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"I told you so," Karna said smugly. “Now hand it over. A bet is a bet.” She snapped her fingers in a ‘hurry up’ gesture.

“Why did I bother? And why am I not even surprised?” Miralen complained while sitting on the back of her wolf and tossed over some coins. The value was inconsequential, so the monetary loss didn’t really matter. Losing a bet in general was annoying though.

“It was a stupid bet. You should’ve known better.” Mayumi commented from the top of her floating giant snowflake.

“I know, but what were the odds really? This shouldn’t have happened.” Miralen continued protesting.

“Could you three be serious for a moment?” Sieg demanded, though even his tone was a little half-hearted. “We’re still being ambushed, albeit in a fairly incompetent manner.”

“Oi! Whatchu mean badly?! ‘Tis a perfectly good ambush!” The bandit leader protested. He tried to look menacing with a giant weapon and even an eye-patch on his scarred face, but it was clear that he didn’t actually need the prop eye-covering, and it was just being used for effect.

“First of all, you may have been able to hide your presence, but your companions were not able to do the same. They stood out like a sore thumb in the middle of this terrain. ” Shaheera criticized. “Besides, why are you speaking like that? I can still sense the remaining holy power you used to possess. We all know you used to be a Holy Knight. Holy Knights are taught proper etiquette and I know you can speak properly. You also should’ve been able to arrange a proper ambush instead of this mess. Were you trying to get caught?”

“You try working with underlings who can barely even swing a sword and can’t even bother to train in the basics!” The bandit leader said angrily, stomping his foot and tossing away the useless eye-patch. “Now enough blabbering! Leave behind all your valuables. And the women. Definitely the women.”

"I think we'll just decline, thank you very much," Sieg stated firmly.

“That’s not really how bandit attacks work. You don’t get to refuse.” The bandit leader retorted.

“And yet, here we are.” Sieg shrugged. “Now what are you going to do about it?”

“Charge!” The bandit leader shouted, though he had a bad feeling about the whole thing. His underlings were numerous, but he hadn’t lied when he said they were poorly trained. They had used to be peasants and maybe at best town guards before becoming bandits. That made them physically fairly strong, but not exactly the most skilled or disciplined fighters. And the people in front of him didn’t seem too phased by the numbers. He had been hoping they’d just surrender quietly as most before had. Why would any skilled groups appear in the middle of fucking nowhere?!

“Pattern delta!” Shaheera shouted.

Suddenly large walls of Qhaysh rose on both sides of the group, cutting off the attack path from those directions and funneling the rest of the bandits into two narrow paths. Then Miralen, Mayumi, and Shaheera cast their spells, cutting down the nicely grouped up enemies in a hail of magic. Travan took care of anyone that managed to survive the sudden attack with his magical bow, while Sieg seemed to almost be dancing as he cut his way through the enemies and reached the bandit leader, and the two engaged in a battle that was a lot more equal than the rest of the mess.

“Switch!” Shaheera called out, and the walls seemed to shatter as they suddenly turned into floating swords and arrow before being shot outwards, right at the bandits that were still circling around the walls and were caught completely by surprise. Most of them were cut down before they even noticed what hit them. The group members then all chose a side and started to take down any remaining targets from range.

This was just one of the tactics they had practiced during the lessons, and they had a hundred other variations for various situations. As only Karna, Shaheera, Miralen, and Mayumi were practiced with these particular tactics, they’d gone with a simple one. They’d have to share their bag of tricks with Travan and Sieg as they traveled, but as the two had also taken part in tactics lessons, they generally knew how to react. Sieg had even brainstormed some of the tactics with Rein before, so only Travan was mostly ignorant of them, which is why he was taking a more passive role for now.

Soon enough the other bandits had been dealt with, cut down like weeds by the much better-trained group, so the only one remaining was Sieg, who was fighting the bandit leader. “Go-go Sieg! You can do it!” Miralen cheered.

"Stop playing around with the poor man and just end it," Shaheera called out instead.

"I'm not playing around," Sieg grunted. Despite having lost the powers he’d been blessed with by the Divines, the man he was fighting used to be a Holy Knight, one of the most powerful defenders of the old Holy Kingdom. Just because the man had lost some of his powers, that didn't mean he had lost his skills. Sieg was powerful and skilled for his age, but he didn't have the same level of experience as the older man.

“Not so smug now, are you boy?” The old knight asked, though he too was clearly struggling.

"I'm not going to listen to any crap from a man that would already be dead if my friends bothered helping," Sieg grumbled. They both knew he was right too.

“Karna will show you her tits if you beat him in less than twenty seconds!” Miralen suddenly shouted out, instigating the situation further. She apparently wished that her shout would work either as a distraction or at least motivation to Sieg. That and she apparently planned on teasing Karna about ‘showing off’.

“Oh for Divinities' sake!” Karna covered her face in despair at her friend’s idiocy, but she still used her other hand to start untying the strings at the front of her leather armor. An armor that she wore mostly just for appearance's sake since her skin was much better as protection anyway.

