A couple of days earlier, before Edra showed up in Sovnfield’s holding-cell, he and his make-shift companion had set up camp within a mossy rock-cropping on top of a hill overlooking Rigsby Dale from afar.

Basic Information Race: Incomplete Ghost Class: Emotive Specter 1/2 Age: 24 Deceased Access to negative emotions 1/1 100% Stage: -- Access to positive emotions 0/1 20% Attributes Resistances Weaknesses Soul Vitality 1500 Soul: 90% Lightning: 200% Soul Power 150 Void: 50% Fire 110% Death: 50% Raw Iron: 100% Willpower 30 Necromancy: 50% Silver: 150% Soul Power 100 Chronomancy: 50% Rare Metals: 50% Physical Attacks 100% Mixed Metals: 50% Ice: 75% Wind: 50% Earth: 50% Navigation Bar Journal Titles Skills Active Blessings Active Skills Passive Skills Deafening screech 5/10 LVL6 Communes With Dragons Emotive emittance 1/12 LVL5 Basic Spearmanship 7/10 68% Death Breath 60/200 LVL3 LOCKED Intermediate Swordmanship 2/20 17% LOCKED Intermediate Arcane Magic 3/20 56% LOCKED Basic Bowmanship 8/10 96% Field of Sorrow LOCKED Basic tracking 9/10 30% Poltergeists Telekinesis 3/5 LVL9 Ghostly Physical Invulnerability Ectoplastic Renewal 1/10 LVL9 Emotive Disarray Intangibility LVL4 6/10 46% Floatation LVL4 200/500 44%

Edra floated restlessly near the campfire looking over his status screen, they had been in a number of small skirmishes on the way, and finally the intensity of the undead patrols had become too much, at which they had to find a place to set camp, Edra had quickly scouted and located the rock cropping. He hadn’t gained any levels, or his ‘state’ hadn’t changed, and there had been no notification that the experience would go to any of his titles, was it because he was considered ‘incomplete’? He pondered silently. He had also noticed that his passive skills had slowed down significantly at level 4, and similarly so with his active skills at level 9, possibly something would change with the skill at level 5 and 10 respectively? He wondered. The biggest surprise to him was that his positive emotions had increased to 20%, it seemed as if they would increase passively as he experienced different emotions, he hadn’t thought about it until now, but his outbursts of emotion had decreased quite a bit, even though they were still there.

Thadeus was leaning up against a rock whilst puffing on a long corn pipe, the bonfire flickered gently in the creating an unharmonious shadow theater from the rock cropping’s, it was a dark night, with clouds covering the skies.

Thadeus took a deep long puff and as he blew out the smoke it came out in one short small round cloud, and the second one as a long thin snake like cloud, he observed the long cloud devour the smaller one as he opened his mouth lazily “Edra I’d appreciate it if you could keep an eye out on things, not like ye’ll be sleeping anyhow” he took another short puff from the pipe, he was feeling slightly melancholic, his eyes moved to Edra who was staring aimlessly into the bonfire, he was obviously affected by his passive skill, not that he minded, a little melancholy was good for the temperament sometimes.

Edra’s eyes focused on Thadeus, a gentle look was in his eyes as he looked at the hobbit, his careless and reckless attitude, might be exactly what made him accept Edra as quickly as he did “sure” Edra answered curtly, a short while passed in silence, with nothing but the whooshing of the wind between the rock cropping’s as accompaniment “I have an idea as to how to get into the city” he said “I think it might be useful to get some information before you make your way there, and maybe see if there is a more secure entrance, than from the front gates”

Thadeus almost choked on the tobacco smoke when he heard Edra, however Edra didn’t say anything else, he was just looking at Thadeus with an expectant look in his eyes “well speak ghost, speak!” Thadeus exclaimed.

Edra laughed delightfully at the hobbit, his laughter sounding eerily in the wind, the horse that lay nearby winced at the sound, but didn’t flee, it was a battle-worn horse, and it had been in the presence of the ghost for a while now “well I have been practicing my intangibility lately, as you might have noticed” he said while demonstrating himself sinking into the ground halfway “and I think that I can avoid arousing the town’s defenses if I simply stay underground for the majority of the journey” he said his head resting on his hands, his elbows on the ground.

