enough times on their travels enough for it to stick.
As Bandit began to head to the courtyard of the keep, he heard the two ladies arguing with Destar as Flame laughed. “Old ladies?! I’m not old!” he heard Magic shout as he walked up the tunnels to the above ground part of the keep.
Bandit stretched and yawned, after Talaesys let out his shriek. There was a large, brown direwolf lying at the foot of his bed, fast asleep. As Bandit rolled out of bed, he almost landed on a large, dark green leopard with almost black horns on his head. Luckily for Silent Shadow, he was already awake, and faded into mist before Bandit landed.
“Aw, come on buddy! Can’t you let me land on you for once?” He complained, sitting up and rubbing his head where it had hit the hard stone floor. Shadows growled after reappearing on the opposite side of the room, and stalked out the door and down the stairs to the courtyard of the keep. Bandit stood up, and limped over to the dresser in the corner of the room to get his clothes. When he was halfway there, the direwolf raised its head to look at his master. It immediately whined, and put his face in his paws at the sight of his master half naked and walking across the room.
“Oh, come on Sir Issac. It’s not that bad.” Bandit laughed, turning to smile at his loyal guard dog once he reached the dresser. He put on his pants first, to make Sir Issac MacBriar stop whining, then put on the rest of his outfit. He wore a pair of dark brown pants, with a dark brown shirt with a brown poncho-looking thing with a hood. The poncho was furred around the edges, and had longer fur sleeves that covered his shoulders to make sure it stayed on. It was mostly to keep him warm in Arkene, where his keep was located.
His keep was right at the end of the Alasre mountains, where they began to turn into the flat lands of the north. Perched atop the largest and rockiest of these lower, snowier mountains, was Frostfire Keep. It looked like a old, abandoned fortress, with a single tower visible from behind a large stone wall. But really, it was anything but that.
Creatures from all places in the known world lived in it, big and small, peaceful and aggressive. Frostfire Keep had a large cavern system in the mountain it occupied; all of them were enchanted to suit different creature’s needs. One huge cavern was more than perfect for the creatures from the Jungle of Raza, while a slightly smaller one was well suited for creatures from the Etain Desert. It was like this throughout the cavern system, from ones for creatures from the Caves of Nareau, to a massive cavern for creatures from Silvia Forest, to a cavern for creatures from the volcanic land of Voltar, to one that mimicked the tropical climate of the Callisto Islands perfectly. The Voltar cavern was the lowest, with the Etainian cavern above it, while the Nareauian cavern was closest to the top due to its small size, but several large dragons could still fit in it. Bandit slowly wandered down the stairs with Sir Issac in tow, the Alphyn army behind him, headed to the stables, gardens, and beehives to help Bandit take care of the many creatures in them, and to help him grow the food they needed to survive. It was rather amusing, coming down from the keep’s tower to see a Telvian Panther and a Mist Stalker having a shouting match with a Ice gryphon as the judge. They were literally seeing who could yell the loudest.
“Kira! Shadows! What are you doing? Trying to cause a avalanche?” Bandit called. The two felines jumped in surprise, while the Ice gryphon laughed at them, and chose Kira, the Telvian Panther, as the winner. Silent Shadows hissed at her, and stalked down to the garden to oversee the Etainian Alphyns, and make sure they don’t harm the Moss Snails, Viridis crabs, Vasant beetles, or any other little creature that would hide in there. Kira padded over to Bandit and rubbed her head on his hand. She looked up at him, her big amber eyes staring up at him, begging to come along with him.
“Oh, all right. You can help me with the stables today. Periwinkle, are you alright looking after the beehives today?” Bandit asked the silvery-white gryphon as she walked over.
“Yes, I am fine with it.” She replied, waving her tail to gesture the Silvian Alphyns to follow her to the hives. Periwinkle and the Silvian Alphyns headed down the same tunnel that Silent Shadows had taken. The Savannah Alphyns ran after them, rushing to catch up to Shadows, now that they realized he was gone. Bandit, Kira, and the Savannah Alphyns walked after them, leaving the cold, bare courtyard behind as a light dusting of snow began to fall. The gardens, stables, and beehives were in enchanted caverns, just like everything else. In the cavern where the beehives were, there were flowers of all kinds, and of all colors, blooming and blossoming in the warm, magical light. Everywhere one looked, there was a large gold and black or silver bee, collecting pollen to bring back to one of the three large hives. One of these, a golden Aculeus that was slightly bigger than the others, buzzed over to Bandit. She crawled into his hood, and perched on his head, cuddling into his white hair, her head just barely visible under his hood. She was about the size of a deck of cards, and was as friendly as a excited puppy. Her three silver friends, who were about the same size as her, buzzed over to say hello. One of them decided that the stables would be a much better place to be than the hives, and perched on Kira’s head, obviously expecting a free ride. The other two joined her, and Kira was happy to oblige. Of course, with a bee that big, nobody really would say no. All of the other Aculeusi continued working, buzzing little hellos as the stable’s work force passed by their cavern.