The two fighters tried to ignore the byplay, but they couldn’t avoid taking a small glance towards Karna, who in turn was slowly walking closer to them. It wasn’t necessarily that they were hoping to catch a glimpse of something. Rather it was the fact that she was approaching their fight, and the two needed to know if she was going to intervene. That small moment of distraction proved decisive though, as suddenly an arrow buried itself in the bandit’s temple. “Travan, you spoilsport.” Miralen joked.

“It was taking too long.” Travan simply stated with a shrug and a nonplussed expression.

“Would you really have…?” Sieg asked Karna quietly and waved a finger at his own chest.

“Of course not. It simply seemed like an efficient distraction.” She replied, although her tone left it unclear how truthful her reply was. “And now you’ll never get the chance anyway, as you didn’t beat him.”

“Strictly speaking Travan did and the offer wasn’t specified to apply just to Sieg.” Miralen continued her joke while she rode closer.

“Yes, but I didn’t make the offer, now did I?” Karna countered. “If you feel that’s not fair, then you’re welcome to show him yours instead.” That shut Miralen up effectively.

“You might want to take the head of the leader to the town. There’s likely to be a bounty involved. More so if we could find their den somewhere.” Duskclaw interjected and pointed out. Her and Mayumi’s master had stayed quiet and on the sidelines the entire affair. The bandits hadn’t even noticed their presence, or they wouldn’t have attacked.

"I can deal with that," Shaheera said and summoned his spirit. The eagle that was now much larger seemed to split into a dozen identical copies which then flew into separate directions.

"I'll take the head since I killed him," Travan said simply.

“That leaves burning the bodies to me. We don’t want to attract beasts to the road, nor do we want any undead being born.” Karna sparked a flame atop her palm, which then quickly spread to all the corpses around them, turning even the gear they carried to ash.

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The town really wasn't all that large. As a mining-focused town near the mountains, it was hardly a shock that the buildings were mostly made of stone. A rather sizeable wall circled the town, and the group could see that the wall was quite thick as well. It would not be able to stand against a determined and large monster, but anything smaller than a Hill Giant would have trouble getting past it. As they approached the town in the middle of the day, the line to enter was not very long. Most inhabitants were still working, while most visitors had already entered.

As their group was quite mixed when it came to race, and their clothing was high quality despite being relatively non-descript, they drew some attention. It also didn’t help that one of them was riding a large wolf while another flew on a magical snowflake. To make things run a little more smoothly, Travan tossed the head of the bandit leader at the feet of the guards as soon as it was their turn.

“And what’s this supposed to be?” The guard sergeant asked with a look of disgust.

"That's the head of the bandit leader who decided to suicide his merry little band against us," Shaheera explained with a genial smile. "Incidentally, we can also tell you the location of their hideout, so if you're interested in recovering some of your lost assets…"

“Well, that’s a language I can speak. Come into the guard post and I’ll take the details.” The sergeant said with a pleased smile. The group of bandits had been a thorn in their side, so getting rid of them was a real blessing. Recovering their lost items, even if only a part of them, was a useful boon as well.

The guard sergeant questioned them in detail about the attack but wasn't too bothered to ask after their identity or business in the town. The lack of questions was a sort of courtesy that they had earned with the head of the bandit leader. Of course, he also pushed a decently sized purse of coins their way as well. “My apologies that I can’t give you more. We’re not exactly a wealthy town and the elves haven’t gotten around to arranging proper management for us yet. We’ve managed with our tax revenues so far, but since we also have to pay all the guard wages and city maintenance as well…” He gave a small shrug.

“That’s fine. We didn’t really kill them for the reward.” Sieg received the coin pouch and slipped it inside his storage ring. “We just ran into them and the rest is history. There are a few things you could help us with though.”

“Sure. Whatever I can arrange.” The sergeant nodded eagerly.

“You wouldn’t happen to have a teleportation gate to a larger city?” Miralen asked, interjecting herself into the conversation.

“I’m afraid not. We get merchant caravans every few weeks, but you missed even that a week ago, and we’re not expecting the next one until at least eight days from now. And that’s if they’re early, which they rarely are. We mine a lot of minerals and even gems from the mountains, but they’re not exactly the type to attract loads of attention. Just your everyday necessities for blacksmiths, enchanters, and jewelers. And I know what your next question is going to be. Mounts, right?” The sergeant had an apologetic look as he spoke.

“That obvious, huh?” Sieg smiled.

“It’s not the first time travelers arrive here, albeit rare. We do have draft animals to pull the wagons of traders that lose their mounts for some reason, as well as a couple of steeds for emergencies, but not on the level you’d likely require. Those steeds are bred for speed, not endurance, and would likely die on you if you push them too hard. If you need steel or fresh groceries from the nearby farmsteads, then that we can arrange cheaply, but the only animals in the area are for consumption and those that try to kill us.” The sergeant shook his head.

“In that case, we’ll likely leave fairly soon. We’ll stock up on supplies, but…” Sieg understood the situation, and could sympathize.