Thadeus stared in disbelief at the ghost, the plan was certainly good, the small town probably didn’t sacrosanct the earth as the only attackers they had seen had been physical, his fingers twirled the pip around as his thoughts did the same “okay…” he said as he stopped swirling the pipe “let’s say you get into town, what’d ye look for? I don’t think the towns-people will listen to ye, considering their current situation” Edra was about to speak more, but Thadeus lifted his hand indicating that he wasn’t done talking “and even if they do listen, they most certainly won’t trust you, no matter how well-mannered ye are, to reiterate, they are undergoing an attack by the undead, and even if the regular townsperson doesn’t know, the ones in control must have certainly noticed that the undead are being summoned and controlled, which means they might suspect ye of being the instigator, or working with the instigator” Thadeus wild eyes bore in on Edra, he didn’t yet understand why the ghost had followed him, what was his motivations? He had heard his story, he pitied him even, and he believed him, but, what drove him? Why follow him? Why go towards a city of potentially undead killing mechanisms? He blinked his eyes and shook his head, regardless, he appreciated his new companion, he usually travelled alone, ever since that dreadful day…

While the hobbit drifted off into his own thoughts, Edra was left pondering, one possible scenario after the other popped up in his head, however none seemed overly feasible “regardless!” Edra declared “this is something that I must do”

The hobbit aroused from his thoughts, yet he didn’t see Edra anywhere, and then he heard the eerie voice of his companion ring like a rusty chains from afar “I’ll return in a week, if not…it was a pleasure to meet you Mr Satchet” Thadeus instantly got up and yelled out “Curse ye ghost!” but it was long since too late, Edra had made up his mind, he had gone into the bleak of night “ye best return ghost…” Thadeus whispered to himself as he clutched his corn pipe tightly.

. . . .

Edra floated high in the sky towards Rigsby dale. He could soon see the zombies and skeletons marching towards the small township, his sight worked at night just fine, maybe a factor of his current state, it was as if he could see everything like normal, but it still appeared dark to him, he his head and cleared his mind from the distracting thoughts he had and looked at the town that grew bigger in his sight the closer he came.

At some point he could see the undead hacking away at a faintly yellow barrier, every time they struck it shook slightly, once in a while a rune blinked in the barrier and it cracked open, at that point a bunch of undead would sift through. Edra stopped in the sky while he observed the barrier, and how it rebuilds itself once in a while. He was incredibly close to the city palisades, he could even make out the sentries watching the undead and shooting arrows and magic at them, and on the ground there were several fighters fighting against the undead, although It was an easy victory to them this time, it was clear to Edra that they were tired as there was no celebration at the defunct victory, they knew as well as Edra, that the strength of the undead didn’t come from their individual prowess, but their relentless numbers and their unending energy.

He began trying to measure how far he’d have to stay underground to make it into town unnoticed, he had tried calculating during his practice how far he’d move at top speed underground, it varied somewhat depending on the terrain, so it wasn’t overly precise, and he also couldn’t fly high enough to look into get a good look of the town, it’d be best if he dived deep, and popped up in a basement somewhere. As he made up his mind the first rays of dawn began shining from behind him as he slowly sank downwards through the air, and for a moment his eyes caught the eyes of a sentry hobbit, a teen, barely a man looked him straight in the eye, not out of a lack of vigilance, but purely by accident, the colour of Edra must have caught his eye, and astonishment passed through over his face as he turned his head around and began yelling something, but that fell on deaf ears for Edra as he had already entered the cold ground at that point.

. . . .

Maybe because he was nervous, maybe because this was the longest he had stayed underground, regardless of why, Edra was certain that his count had gone awry, he could feel that he was pushing his intangibility to its limits, what a joke if a ghost died in the ground, no tombstone or nothing Edra thought morbidly, as he began surfacing, his mind confused and strained as he finally came out of the ground, even worse was that the first thing that he saw was a hobbit, a hobbit that gave off a sense of being far stronger than Edra, but in his confused state Edra simply stated a question “Uh, where am I? “ he asked in a confused manner scratching his neck.

“You’re asking me!?” Sovnfield exclaimed, right afterwards he shook his head, the idea of losing the quest was painful, but worse was that it seemed that it was the ghost that had affected him, it wasn’t like him to react in such a manner, he knew he had a low soul power so soul attacks affected him greatly, his face turned grave as he drew towards the ghost in an instant, his powerful hand swooshing through the ghost dispersing it into endless myriads of red sparkly, the gravity of seeing the ghost made Sovnfield instantly yell out for the guard, if there were ghosts entering the city, then they might as well give up, they didn’t have the manpower to defend against that. However the guard didn’t respond, Sovnfield yelled again, louder, however there was still no response. “Damn it all!” Sovnfield growled as he was about to break out of the prison with brute force, and just as he gathered his power he was interrupted from behind him.