Bandit smiled as he passed the gardens, where Silent Shadows and the Savannah Alphyns were working. Sir Issac barked a greeting to his mate, Meadowsong, as she carried a rose imp back to the rose bushes on the far side of the cavern.
It was the perfect temperature in the tunnels thanks to several enchantments that kept the cold air out of the tunnels, and therefore preserving each creature’s habitat. Bandit had tried very hard on the enchantment, working for at least three months, possibly more. His phoenix, Flame, had helped him perfect it in The Keep so he could use it on his own keep. Bandit stopped when they reached the stables. The others entered, and began to clean the stalls and let the creatures within out to the meadow, which was attached to the stables. A dark green serpent with orange feathers and a yellow underbelly was draped across the door to one of the stalls that held a Dark Pegasus. It raised its colorful head as he approached.
“Hello, Tristan, why are you up here, girl? I thought you didn’t like leaving the Raza cavern.” Bandit said, worried that something might be wrong with the lower habitats.
Tristan let out a happy chirping noise, and spread her green and orange wings. A letter tumbled out of the feathers, and Bandit bent down to pick it up. Kali, the Golden Aculeus, crawled off of Bandit’s head, and sat on his shoulder, buzzing impatiently. The Dark Pegasus in the stall kicked the door, neighing angrily.
“Oh, hush. You’ll be out in a minute.” Bandit told her. The Pegasus sighed, annoyed. Bandit leaned against the stall, as Tristan the Raza Quetzalcoatl wrapped herself around his arm and rested her head on his shoulder, waiting to see what this letter was for. Bandit broke the seal, and opened the letter, and began to read it aloud for his companions.
“Dear friend, it read, we have a problem at some of the Raza outposts. Someone has been setting them ablaze. We need a good mage to come down here and help us control these fires, and figure out who is causing them. Please inform us if you are too busy or cannot come for any reason. Sincerely, Lux Tide.” Bandit knew exactly who Lux Tide was. He was the owner of the Razian Trade Company, who specialized in trading goods from the Jungle of Raza. Bandit didn’t like him much, but someone could get hurt in one of those fires. He opened the Pegasus’s stall, and she trotted to the meadows after stepping on his foot.
“Real nice, Stardark!” Bandit shouted after her. Stardark whinnied, and kept trotting. A light brown Hippogryph with cream-colored horse hindquarters and a gentle smile on her beak approached him.
“Bandit, I think you should go. Take Kira, Silent Shadows, and Tristan. We can take care of the keep while you’re gone.” She said, scraping a talon on the ground. Bandit suddenly noticed that Stardark, Twilight Star the Dark Minicorn, Arkinine the Hellhound, Christmas the Coal Wyrm, Deadlie the Decessus, and Sparkler and Widowmaker the Arkai had gathered. He could hear Mintwing the Rewin Ancient breathing outside the stables. Bandit looked at his keep guardians, his dear friends who he would never part with, and sighed.
“Alright. I’ll go.” He looked at Summer Sandstorm Lightwing, the Hippogryph. “You might want to tell your parents that I’m leaving.” He said. Sir Issac looked up at him. “And Issac, you and your family is in charge of security. If anything goes wrong, send me a letter and I’ll come right back.” Bandit knew that his creatures would find a way to reach him, even if he was on the other side of the world.
“Mintwing, I hope you’re ready to take me there.” He called to the large dragon, as the other guardians dispersed as Summer Sandstorm gave them orders. Mintwing snorted, and began to head to the courtyard to prepare for a long flight. Bandit watched Sir Issac run off. Kira sat by his side, the three silver Aculeus still on her head.
“Kira, could you go get Silent Shadows? I need to go visit someone.” Kira looked up at her friend, gazing into his eyes.
“You think it’s him, don’t you?” she asked, her tone gentle, and voice still slightly raspy from her illness she had a few weeks ago.
