Rollvag and Neetah, elated from their victory over the Muda- Garrison, sat upright on their steeds and watched proudly as the Ghost Warband left for Mount Stark. The thick trees soon hid the Warband's columm on the trail to the Dwarven Ruins. Immediately after that, Rollvag and Neetah realized that they were alone. Neetah had a bright smile on her face as thoughts of what Rollvag and she had been through filled her mind. The swordfight when she first met him, the leaves, the waking on the mountain, the way he led them so far. "I just can't help it," she thought to herself, "I kinda like the guy..." The sound of Rollvag's quiet, insistent voice awakened her from her soliloquy. "Neet, Neeetah, you're dozing!" Neetah rapidly forced herself into battle thought: "Ah, Sorry, Sir... I won't let that happen again...Sir!" "What ever you were thinking about must have been important, not that I mind..." said Rollvag as he blushed and smiled at her -- then recovered: "Save it for later, Neetah, right now I want to have a look around." "Yes, Sir." "That's all? What are our chances of being discovered if we take to the air ... Neetah?" Neetah stopped listening abruptly and tensed up. She was still for only a second. Out came her bow with an arrow as fast as lightning. She instinctively raised and fired seemingly without aiming. Thwip, went the arrow! Rollvag had just enough time to glance behind him to see a small, flying lizard headed straight toward him. Another arrow was out of the quiver and in Neetah's bow, but not needed, as the first arrow pierced the flying lizard's skull and went in deep. The lizard dropped out of the air and hit the ground. It expired, finally lying still in the burned grass with its tongue flopped out... , Rollvag's bow came out. Both Neetah and Roavag looked around fleetingly. Nothing else appeared out of the woods around them. Rollvag spoke quietly out of the side of his mouth. "Do you suppose that they are intelligent?" "Smart enough to surprise us; almost, I'd say." She let the last few syllables drop. Rollvag looked at Neetah again. She appeared to be in some sort of trance. Then she opened her eyes and pointed. "That shadow right behind that tree, there." Rollvag aimed at the center of the shadow and pulled back his bow for a mighty shot. He let go smoothly. The deadly emaril tipped shaft plunged deep with a thud. An abrupt short gasp followed. "Whoever it is is probably dead now," said Rollvag. Rollvag stowed his bow, pulled out his bright sword, and urged Wonder on. "Quick, Wonder, quick!" Neetah kept her bow out and followed close behind on her effereet, in order to keep Rollvag covered. The two riders covered the distance to the edge of the forest in seconds. They could tell that they had indeed hit someone or something. Rollvag and Neetah drew their mounts beside it. It was some kind of funny, feather capped Drog. "Must have been some kind of Drog Sorcerer," stated Rollvag. "I'm glad that thing is gone!" he added. Neetah's face suddenly paled. A Priest, A Wizard, and A King... Back to Arveta 6 Table of Contents Back to Arveta List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by Abram Paradies. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com