“Sorry for surprising you, but I’m not evil” Edra spoke loudly behind Sovnfield.

With raging eyes he turned around “if I had iron on me right now ghost!” he spat, realizing that he couldn’t hurt the ghost in his current condition.

“That’s great and all…” Edra looked around where he was “Mr. prisoner? but I speak the truth, I’m not with the undead force laying siege to this town” he tried his best at smiling, and making his voice less spooky.

“Bollocks!” Sovnfield retorted instantly “you expect me to believe that? And right after you break in here and use a spell on me? Interrupting my quest” his voice turning dry thinking about the quest “the gall!” he hissed angrily.

For a moment Edra became befuddled at the accusations, but he soon realised that his mood had affected the hobbit “apologies, but I have a passive that affects my surroundings with my own current mood at the time, and as for your quest, I don’t know anything about it, regardless I’m not your enemy”

Sovnfield glared at the ghost while his mind went through the situation since the ghost arrived “You’re undead, and we’re being attacked by undead, fact no?” he spoke grumpily “and my quest!” he quickly willed the quest screen to pop up. Surprisingly it hadn’t been interrupted, even though it stated that no man nor monster of intelligence were allowed to be in communication with him, this struck him heavily, his anger deflated as he looked at the ghost in front of him, really looked. A red transparent hue, tussled hair, deep dark red eyes, normal pants and a shirt, although slightly unclear in his ghostly image “what are you?”

. . . .

Edra hadn’t wasted the question given to him by the hobbit, and he had in a roundabout way explained his situation with Thadeus, and why he was there.

“That’s great and all” Sovnfield growled impatiently, he had listened to the entire story from beginning to end, and still couldn’t understand why his quest hadn’t been interrupted, he even began to sweat a bit thinking about how he had yelled out to the guards, if they had been there… “you still didn’t answer my question, my quest should be failed upon anyone hearing my voice, any intelligent man, best or monster, you clearly classify as a monster, no?” his left foot began tapping the floor up and down as he stood there, every word he spoke he would check his quest, he couldn’t help but think that he shouldn’t take any chances, but he needed to know, and if the ghost was on their side, then he’d be able to communicate with the town, with Imara…

The question dumbfounded Edra, was he not a ghost, and undead, a monster so to speak? He lay down in the air as he began thinking, his concentration rising, Sovnfield in contrast could feel his own concentration rising slightly, was the ghost pulling an elaborate stunt to get him to believe him, or? After a while Edra looked at Sovnfield “I’m considered incomplete currently, this might be why I didn’t affect your quest?”

“Incomplete, what does that even mean?”

“Well you see I” a painful look flashed across Edra’s eyes as he spoke “my soul was hurt, bad, I died even, as you might’ve noticed” he said spreading his arms out “and although it is a long story, I somehow collected myself again, but I was broke, I’m missing certain parts to be able to be whole, until then, I’m incomplete”

The pain that expressed in Edra’s incorporeal face, and the fluctuating emotions being emitted was enough for Sovnfield to believe him, Sovnfield wasn’t a man who thought with his head, what moved him was his heart and his gut feelings, he was convinced by Edra, he didn’t see any falsehoods in the ghost in front of him.

“Alright so you have a companion, who wishes to help, but you don’t know how he can come into the city safely?” Sovnfield sat on his bed pondering over the question and the information Edra had provided him “your friend has pretty much netted the reasoning that we have come to as well; someone or something is controlling the undead mob and for what purpose, we have yet to understand? and honestly, if you came here speaking like that asking for a safe entry, you’d be a goner in a flash” his eyes sharp as he finished his sentence.

“Thadeus said the same thing” Edra laughed lightly “you remind me of him, your temperament”

“A sorcerer! Don’t insult me kid!” Sovnfield spoke loudly, quickly lowering his voice, remembering that nobody was allowed to hear his voice “alright Edra, I’ll help you, if you do something for me” he gazed straight into Edra’s eyes with a piercingly sharp look.

Edra gulped his nonexistent spit and nodded.