“Yes. I do think it is.” Bandit admitted quietly. Kira blinked, and then stood to begin her walk to the courtyard. “Well, have fun visiting whoever you’re visiting.” She said as she exited the stables. The three silver bees took to flight, and perched on Bandit’s shoulder, next to Kali. They buzzed excitedly as Bandit started down towards his destination. He passed the Nareauian cavern, then the Silvian, then the Razian, and as he kept walking past all of the caverns, the Aculeusi’s buzzing became more and more confused. Bandit soon stopped at a large wooden door with glowing blue designs on it, and two unlit torches on each side of it. The designs appeared to depict a large sea serpent, a fish, a large squid, or possibly a octopus, swimming in the sea, with the serpent’s head out of the water, while a red design above them appeared to be a firey bird of some sort. As Tristan and the Aculeusi looked closer, they could see another glowing marking on the serpent’s head, one that seemed to change from a pale blue, to a bright orange as they looked at it.
Bandit took a deep breath, and said a simple spell that would light both sets of torches. As the torches burst into flame, the door began to creak open. The first thing that struck Tristan as surprising was the fact that there were giant gemstones growing out of the floor and walls of the cavern that glittered in the light, in all colors of the rainbow, thanks to several large holes in the cavern’s ceiling.
It’s just like the Caves of Nareau! She thought, remembering her trip there to help Bandit find a small gemstone to give to a friend. The one she found was bright green, with stripes of orange and yellow, of course, but Bandit thought it was very pretty anyways, and chose it to give to his friend. Tristan also noticed that the ground behind the door created a large, perfect semicircle surrounded by dark water. Bandit was now standing in the middle of this semicircle, looking for something in the dark waters. She unwrapped herself from Bandit’s arm, and flew over the water, trying to find what Bandit was looking for. Suddenly, a large green serpent’s head broke through the water very quickly, scaring Tristan, and making her fly back to Bandit faster than she ever had. She quickly zipped past a startled Phoenix, and into Bandit’s hood, poking her head out ever so slightly, eyes wide with fear.
“Hello, Destar.” Bandit said calmly, greeting the Forest Leviathan by name. Destar smiled at him, happy to see his old friend once more. A purple Koi fish swam up and poked her head out of the water, and a Kraken appeared seconds later, eager to see Bandit once more. The phoenix Tristan had flown past earlier was now perched on a pale yellow crystal near the water that appeared to have grown perfectly as a perch, but upon closer inspection, was actually carved to be that way.
“Hello, Bandit.” as the Phoenix spoke, patterns and designs lit up in the crystals, depicting the four creatures and the pale blue and bright orange figure going on many adventures, from the Callisto islands, to faraway lands, with no known name to the people in this small spot of the world. In one, Kali and Tristan recognized the form of a gryphon, and assumed that that was when they met Josh Lightwing, the Gold Gryphon, patriarch of the most powerful family in the keep, husband to Alabaster Queen the Light Pegasus, and one of Bandit’s few father figures. As the four bees and Quetzalcoatl admired the multicolored depictions, Bandit and his four old friends began to discuss what was worrying him.
“Are you sure it’s him?” Destar asked, in his gravelly, deep voice once Bandit was done describing what was happening in Raza. Magic, the Koi, looked worried, as did Deepie, the Kraken.
“Not really, but it might be.” Bandit sighed, looking to Flame the phoenix for help.
“I think you should go and stop him. You know him best. You know his strengths, his flaws, his breaking point. You must go. You must stop him.” Flame met Bandit’s gaze, and the mage knew his friend was right.
“I better get ready then. I don’t want to keep Mintwing and the others waiting.” Bandit said, looking at all of his friends in turn.
“Farewell, and good luck be with you.” Magic sighed in her beautiful voice. She viewed Bandit as a son, a son who she might lose on the journey he was about to embark on, if their fears were correct.
“Good luck, Bandit. And beware the Raznaks. There have been more attacks than usual this season” Deepie croaked, her beak slightly submerged.
Destar leaned down and nuged Bandit. “Don’t mind them, those two old ladies. You’ll be fine. A Frost-Fire can always achieve what they put their minds to.” He told Bandit, winking. Bandit smiled, and hugged his ‘brother’s’ nose. His family had no official last name, but Destar and Fame had given ‘Frost-Fire’ enough times on their travels enough for it to stick.
As Bandit began to head to the courtyard of the keep, he heard the two ladies arguing with Destar as Flame laughed. “Old ladies?! I’m not old!” he heard Magic shout as he walked up the tunnels to the above ground part of the keep.
