After our little discussion the return to walking toward the nearby town came next, and so the three of us once more resumed our single-file pattern with myself in the front, Maria in the middle while Taryn watched the backside.

When we reached the road the arrival at it generated a burst of renewed vigor in all of us, and so when the sun started to peek out of the horizon to the east we did reach the town of Merrow. Exhausted, a bit dirty and very much unready for the new day that had dawned moments before I lead our group into a town I knew very little about.

Merrow, as did most of the smallest of towns in the Empire, had no exterior wall to guard it. Instead there was merely a wooden fence that looked like it could barely hold back a cow let alone the Plague. Near the center of the town, as was in every town, rested a wooden tower that held a large bell. No flags flew that morning, which brought a sigh of relief from my mouth.

The town had a road covered in gravel, a sign that there was at least one person in Merrow with a certain amount of money to force that to happen. Most small towns of minimal importance rarely graduated above dirt pathways.

"Excuse me," I said to the first man I ran across, he looked a bit filthy yet held a pick in his right hand and thus I could assume he was a type of miner. Probably one of Merrow's main export was ores.

The man stumbled at the sight of me, probably since my clothes were a bit of a tight fit. Already a lecherous look crept onto his face, eyes locked at a point which was not where my own eyes were. If not for the fatigue and the fact that I wanted to avoid trouble I probably would've kicked his jaw off.

"Where can I find the guild officer stationed here?" I asked, the tone of the voice having grown cold.

The miner caught on to that, he glanced up with a bit of an embarrassed expression, then nodded his head and cleared his throat. "Ya talking about Grigga ain't ya?" he half-asked and half-answered to my own question. He scratched at his chin, then pointed down the path. "Ya can find a large house over there. Grigga is in it."

The slightest nod of the head was my way of paying respect to the miner for answering, before turning and walking in the pointed direction. Maria followed along, coming up closer to me and almost acting like she was afraid to be seen in the town. From behind I heard a murmur from Taryn, though all I could see upon glancing back was a pale looking miner.

Walking through the town during the early morning was an interesting experience, it seemed as though everyone in Merrow all woke up roughly at the same time. Their doors opened and closed randomly, some came out fast and others hustled around in the interiors of their small homes.

For a while the thought that we would've missed Grigga's house had bothered me, but when we found the house it was quite obviously Grigga's. While the rest of the homes in the town of Merrow were crafted of wood and squat, with a single floor plus some horrid thatch roofing that looked flammable, the home of Grigga stood out like a sore thumb.

It was crafted from bricks that in turn had been painted brown as though to try and match the wooden neighbors. The house was two floors total, with a balcony that overlooked the main pathway through the town of Merrow. The door on the first floor stood wide open, with a small flight of stairs leading up to it from the gravel path.

With a hint of hesitation I walked up those stairs and then politely knocked on the inside of the door. Peeking inside one could see a small counter that rested within a tiny open room. There was a sofa to the side, with a few chairs that were rested around a table. All in all it was small yet welcoming, and with a hint of a smile I stepped all the way in and motioned for Maria and Taryn to follow.

Maria gladly did so, looking behind her at the growing crowd of people walking up and down the path. She almost dove into the sofa, and in a few moments her eyes had closed and she had fallen asleep again. Taryn decided to sit down in a chair, though not before turning it so he could clearly see the door we had entered through.

For some odd reason I had expected Grigga to be a man, so when a plump woman who wore a smock and a smile on her face wandered into the room I paid her little attention. She looked at us, the smile on her face going from merely ordinary to far too wide. "Well, visitors!" she exclaimed before she half-waddled and half-walked over to the counter, unlatched the hip-high door and then stepped through.

The woman laughed, it was not a pleasant sound, before she settled up against the counter and attempted to demonstrate her vast chest for all to see. "So how can Grigga help you?" she asked in a sultry voice.

Taryn visibly shuddered, and I felt a bit sorry for him as she obviously was only interested in him. Her gaze never seemed to leave his face, and most likely he felt like a rabbit being watched by a hawk. A really fat hawk.

