Chance again woke to the feeling of a small girl snuggled up on either side and a small dragon curled up on his chest. Knowing that all too soon he would be missing this, he continued to lay there holding the girls and staring at the beautiful demi-dragon.

Slowly Mallory began to awaken, she glanced at him then blushed when she noticed him watching her. “Good morning Sis.” Chance whispered to her.

“I like the sound of that. Good morning Brother.” She giggled. “I have always wanted a big brother.”

“Well now you have one. Forever and always.” Chance told her and tweaked her nose.

“Now stop that! That is my nose and not just anyone is allowed to tweak it.” Mallory said in a playful tone.

Jessica stirred and sat up. “Chance did you know that Mallory is very ticklish? Her feet especially.” She explained with a mischievous grin.

“Oh she is, is she?” Sitting up quickly, Chance reached down and grabbed one of Mallory’s ankles and began to tickle her foot with his other hand.

“Hey!” squeaked Alyssia, as she unexpected rolled down Chance’s chest into his lap.

Mallory exploded into a torrent of giggles and laughter. Soon she was begging for him to stop. Once she caught her breath she turned to Chance. “Well, did you know that Jessica is really ticklish on her ribs and stomach?”

With that Chance turned on Jessica who just sat there in wide-eyed anticipation. Chance began counting her ribs and tickling her stomach. Soon, she was laughing uncontrollably. With one hand he was tickling Jessica and the other he moved over and started tickling Mallory again. The room soon filled with giggles and even a few snorts. About that time Chance’s dad stuck his head in, “By the way girls, Chance is very ticklish too. His ribs and his feet are oh so very ticklish.” Then he pulled his head out of the room and closed the door behind him. The two little girls then went on the offensive and Alyssia decided to throw her aid with them. Her little tongue snaking out and flicking across Chance’s skin set him to laughing and squirming. The girls piled on top and their fingers hunted out his ticklish ribs. The room soon was filled with a mixture of deep echoing laughter and tiny bell like laughter. After a while, all three of them lay in heap on the floor out of breath and a little sweaty.

“Alright you three, time to get up and get ready. We will have company soon and Chance you probably need to begin packing if you were able to get everything done yesterday and last night.” His mom said as she walked into the room.

“Yes mom.” They all chimed. The little girls ran off to his parent’s room to dress and bathe while Chance gathered his clothes to go shower out by the forge. Once everyone was up and ready for the day they headed over to the church for Seventhday service and then spent the rest of the afternoon together cooking meals and packing things to go in Chance’s enchanted bag for his trip and during his time away. His father sent him down to the secret forge late in the afternoon to gather some ore and gems to take with him for Horace to use once he decided to set up the Dwarven Forge.

Once he had shrunken the materials down and stored it away he headed back up but found the house empty. As he stepped outside, a shout of “Surprise!” rang out. There standing under a banner that said “Farewell and Safe Journey” were his friends and family. They had come to see him off on his “trip to the capitol to join the War Academy”.

His mother was to one side to one side and stood smiling with Mallory and Jessica on each side of her. They all had their hair done nicely and were wearing their new dresses. “You three are beautiful!” Chance exclaimed. “With two young beauties such as this at home, do I not need to stay home and help Dad fend off the boys?” Chance joked. The girls blushed and his mom laughed.

There was plenty of food and drink set out for all to enjoy. In talking with Captain Herrera, Harold and Janice had thought that since the work was already done in preparation to leave why not make it a big send off and hopefully they would throw whoever was behind the theft of the crates off the trail of Chance and Captain Herrera.

The party lasted well into the evening. As the night wore on, everyone gathered around the fire pit and told stories of Chance’s childhood. His exploits with Horace and the many different types of trouble he caused as a young boy.

Toward the end of the evening Mallory approached Chance and pulled him off to one side. “Chance, I have an important question to ask.” She paused and fidgeted.

“What is it?” Chance asked kneeling beside her and giving her his undivided attention.

“I want you to promise to come back. Please say you will, please?” She asked. “I have never had a brother and I don’t want to lose you when I finally get one. Ok?”

