"Grandpa?" Frey put his hand to his grandfather's knee and shook but the old, decrepit man did not open his wrinkled eyes. Arthur's lifeless arm fell off the old armrest of his favorite wooden rocking chair. A chair which one of his long-dead companions had made for him decades ago, back in his adventuring days which Frey heard about so much. Dust seemed to fall off of his peaceful face. The setting sun's light, which penetrated through the small-but-fancy house's single window, faded.

The front door to the house burst open and Gwen rushed in as fast as her little feet could carry her across the stone floor. Tears streamed down her face as she cried: "Something's wrong with mommy and daddy!" Yelling erupted from their house, which had been built within a hundred feet or so of his grandfather's house.

Frey couldn't catch all of it. Even with the little bits he did hear, he didn't believe it. He couldn't reach the windowsill so he creaked the door open. The yelling got louder, and a flood of curses emanated from the house, words which Arthur had banned them from using, lest suffer a beating with his cane.

He glanced out of the window to see his father carrying a knife with a red liquid dripping off of it. His eyes were fixed at the door and he stormed closer. His body, trained from years of grandpa's training sessions, moved quickly.

Frey's eyes went wide. Before he knew it, Gwen was in his arms, and they were running into the forest out back. A white-ish glow enveloped him. A newfound strength pushed him. His father came through the backdoor and glanced at them with a crazed look in his bloodshot eyes. He looked to be debate something before going back inside.

…

Something shook Frey out of the nightmare. He sat up and his teary eyes opened. He shook his head. The fog was gone at this time of day, but the dense vegetation of the north side still obscured and hid everything in a certain area. When the grogginess of waking wore off, he found that he had a broken stick in his off hand. Standing a few feet back was Thomas, his face pale. He held the other end of the broken stick. "Frey I-I'm sorry to wake you," Thomas took several steps away from him, and flinched when Frey got to his feet and his extra layer of clothing that had served as his blanket slid off of him.

"Why would I hit you?" Frey yawned. "Relax, will you?"

"O-Ok," Thomas kept on stuttering. "You were talking in your sleep again."

"Really?" Frey rubbed his aching head. He looked around to find that the sun was heading behind the mountains. It was a few hours from sunset. Elero was wrapped up in her sheets like a baby. Doevm lay under some spare clothes. A cold breeze traveled through the swamp, causing a few goosebumps to rise on Frey's exposed flesh.

"Yeah. You were muttering something about how you would take her away from everything. Something about how you two had to rely on each other or something," Thomas took another step back.

"For the goddess's sake I'm not going to hurt you," Frey muttered, but as he moved to put his extra clothes into his spatial ring, he found that he coulndn't feel his right hand. He glanced down at his white-knuckled hand, wrapped tightly around his Kopis. "Oh." He put it back into his spatial ring along with his clothes. "Sorry. That was…odd."

"Frey, I don't know what happened to you," Thomas said. "Or your sister. The only thing I was told was that Wade found you two a few weeks before I was born in the forest, starving. If you don't want to tell me, that's fine, but it seems like Gregen really got under your skin. You even forgot to eat when we got back. You've been really quiet…"

Frey sighed: "Yeah, I guess I have." He opened and closed his hand a couple of times to get the blood flowing again. "Say, how many of the guards had to go to the year-long war?"

"I guess most of them?" Thomas shrugged. "Jameson hired a lot before the war started, which turned out to be a good thing. We had enough to watch over everyone in Petal town. But even with that extra help, we ran thin for a time, and attacks were more common. Apparently, that was expected. It was always what happened in a time of war, bandits going after us in our weakened state. Why do you ask?"

Frey sighed: "Remember what your father said to us, that we are here to protect you?" Thomas nodded. "When I went up against Gregen, and I saw that look in his eyes, I recognized it from the front lines. I knew he was going to try to take you down. I knew he would do anything to get to you, even if he had to kill me. I knew he was stronger than me the first time his sword hit my shield. I also knew that, if I let him knock me out, I would live. I just kept thinking about Gwen. I'm sorry. I'm sure no other guard would have acted like that. Especially not Hopi if he were here."