"We're part of the Guild and we lost our badges due to a scuffle," I explained to Grigga. It was a common occurrence for a person to lose their badge, after all most of the people that were in the Guild tended to fight on a daily basis.

"Hah, silly children these days, you need to take better care of your stuff," Grigga chided us as she pulled out a binder. It was very large, and as she swung it open the papers flipped by with such rapidity that I could only glance a few names here and there. The Guild register, every branch office had at least one so they would know of the name and last known rank of the member.

She pulled out a bottle of ink, a quill that looked to have been plucked for a chicken and a piece of paper. "What might your names be?" she purred toward Taryn.

"Liliana Rose," I told her, arms crossed in front of me with a very obviously unhappy expression on my face. The Guild were supposed to be professionals, this woman was demonstrating not an ounce of that. If anything she was more like a lust driven bar wench that Skara would probably enjoy.

"Taryn Lucent," my companion said, as he shifted uncomfortably in the chair. His eyes looked to me with a plead for aid, yet the only response I could give was a shrug of the shoulders.

"Pretty name for a cute man," the lady whispered as she flipped carefully through the register. Then with an expert touch of the quill she wrote out a few words onto the piece of paper, before her gaze lifted back up toward Taryn. "Where would you like your new badges to be sent?"

It was a question that I could not answer, the only permanent home I had ever had was one that I had run away from. Thankfully Taryn stepped in at that moment with the offer of a place, "Alise's orphanage. It's outside of Shiadone."

"Hoo, that's a bit of a distance away," was the only response from the lady before she finished scribbling onto the paper. "I'll have a falcon carry the message to the headquarters later, expect the new badge to be delivered in a week or two. Probably three given where that orphanage is located."

Taryn rose up out of the chair and walked to the sofa, his arms wrapped around the sleeping form of Maria. With ease he lifted her and carried the girl in front while walking toward the door. Our business was done, and I nodded my head to Grigga before turning to the door and planning to walk out.

Her voice called out from behind as we exited the house. "And if either of you are lying about who you are I'm calling dibs on the man."

♪ ♫ ♬ ♫ ♪

I had pilfered money off of the slavers corpses back at Maria's house, and so purchased a wagon along with a single horse. Prior to leaving the town of Merrow I walked around and investigated whether or not anyone knew much of Maria and her family.

"Dang Darril is dead?" was the usual response, followed by a shrug when I told them that the daughter was alive and wearing a slave collar. Though they all knew of her family and respected them, none wanted to get involved when it came to slavers.

By the time I returned to the wagon Taryn and Maria had already purchased some food and equipment for our planned journey. Maria ran up to me a cloak and a bundle of clothes in her hands, while smiling radiantly. "What's this?" I asked of her, while accepting everything.

"New clothes for you, something more in your size," Maria said, before she glanced at my chest and then blushed a bit.

Ah, how could I have forgotten that the blouse I wore was so tight that it tended to reveal a little too much to the passing crowds? Perhaps I had grown accustomed to being half-naked over the course of that one day that now I felt overdressed?

Thirty minutes later I had changed into a somewhat loose shirt and a loose set of pants. It seemed that while shopping Taryn had given Maria pointers on my preferred style, which I would have to give thanks for later on. The coloring was bright and cheerful with a light yellow color which made me think of pale flowers on the countryside.

It was time to move on I felt, and so with almost no urging required Taryn, Maria and I all clambered on the wagon and headed out from the town of Merrow. I opted to sit in the front with Taryn while he guided the horse, still wearing the clothes that had belonged to Maria's father.

Maria sat in the back of the wagon nestled in amongst the fabrics that made up our bedding material for night time stops. She had a needle and a variety of items that she seemed intent on sewing, even as the wagon moved along at a slow rate. It seemed as though she was interested in learning how to sew, and had already begun to learn prior to the attack on her home.

"What are we going to do with her?" I whispered to Taryn a short while after leaving Merrow.

Most would take that question with a bit of worrying, yet Taryn merely flashed an assuring smile at me. "I never did get to tell you, since everything happened after we met up with Wumi. Alise's orphanage is a place slaves can be taken to get their collar removed, and in case they don't have a home Alise helps give them one."