Chance picked her up in his arms and gave her a big hug. “Of course I will come back Princess. I promise.” He laughed.

“Ok. Remember you promised!” Mallory said as he set her back down. Then she stretched up on her tip toes and kissed his cheek.

A soft chuckle behind him startled Chance and he turned around. His mom stood there. “You have made an impact on that young girl. She thinks the world of you. You are her hero.” She said and nodded her head in the direction Mallory had gone.

“Me? What makes you say that?” Chance asked curiously.

“Well, look at it this way. Here she was about as low as she could go with no apparent way out. You catch her stealing but instead of doing what most would do and turn her in or beat her. You take her aside and find out about her and why she is doing it. You feed her and more than that you provide food for her little sister, and then give up a large amount of money to provide a cover for her while you go and get men to come and set her free. It was not Captain Herrera or any other man that came to the closet looking for her. It was you. Then you bring her and Jessica here and make sure they are both cared and provided for. You, young man, are her knight in shining armor. Can you understand now?” She smiled at him. “I also know you did not want it or expect it. It was just you being you and I am so very proud of you. Just make sure you remember your promise to her.”

“Alright, I will. I think you have ulterior motives though.” Chance said as he winked at his mom and grinned mischievously. “You just want to make sure I come home.”

“Well of course, I want you to come back home.” She laughed. “Now go have fun but do not stay up much later you and the Captain are getting on the road early tomorrow.”

Chance stayed out for a while longer before calling it a night and heading in. He took his place on the floor of his bedroom. The girls had gone to bed hours earlier and the sound of their light breathing helped him drift off to sleep wondering about the things that his mother had told him earlier.

Morning seemed to come way to early the next day and has had become the norm, Chance awoke with a little girl on either side and a dragon on his chest. He held the girls tightly for a moment then called softly to Alyssia. Little One…Little One…it is time to wake up. We need to get our packs and grab some breakfast and head out. We need to be well on our way come sunrise.

Really? You want me to wake up? It is still dark outside. Go back to sleep. Alyssia groused.

Chance eased himself out from under Jessica but Mallory was going to be a bit more difficult as she had a firm grip on his arm. Alyssia finally got up after his moving from under Jessica dislodged her from her spot on his chest. He gently turned on his side toward Mallory and pulled his arm slowly out of her grasp. Just as he finally got it all of the way out, she awoke with a start.

“Where are you going? You weren’t going to leave without saying good-bye were you?” she asked sadly.

She rolled over to look at Jessica and gently shook her awake. “Wake up Jess, it is time for Chance to leave.” At that the little girl’s eyes popped open, and instantly fixed on Chance. He could almost see the tears start to form.

“Hey now, none of that yet. I am only going to be gone for a short time and I will be coming back, I promise. Alright?” Chance assured her.

They all got up and Chance ushered them out of the room in their robes as he changed clothes. He put a pair of black leather pants he had gotten in preparation for the trip. Then pulled on the black padded gambeson and the fine Dwarven Steel chainmail. He covered this with a light weight gray tunic. He fastened his enchanted belt with Dragon Dagger and Salvation attached along with his pouch. He took the Dragon Throwing Knife with its enchanted blade and sheath and attached them to the clasp just inside the back collar of his chain shirt so that it hung just out of sight down his back just above his shoulder blades. Then picking up his satchel and backpack with his bedroll, he headed toward the kitchen.

When he got there the family was already gathered along with Brother Joshua and Captain Herrera. They all sat down and enjoyed a hearty breakfast.

“Savor it Chance,” the Captain told him, “It is a couple weeks travel from here to Grensmar and there are no places with food as good as this.”

“Well hopefully I can help it take less time,” Brother Joshua said, as he wiped up the last of the egg yolk from his plate with a piece of toasted bread. “When you all are done eating step outside.” With that he got up and left the house to the back yard.

They all glanced at each other and quickly finished their meals.