“Okay, first of, try and find out why and where the guard is, you can turn invisible right?” before Edra could speak he was onto his next sentence “secondly I need you to bring a message to the local pharmacist, I’ll draw you a map…” he took out a piece of parchment and a pen, but hesitated when he was about to put down the ink on the paper “she might kill you though… when you get into her house speak my name, and call her chicken thief, that should buy you some speaking time, I can’t write a letter to her, that will break my quest, but it appears that I might be able to use you as a messenger, say that LaGerfield set me up, and that one of the mayor’s guards are either working for, with or pulling LaGerfield’s strings, and also tell her that about my quest so she understands why I’ve been silent” at the end of his sentence, he finished up his make-shift map “got it?”

Edra was certain that his head would’ve fallen off from all the nodding if he wasn’t a ghost.

. . . .

Pete had worked a night shift the previous night, and had had a busy day after he saw the ghost and reported it, although at first it had brought about all of the alarm bells in the town, there had been no other observations, and people had quickly chalked it up to youthful imagination, much to his chagrin, he was certain of what he had seen though, and after having woken up from his midday sleep he had rushed to the pharmacist and his sister to tell them that it wasn’t his imagination, the three were sitting around the small dinner table the candles lighting up the small wooden house.

Imara had been greatly alarmed by the ghostly sighting as well, but there had been no real signs of a ghostly invasion force so she had dismissed it as well. Yet hearing what Pete had seen made her think differently, the ghost had sunk into the ground? Was it intelligent? Had it infiltrated the town to spy? Or was it the true mastermind? Several questions came to mind while she sat there drinking her herbal drink.

Just as Pete was about to speak more a light rapping was heard on the door, Imara got up from her chair and walked towards the door. Halfway there she felt her heart quench, something was wrong!

In an instant she turned around her thumb and middle finger connected creating ripple that send her hair rolling, and out of thin air a cloaked figure appeared being smashed into the living room table! Pete quickly grabbed for his sister, but was too late, the cloaked figure moved silently and motionlessly.

Like a shadow he was standing on the staircase holding the young girl, who was crying relentlessly from pain and fear “hand over your life, and I guarantee you that the girl…”

“SOVNFIELD! IMARA YOU’RE A CHICKEN THIEF” The voice was loud and spooky, it came from every corner of the house at once.

The cloaked figure had been interrupted, but more importantly he had flinched, hesitation, a lapse of concentration, it was all Imara needed! The very move she had used on Sovnfield activated once more, and before the cloaked figure knew it his forehead was grasped by the female hobbit, he dropped the girl as he tried to push the hand and arm away from him, but to no avail. Imara’s eyes flashed with green lightning as her fingers stretched out ready to pierce the figure in her grasp.

In a last ditch move the figure activated some kind of device that pushed Imara off of the staircase, after which he disappeared up the stair and out of the hallway window in a bang.

Pete ran towards his sister who was crying helplessly on the staircase, but all of a sudden he stopped in his tracks frozen stiff. Imara slowly got up from the floor, she noticed Pete’s strange reaction and swiftly looked towards the small girl who had stopped crying, the girl was watching a candlelight floating around her slowly. Before anyone could think about it the same eerie voice that had interrupted the cloaked figure broke the silence “there there little girl, you’re alright, your family is alright, just calm down” when the girl heard the voice and saw the ghost that appeared in front of her she fainted in an instant.

“Restless spirit you had best begone!” Imara sneered angrily, her previous failure left her much anger “had you not been of service just now, I would not be hesitating to exorcise you!”

Edra looked confused at Imara “he said It would work, you’re a chicken thief, Sovnfield, can I speak now?”

The utter look of confusion and disregard of her threats cooled down the female hobbit, and when she properly heard the words of the ghost she calmed down even more, that was not a sentence that anyone should know, except of course… “Tell me why you’re here ghost”

. . . .

Edra quickly recounted what had happened, meanwhile Pete’s sister had awoken, and the two youngsters were sitting quietly observing Imara and the blood-red ghost converse calmly, at first Pete had been pointing at the ghost telling Imara that that was the ghost he had seen, she had quickly told him to calm down and shut up while she talked with the ghost. She had noticed several points that pointed towards the ghost speaking the truth. For one, it was intelligent, but also rational, she had far more experience with the supernatural than most people, and although she had met intelligent ghosts before, they all had something off about them, few ghosts were well-intentioned, even if they were good people before they passed away, the reasoning was that ghosts stayed behind because of unfulfilled feelings, if people died without regret they would pass on, it was mostly only strong negative regrets that made ghosts claw to the world of the living. The second point was what Sovnfield had told the ghost, there would be no point in a weak ghost coming to speak with her, and interrupting the cloaked assassin’s plans if it was not friendly towards her.