An explanation I had not anticipated in the slightest, one that made the lady named Alise sound like an angel. "Who is Alise?" was the question that curiosity demanded I ask.

"I suppose you could say she's my mother, she found me when I was a baby," Taryn told me. Once again I got to see one of those honest smiles of his that rarely showed, and it vanished in the blink of an eye. "According to her I was a survivor of a Plague attack."

"I've been meaning to ask, how is that you have the stigma but you're not infected?"

Taryn clicked his tongue at that question. "A tough one, I think it's because my father wants me to be able to communicate with his sister, and you can't talk to her unless there's a bit of her in you," Taryn said. He shrugged his shoulders, a calm face even as he told me the scary news that Nixi had a piece of her in him. "You should worry more about yourself, though."

I scoffed at that question. "I'm the daughter of Vandross, I don't have anything I need to worry about."

"You don't understand, what I did to you is the first time I've ever done it, in fact I don't think I'll ever do it again," Taryn said. He looked completely away from the road and stared at me, the emotions he was feeling at that moment so openly on his face it almost embarrassed me to see. "I'm not normal, I get that you're a bit special too but what I did is going to change you forever."

"You mean like the hair and eyes?" I asked.

"That, but also you've probably noticed it yourself. When you get agitated a bit of my bloodlust kicks in," Taryn explained, turning back toward the road. He shook his head. "Right now you're probably twice or maybe three times physically stronger than you were before, but when my bloodlust gets added in I have no clue how strong you become."

"I don't mind that too much, it was helpful against the slavers," I pointed out, before I chuckled under my breath. If not for that splicing of his soul onto mine I probably would have died during the encounter.

"Until you learn how to control it you won't know how strong you are, which means you might hurt people you mean to protect," Taryn stated with a stern voice. "Don't underestimate how much power I've forced on you, until you learn how to use it properly you're a threat whenever you lose your head."

It was a statement which made me recall the encounter with the slavers. Out of all three there had been one whom had been killed without the intent, Skinny who I had kneed hard in the face. Normally that sort of action would knock a person out and maybe break a nose, but instead Skinny had been smashed so hard that his brain had begun leaking from the skull.

That was before my blood had begun pumping fully, it had been while in a weakened form. It caused me to wonder how easily I could snap someone in half without meaning to, a thought which could only make me shudder in fear.

"Don't worry, once we get to the orphanage Alise can help you," Taryn said as if to console me. "She taught me how to control my strength when I was younger."

"Here!" Maria said without warning from behind, and I turned with a bit of a shock to look at the girl. She handed me a large hat, wide brimmed and silly looking. It was a white hat, one that I placed gently on my head. "What do you think?"

The hat sat on my head with a bit too much looseness, it obviously was sized one or two sizes too large. However it kept the sun out of my eyes, which proved very useful given how tired I had started to become. "It's wonderful," I told Maria, before smiling and gently patting her on the head.

Maria smiled back, then settled once more into her previous position. She had already tried to make one before that and it had failed, a misshapen looking thing that probably should be burned before it came alive and killed everyone.

An hour later into the ride I started to realize how tired I was. I yawned, and the light rocking motion of the wagon as it ran along the road only added onto the fatigue. Eyes blinked, then started to close. Before I fell asleep I had the slight sensation of leaning against something warm and familiar.

♪ ♫ ♬ ♫ ♪

The journey to the west was not all that exciting. To put it simply if I recounted it in total detail most people would fall asleep long before I finished. So to sum it up I shall say that we went west, rode in a wagon and didn't encounter much.

Every night we would stop the wagon and set up a basic tent on top of it, using metal rods along with canvas material that had been purchased in Merrow. We laid on blankets and had lumpy pillows that never proved capable of comfort. Taryn and I took shifts, one would sit awake in the tent while the other slept and then when it was late enough we would swap positions.