Thomas tilted his head to the side: "I don't care. I don't want you to die for me. It wouldn't be fair to you. Just don't scare me again. I saw how much you bleed; how beaten you were. Please don't die. You're all I have."

Frey smiled and ruffled Thomas's hair: "No. You got so much more than just me. You got a father, guards, a cushy house, no worries about money, and you don't have to go into those rose fields."

Thomas pushed Frey's hand away. "I meant a friend. You're the only one I can really…say anything to and I feel like I won't get a lecture. Doevm will just think up a solution if I say anything and that will be that. Jameson just beats the crap out of me." He smirked. "My father…well he and I aren't on the best terms. I have a lot. I know that. But I don't want to lose anything. If you want to go back to Gwen, then go back. I'll try to talk to my father with a letter explaining."

"I want to go back."

Thomas turned his face away from Frey's and said in a low voice, "Yeah, I figured you'd do that. Thank you for everything." When he turned back, he wore a fake smile that sent a pang straight through Frey's heart.

The cold wind crawled up Frey's back and set his hair on end. He looked to the sky, and the leaves seem to fall slower than before. That one second after seeing that smile, stretched into an eternity, and etched itself into his memory. He looked away by reflex, or it could have been guilt for all he knew. 'I don't understand,' he thought. 'Why does it feel like I'm running away?' Thomas's smile quivered. He looked away and coughed twice in an attempt to hide a sob. Frey sighed: "But I guess, I can at least help you through initiation." Thomas practically jumped as he turned back to Frey, this time with a real smile.

"Really?"

"I mean, it's just a few days more." Frey shrugged. "And then that's it. I'll go back. It'll also give you time to think of a letter for your father." He smiled, and a weight lifted off of both his shoulders and mind. He looked down at his blood-stained shirt. "I'm sure nothing bad will happen. I can go for just a little bit more. Just a few more days." He said more to himself than to Thomas. Frey moved over to the rest of the group and woke them up. Elero began putting on her braces. Doevm shoved his clothes into his spatial ring and brought out the map.

"Did Anything happen while we were asleep?" Doevm asked to Thomas, who looked at Frey, who shook his head.

"Nothing important," Thomas said. "I may have gone for a quick bathroom break and tripped over the string, but I fixed it."

Doevm glanced over to the string, which was tangled up in a ball around one of the trees. He facepalmed: "I'll get it later. For now, we need to hunt." He pointed to the map, which was laid flat on his Amphiboard for all to see. "The bobcats are worth just as many points as the venomous salamanders, but they are not as numerous. We are still going west to the caves. If we can, let's try to avoid fights on the way. In terms of points, we are already behind enough as it is. We need this to come out on top, and we need to get this done perfectly. No more mistakes or hesitation." Elero glanced at Doevm, who glanced at Frey, who glanced at Thomas, who flipped them off.

"Anything to add on the tunnels?" Elero asked as the last piece to her braces clicked. "Like some hidden knowledge about them or the salamanders?"

Doevm rubbed his chin. "No. I didn't even know that the tunnels were there. We have to go only off of what this tells us. Although I know some things about the venom, I don't remember anything about this variety of Salamander. I do know one thing though." He looked to the rest. "These tunnels were never fully explored, meaning there are most likely a bunch of hidden things inside of them."

"Like what?" Elero asked.

"Chains that are thick enough to not be cut through, a black sword that has a red aura around it, a mace with bones sticking out of it, curved swords with intricate designs, and other great stuff."

"Wait," Thomas leaned forward. "Is this their base? Did they explore it yet?"

Doevm shook his head. "If they did, the map wouldn't have had that unbroken wax seal on it. They must have found those in another cave system or maybe even something else. Nevertheless, our main goal is to find new weapons. Then we can go take down that group of commoners. Take their points and we take first."

Thomas's eyes lit up. "Do you have a plan?"

"Several." Doevm said with a smile that made Thomas scrunch his eyebrows and take a step back.

Thomas swallowed his saliva. "Wait, I know that look. Am I going to like these plans?" Doevm shook his head.

"But before we can act on any of these plans, we need to prepare." Doevm glanced at the foliage above them. "Thomas. Fetch us some sticks, will you?"