“Your friend is only of his second job class, what makes you think that he can help the village?” she was smoking a pipe made out of thin ebony spider’s leg, smooth and hollow, perfect for tobacco.

“Whether he can help or not, I can’t answer, but that he wishes to help, this is true” Edra spoke truthfully.

Imara tabbed her tobacco into a small ashtray while she was thinking, the mayor’s office had been infiltrated, was that related to the assassin or the attack on the town, or both? Something was going on in the town, and maybe it was about time that she flexed her muscle, in the end there was really only one person that she feared of the villagers, and that was the two kid’s grandpa, she tussled the small girl’s hair as she smiled “Alright, I’ll help you and your friend out, I can come with you, create a pathway two thirds of the way, so if your friend can make it the rest of the way then we can make sure he enters the village.

Edra smiled widely “okay!” he responded and was quickly sinking into the ground again, but before he could get all the way down, he was grabbed in his collar by Imara, the veins on her hand pumping an eerie green “now listen here ghost, if you are not truthful I will end you, understood?” her lazy eyes held a glimmer that could cut steel like butter, Edra nodded ardently “secondly, you’ll have to wait, if what Sovnfield said was true, then I could need someone of your… stealth, I want you to go to this LaGerfield and keep an eye on him, and if he meets this cloaked figure or anyone else whom you deem related to this, then you had best follow them” her voice steely “I understand you told your friend you’d be back in a week, this gives you a couple of days, I’d like you to go to LaGerfield and keep an eye on him for five days, on the fifth day at the main gate in the evening, I’ll clear a path for your friend… tell me you understand”

“Yes ma’am I understand” Edra responded somewhat nervously, it was strange to be held onto, contact, it felt like it had been years.

. . . .

‘Edra Walker, supernatural, international spy, from a long thought lost continent’ how exciting it all sounded Edra thought amusedly as he hovered over the sleeping LaGerfield. It had been two days since his new mission, and it had been far more uneventful than he had thought, this LaGerfield was a human, and he had been holed up in his apartment nervously sleeping eating and drinking, needless to say that it had been unbearably boring, but he kept at it, he stayed invisible the best he could, and watched the man from the shadows, luckily for Edra he was a merchant and didn’t have very keen sense, otherwise Edra was certain that he’d have been found out. He did notice however that the fat man had been getting more and more paranoid and nervous, yelling out into the room, at first Edra thought that he had been noticed, but he realised that it was just the fatty’s paranoia, a paranoia that was intensifying, was this an effect of his ‘spookiness?’ most likely Edra concluded, and while he was hovering there nodding to himself, a light rapping sounded on the door, and then it stopped, Edra quickly hid himself, wasn’t that kind of door knocking similar to what he had heard at Imara’s? Edra hid in the shadow of night as the fat man sprung up shakily, he shambled to a candle a lit it, with his candle lighting the way he moved towards the door where a note had been passed through, he picked it up and read it, then he burnt the note and got dressed.

Edra watched the merchant move very cautiously, finally something was happening, he followed the fat man from under the ground, resurfacing once in a while the darkest shadows, observing the man walking complicated routes to get to his destination, it was all very amusing to Edra, which in turn lightened LaGerfield’s mood, it calmed him down and made him think something was funny. This of course only amused Edra more.

LaGerfield walked up to the usual spot where he would be trading with the cloaked figure, he soon saw the man he was waiting walk on over from within the shadows. The transaction was completed in a heartbeat, and then he was on his way back again, sweat running down his back in the bucketload. Meanwhile Edra followed the cloaked figure from underground, only part of his face poking up looking at the man walk away stealthily.

The cloaked figure migth’ve appeared to be walking normally in the dead of night, but he was severely injured from the previous night’s failure, had he not been, he would’ve certainly noticed the ghost following behind him, regardless, he couldn’t afford to not make the transaction, as even he had superiors he had to abide to. Like LaGerfield he walked a complicated path to get to his destination, the only difference was that he threw Edra off of his track on several occasions luckily Edra could pass through buildings and would then catch up again. His destination was a small unassuming house at the east end of the village; Edra quickly noted the location and left hastily.

. . . .

When he reported to Imara, she could confirm that she had no idea as to who lived there, but that she would certainly investigate carefully, there was no reason to show all of her cards just yet.