Along the way we encountered a few members of the Legion, one of whom I recognized from the past. I shrank back a bit, but he saw me before I could hide and called out to me. "Liliana! Is that you!" he first shouted, before he stopped his horse and then turned it to follow our wagon. To his friends the legionnaire merely waved for them to continue on, he would catch up later.

"Hello Ruldo," I said toward him, flashing a smile that was in no way fake. I promise. "What are you doing out here?"

"Heading to the town of Vicna, they were hit hard by a large horde of Plague," Ruldo told me, his armor shining almost as much as his face at the sight of me. He had been one of the boys that I beat up on a daily basis in the sands, so he already knew how well formed I was beneath my shirt.

Yes, fighting on the sands meant exactly what you think. Nobody wore shirts or even pants out there, it was a brutal experience to prepare you for fighting in the worst possible conditions. People who won the fights were heralded as the best and often given bonuses, the people who lost were given cleaning duties and other menial tasks.

Ruldo was the best I had ever seen at losing. "So why are they sending you?" I asked, laughing gently even as I poked at his pride.

"Hey! I've gotten better since we last fought!" he told me. "Besides, have you gotten better? You know, down there? Last time I saw you your features were a bit flat."

It was the worst thing he could have said, and the look I directed at him made it very obvious. He shrank back, almost falling off of the horse, before the menacing aura I produced subsided. "In all seriousness why are you going to Vicna? By the time you get there it'll probably be over."

With a shaking body and a voice that shook equally Ruldo responded, "I believe we're supposed to reinforce their garrison. They lost a few men. Your father was dispatched ahead of us to make sure the area is cleared."

A tinge of guilt ran through me at the mention of the lost lives, while I had not been the person who baited the Plague I had still taken part in the events. "Well, it's good I don't have to meet him then," I said to Ruldo before I looked forward. It was my attempt to signal an end to our conversation, and to tell Ruldo to get back to his friends.

"Aye, I remember how your dad was to you," Ruldo said, then he sighed. "One last thing before I leave, your mom is mad that you haven't come home yet. She's informed every legionnaire that if they see you to warn you to come home immediately."

"If she wants me to come home she can come get me herself," I flatly told Ruldo. I had no intention yet to go home, though it was not out of spite toward my mother. Training with the mysterious Alise would take precedent.

Ruldo saluted, arm going across his chest and thumping onto the metal plating of the armor. "As you wish, my lady, take care!" he called out as he whirled his horse around and raced back to the group of legionnaires.

Taryn wisely remained silent, as did Maria. I had no interest in explaining the dynamics of my family to either of them, especially since I didn't even care to think about those dynamics myself.

The rest of the ride to Shiadone was completed without further events. To tell you the truth I spent a lot of time having Maria show me how to sew, while I talked to her about the techniques she could use to defend herself. I wasn't about to turn her into a warrior, but with some basic hand-to-hand understanding then at the least she would be a rabbit with fangs.

The town of Shiadone came onto the horizon a week and a half after our departure from Merrow. The wall that surrounded it was crafted from stone and had a total height of thirty feet. The gates themselves were iron wrought metal spikes that interlaced and dropped down from above. Behind was a second set of gates, wooden doors that had iron binding the wood together.

Shiadone looked to be a place of great value, so when we rode our wagon into the city it was no surprise when I noted the paved streets. It looked to be stones but it was so well done that there were no noticeable cracks in the material. Every house was crafted out of stone and had actual glass, shutters and even some with gardens built into the front.

Signs were everywhere that pointed toward the important places of the town. Taverns, multiple, rested down the main strip that we rode our wagon along, each one catering to a different group of clientele. One looked fancy, the other shabby and there was even one which offered discounts to people from the Guild.

Shiadone was a distraction, my gaze refused to not wander everywhere and look at everything. While I came from a large city it was not often that I saw other places that were of a level equatable to Shiadone. That was how I almost missed seeing him, standing in the middle of the path. If not for the wagon coming to a stop and Taryn smiling I probably wouldn't have even looked at him.

"Shorty!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, leaping down from the wagon and running to the little man. I picked him up, even as he cried out in protest and I hugged him. "You made it!"