As Tal poked his head up slowly, he felt his heart pound with a growing ferocity. "The guards are near," he whispered to himself as his two companions stayed down, huddled behind a pile of refuse. Although young, the paladin knew that he could probably handle the two Dark Warriors with his sword, but this youthful nobleman did not wish to endanger the survival of his teammates. Tal peered back slowly to perceive the actions of his companions: a girl, barely 17, holding her head down as she fumbled quietly for a lost book, and a boy, 15, dressed in a torn and muddy religious vestment, mumbling a silent prayer over his bleeding wrist.

Tal's eyes widened as he watched the wound close slowly, and then the acolyte smiled and sat back with exhaustion.

"Now that Galen's better," Tal thought to himself, "we can make our escape." Again he poked his head above the refuse to spot any potential interference, and saw none.

Quickly Tal signalled them follow him as he quietly sneaked out into the open. The acolyte Galen brushed his sweat-soaked, shoulder-length hair out from in front of his eyes as he followed behind the paladin, who was only slightly taller than he. Riva, the female apprentice to a now deceased illusionist, grabbed up a small book from where it lay on the ground, and clumsily tried to follow the others. The dark clouds above started to moan, dropping light rain onto the trio, and this storm gained strength with each passing moment. Seeing that the obstacles against him were beginning to multiply, Tal ran with all his strength, the others matching his speed, so that in no time they were clear of the imprisoning hamlet and into the vast forest.

After 30 minutes the storm died out, as did the strength of the three companions. As they stopped, Riva wrung out her robes and muttered, "may I never wear shoddy robes again."

Tal, resting his head on a nearby tree, closed his eyes, whispering "we made it" over and over again. The cleric Galen laid his ceremonial cape on the ground and removed his soggy leather boots, putting them in a dry tuft of grass nearby.

"We're out," Tal said with nobility. "They slaughtered our town but we escaped."

"Which is something I find quite surprising," Galen said sadly while attempting to shine his golden circle, the symbol of those who follow the philosophy of Good. "I doubt we are safe, though. It would be best if we left immediately."

"That would be foolish, priest. The deeper we run into the forest, the more we lose ourselves," complained Riva, "and this is not called the Forest of Fears for nothing."

Tal, holding his head due to a severe headache which had just erupted, shouted at the two. "Enough! We'll make our way outta this forest. Hopefully we can get to Crimsonvale by eighthday. Right now let's just..."

"No!" Galen cut the paladin off. He was holding one hand to his head, but not from pain like Tal. "We must go now! I sense them! They're coming!" Grabbing quickly for his boots; Galen slipped them on and made an attempt to dash off into the forest.

It would have worked if he had not tripped on his soggy robes. He was helped to stand by his paladin companion, who looked at the cleric squarely into his unreflective, black eyes.

"We're not going, Galen. We make our stand here or not at all!" Tal stated in a voice so stern that all nature stopped for a split second.

"Spare me the nobility!" shouted Riva, looking at the paladin with disgust. "We can't hold off a contingent of Dark Warriors with a sword, two daggers, and a mace among us! It would be more prudent to run!"

"We can't, Riva, and you know that. I know you don't wanna die, but if we keep running what are our lives wroth?" the paladin asked, dropping his stern look in favor of one more caring.

The illusionist knew that she could never face the paladin. Without a word she simply nodded and began to concentrate...

Just then four strong warriors, dressed in armor as black as a moonless night, came running towards the young companions. In the shady light of the forest, the paladin could see the wide, evil smiles of the approaching enemy. With a balance of fear and self-preservation, the paladin drew his blade and prepared for battle, glancing quickly at his companions as he did so: Galen was raising his mace and Riva was still concentrating. Slowly, Tal raised his blade for close combat just as...

...a dragon descended from overhead! Tal was overwhelmed. He did not know the Frigians were allied with dragons! But as he looked toward his enemies, he could tell that they were as fearful of it as he. The four warriors began to run back the way they came as the gigantic green scaled dragon breathed a small cloud onto two of the warriors, who fell instantly. The other two could be seen fleeing faster, as the dragon flew vertically, then winked out of existence. Tal turned to his companions, and caught a smile on Riva's lips.

"It was an illusion," Riva said with a ring in her voice. "They died because they embraced it as reality."

Tal looked confused at Galen, who just shrugged, a dumb look on his face. Tal knelt beside the two dead guards and pulled out two scrolls from the first dead man's belt pouch.

"Here," he said, throwing them to Galen, who opened them in turn. The first he stared at for a while, but then gave it to Riva explaining that he couldn't understand it. The other put a smile on his face, and he announced that it contained many spells for travellers, which they would need. Riva whispered a few words on her scroll and told the others that it contained some offensive as well as defensive spells; they would help if they came across any more trouble.

"He's got some money and a map we could use, and this sword could come in handy," Tal said, holding up a fine, silver-colored blade. "Now," the young paladin said as he sheathed the new sword in his own scabbard, "let's get moving. There may be shelter soon. I've heard of this place nearby... called Crimsonvale..."

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