“Go to Sovnfield that old goat, tell him what you found, and tell him…” her gaze became distant as she thought of the only man who ever held her heart “tell him that I’ll take care of things, he should just finish up his quest, afterwards you can go to your friend, I’ll see you in a couple of days then”

. . . .

Thadeus was reading an ancient spell-book when Edra came into a blurry view in the midday sunlight, the Hobbit smiled brightly at his safe return “tell me everything ye foolish ghost!”

The story was not long, but neither was it short, and by the time he finished evening had come “anyhow, what we need to do now is to prepare to meet her in a couple of days, but it largely depends on whether you can break through part of the undead mob by yourself?” Edra questioned

Thadeus grinned wickedly “don’t ye worry about me” he pulled out several pieces of parchment and began drawing and writing symbols, once in a while he would laugh sneakily like a crazed person.

And that is how the following days passed.

. . . .

Imara had been observing the small house ever since Edra had been there, and she had learnt much, she was almost ready to deal with the perpetrator, but it would have to wait till she fulfilled her part of the bargain with the ghost Edra.

She walked down the street in the early evening, people were greeting her the way they normally did, and she greeted them back, however when she neared the palisades people began to wonder what she was doing there, although her prowess was talked about, she never shown an interest in joining the effort, and many considered her more important in the pharmacy than on the frontlines. When she neared the gate she simply waved off the guards and sentries who were approaching her, it was obvious why she was there, and so they opened the gate for her.

Outside the palisades there were a few sentries and adventurers cleaning up the riff raff that made it through the barrier, however Imara cared little about them as she kept walking forward, soon she was face to face with the barrier and the ugliness behind. She lifted her hands that turned greener and greener, soon lightning began to drop from her hand like droplets of water, then she clenched her hands into fists, her mouth muttering words in a strange language as she punched her fists into the ground! A shockwave followed in a straight line, electrocuting many skeletons and zombies on the way, lightning was the bane of the undead, and it kept the straight line clear as it buzzed with green electricity. Imara got up and began walking again, straight through the barrier on the straight line that she made, she began muttering in a strange language again her hands forming claws, and then she simply lifted her hands up into the air in a strange and eerie way. This instantly created green gaseous thunder clouds that began bombarding the undead in the area, soon there was a big empty spot available. The sentries on the wall were flabbergasted, who would’ve known that she wielded such power, but why hadn’t she revealed it yet? And what was she waiting for, she was simply standing there.

A deafening boom! Sounded through Rigsby dale, the air buzzed as beams of white light fell from the sky, divine light that shook the ground it touched, and expelled the undead that marred its way! Imara was truly shocked at the sight, didn’t the ghost say that his friend was only at his second job class? Yet this destructive power! And wasn’t this the magic of a holy class, sorcery was not holy or divine, questions quickly entered her mind, but she had little time to think about it, as she soon saw a hobbit on a small horse come riding through the cleared path, his eyes wild, his grin wide, his hair whisking in the wind, he was laughing as he passed Imara by with a loud “thanks!” and then he was through the barrier. He reminded her of Sovnfield that old goat, just much younger, maybe this man could make a difference, and be useful to her own devices as well, she turned back around following in the steps of the hobbit who was now surrounded by a platoon of adventurers and guards.

. . . .

Thadeus held his arms out in a gesture of his non-violent intentions, his bright eyes glimmered wildly in the shimmers of the evening sun, and while the guards insisted that he followed them, they didn’t get to insist long because Imara was there shortly afterwards there was clearly a relation between the two.

“He’s coming with me” she said lazily as she kept walking closer and closer.

This provoked Rodbearth’s pride “Now listen here lady!” he said as a matter of fact, he couldn’t very well back down in front of his men.

However one glance from the hobbit silenced him “NOW!” she finished, with no room for discussion, her usual chatty and warm self nowhere to be found. The guards opened up a path for them, and when they were almost at the gate Rodbearth yelled “we’ll talk about this later!” .

. . . .

That night the town was abuzz, not only had Imara demonstrated signicant power, but her new companion had done so too, whispers of escaping the town were being heard all over town.

Within a tavern that was unusually full and boisterous, sat a man, a well-liked man, a kind man, just a regular man. He was smiling and conversing, and sharing the newfound joy that everyone had about the possibilities of escape or survival, but within his mind he was in disarray and anger, seething ‘that bitch! Why is someone of her power here?! And who came who arrived? I cannot let my plans be interrupted midway!’