“Ah, a bit of advice. We're a mining town. Most people in the town live most of their lives in the mountains. Almost eighty percent of the population is male and of the rougher type. The only women they see are the occasional farmer’s daughter and those poor girls working for the brothel. Certainly not young and pretty ones like those in your group. I’d keep your hoods up and leave once you’re done. The people here are not bad per se, but they can get a bit rowdy and pushy. As much as the innkeeper would say otherwise, I’d advise you to not stay the night. Seeing as you got rid of the bandits, I have no doubt you could defend yourselves against any untoward advances, but I’d rather we all avoided the resulting injuries. It would be a problem for us.” The sergeant had a fatherly tone as he looked over the girls in the group.

“Well, that was kind of useless.” Shaheera pointed out as they entered the city.

“Yes and no. At least now we know that it might be better to approach Karna’s dragon friend instead. I doubt any of the nearby towns are any better off. And we also know to sleep outside to avoid a brawl.” Sieg defended the visit a bit.

“Unless we want to partake in a brawl?” Miralen suggested.

“Let’s not. I’m sure we’ll get to fight more than enough on this journey anyway, even if the dragon can send us straight to the elven court. Why bother instigating fights we don’t need?” Travan joined in with Sieg as the designated party-poopers.

“Let’s just get our provisions and go. I’m sure our campsites aren’t much worse than the beds in an inn catering to miners.” Karna also joined in. Their camps were actually quite comfortable as magic allowed them access to many amenities usually not available.

The provisions in the town were fresh and cheap so they were done quickly, after which they bade a hasty exit. The trip towards Llethunaxx’s lair was so uneventful that they all decided to run drills of their various battle tactics while they traveled. Miralen and Travan were quite adept at hunting while on the move as well, so they had no complaints about their cuisine either, especially once they reached the forested areas between the mining town and the lair.

One of the nights saw Travan and Karna together on watch. Most of the night had gone quietly aside from a wild boar stumbling across one of Travan’s traps. Their watch was already reaching its end when Karna finally sparked up a conversation. “So are we at a point where you can discuss this mission of yours? I normally wouldn’t pry about private affairs, but I don’t want our missions to clash.”

“I doubt they would, but…no there’s a good chance they could if handled badly, so I might as well.” Travan scratched his pointed ear a bit in a curious gesture. He wasn’t the most talkative person, and it showed in his mannerisms. “How much do you know about where I come from and my family?”

“Miralen told us that Drannor’s used to be Desert Elves and the desert is no more. That’s about the gist of it really.” Karna replied curtly.

“Yes, well, the story is a little more complicated than that, but as far as summaries go, that was quite efficient. The Drannors used to be a rather prominent House among the elven clans. We didn’t match the High Elven Houses of course, but we had some of their blood as well. That gave us a leg up over many of the other Houses. The terrain controlled by the court though…it’s not exactly what you’d call suitable to Desert Elves. Very few deserts and quite a lot of snow, forests, and mountains. Good for the other clans, but not so much for us. That’s why our House drifted to the area that later became the Magocracy. This was…I don’t even know how many thousands of years ago. Still, our departure came with certain guarantees from the court.” Travan’s look darkened a bit.

“Let me guess. Those guarantees were not kept?” Karna honed on the important point.

“No. Despite our repeated requests, the court did not make even the simplest of efforts to help. It’s not like it would’ve taken large concessions to sway the Magocracy to intervene on their behalf. The de-desertification projects were not of major importance to the nation as a whole. Important enough that the objections of a single elven House could be ignored, but if the Queen made a personal request? Things would’ve been very different.” He was clearly not happy with how things had gone.

“I can understand the anger towards the court then, but what are you going to the court for? If I understand correctly, any help now would be too late. I get that revenge would be satisfying, but if that’s your plan, we can’t allow that to happen.” Karna sympathized, but she’d not risk the alliance between the elves and the Magocracy for Travan’s revenge. Especially since the legitimacy of that revenge could be argued.

“Revenge? No. I’m not that stupid. I only want to look at the Queen in the eyes and ask her why the guarantees were not kept. And then I’m going to announce both the separation of House Drannor from the court and its dissolution. The dissolution is kind of an embarrassment for the court, but not too bad since it has all but officially happened already. The separation is something that hasn’t happened before though. That’s going to make some waves. Waves of the sort that you might not want to be around to catch.” Travan gave a fair warning. So far he’d rather liked these people and didn’t want the political fallout of the whole thing to affect them or the mission. He obviously planned on completing his mission after the rest of the group was long gone.

“I’ll take that under advisement. I assume the Headmistress knows about your plans? And she approved the mission anyway?” Karna’s mind was already making leaps. If Tsumi knew about this, then the whole thing was a test. It could sink their mission easily.

"Yes to both. She gave me free rein about the timing of my mission, so you don't have to be around anymore when this goes down." Travan reassured her, though it wasn’t quite that simple.

“I’m getting the sense that there’s more to this. We’ll have to keep our eyes out.” Karna decided.