Jessica demanded Chance carry her outside so she did not get her bare feet dirty, and he happily obliged. Mallory seemed to want to be carried as well but his arms were full with Jessica and his bags, so he handed his bags to his dad and scooped the girl up in his other arm. This resulted in a squeal of delight and a round of giggles followed by a soft kiss on his cheek. “Thank you, kind sir.” Mallory said with a laugh.

“Think nothing of it. We would not want either princesses’ toes to get dirty now would we?” Chance laughed in return.

As they walked outside there stood Joshua with two of the finest warhorses Chance had ever seen. One was a bay gelding about fifteen hands high and the other was a chestnut stallion that stood well over sixteen hands high.

The Captain walked over to the bay, “Ah, Noble, I thought I would have to leave you here.” Turning to Chance, “I did not think I would be able to find you a horse in time so I figured we would walk,” he said with a shrug.

Brother Joshua spoke up, “I figured as much so I called in a favor and had Sulyan Farms bring me their finest stallion.” He handed the reins to Chance, “He has not been formally named yet so that falls to you. He has been trained by the finest Warhorse trainer in the country, but I warn you he is young and will take a firm hand.”

“What shall I name you?” Chance asked running his hand down the stallion’s neck.

Mallory leaned over and whispered in Jessica’s ear. This caused Jessica to grin really big and nod her head. “We think you should name him Hero.” The girls said at the same time.

“Hero? What do you think boy?” Chance asked the stallion. The stallion jerked his head up and whickered gently. This cause several people to chuckle. “Well then, Hero it is.”

The girls asked if they could be let down and as soon as they were down they made a beeline for their mom. They asked her something that Chance could not make out, to which she nodded her head. They took off into the house and soon returned with several carrots and a couple apples. They headed for Hero with the carrots extended. The big horse stepped forward tentatively sniffing the carrots then took the one Jessica was holding and ate it quickly, before taking the one Mallory offered as well.

Before they could offer anything else Chance stepped in. “Are you two trying to bribe my horse into staying?” he said with a laugh.

The girls just smiled and held out another carrot to the stallion. “Alright, one more then that is all. We do not want to spoil him on the first day.”

After Hero had eaten the last carrot the girls stood at his head and stroked his velvety nose as Chance loaded his gear behind the saddle and into his saddle bags.

After he was done he stepped over to his dad and gave him a hug, “Take care. I will see you soon.” Turning to his mother he picked her up in a big bear hug and whispered in her ear, “Thank you for everything Mom. I love you.” As he set her down she turned away and dabbed at her eyes with her apron. He then knelt down in front of Jessica. “Take care Little Princess. I will miss you greatly. I am so glad you are my little sister.” He gave her a kiss on the forehead.

She quickly threw her arms around his neck, “I don’t want you to go!” She cried. He eased her back and wiped the big fat tears from her cheeks. “I have to Jess. If I don’t there will be trouble because of Alyssia. I am just going to school to learn how to work better with her. I will be back at the breaks between classes as often as I can. Maybe you can talk to Mom and Dad about coming to visit me in the capitol? Alright?”

She nodded her head but did not seem entirely convinced. He turned to Mallory who looked pitiful. Tears were streaming down her face. “Hey now! None of that. Remember, I made you a promise, didn’t I? I promised to come back, right?” Chance asked her.

She nodded her head. “Yes, you did.”

“So if I promise something to someone, then I keep that promise. Alright? So this is not good-bye it is a see you later.” With that he leaned down and kissed her forehead and her cheek.

Alyssia had been saying good bye to rest of the family as well. She climbed up onto Mallory’s shoulder gave the girl a head bump. “We will be back. I promise as well.” Then she leapt from her shoulder and landed on Chance’s shoulder.

Chance turned and climbed in the saddle and waved farewell to everyone. Alyssia moved down to sit on the pommel of the saddle as the horse turned and headed out of the yard.

Chance and Captain Herrera were on their way. Their intent was to head to Grensmar, the capitol and home of the King, the War Academy, and the Ard Academy. Little did they know all that would befall them on the way and during their time in Grensmar.