[Mkguild] Second Repost of Enter the Tiger

[Mark Ewing]

Here is my second repost of Enter the Tiger, I hope that it is a little
better than the first version but if there is any room for improvment please
feel free to point it out too me and I will endevour to repair the issue.

Oberon Snowcat


Enter the Tiger

Oberon

Chapter One

I looked up over the rise at the caravan that was making its way around the
treacherous road to the castle that stood in the middle of the valley far
off in the

distance. In the cities of the Midlands I had heard many tales of this keep
from common citizens and soldiers. They had said all sorts of weird things
only

half of which I believed. I had seen a lot of things in the past thirty
years and I wasn't about to believe a bunch of drunks at a local tavern
because I had long

since learned that many nightmarish creatures that people told tales of were
born in the bottom of an ale tankard or a wine bottle. I had been wandering
the

Midlands for the past twenty five years as a mercenary since I had arrived
on the continent from my homeland after my clan had been exterminated by on
of

its rivals. It has been my doom as the last member of my clan to wander the
lands of the world for the rest of my long life forever exiled from my
homelands.

My skills as a warrior had grown much since I had left my homeland those
many long years ago but it didn't matter since I would never be able to go
home.

I was an outcast and I would be killed by the first Kelmar Warrior that I
met. When I had left Kelmar I had been ranked as a Swordmaster 3rd Grade and


hence a match for just about everyone that had challenged me over the past
few decades. However, I knew that if I ever met another Kelmar Warrior I

would probably end up dead since any warrior that would come after me would
probably be a Swordmaster 1st Degree and hence a much better

swordsman than I was. So here I was acting as a mercenary caravan guard on
some insignificant caravan into the mysterious Metamor Keep. The Keep

was located in the only major route between the Giantdowns and the Midlands
and hence was strategically of very high importance. If the Keep could be

held against an enemy army, they wouldn't be able to advance any further
into more civilized lands where people weren't as used to the dangers of an

enemy. I use the term civilized only lightly because they had some rather
interesting beliefs in the Midlands. I had been kicked out of more than one
garrison

job because of my faith in the Kelmar gods and my Soul Guide. I looked down
at him, he wasn't visible to those who weren't Kelmar, and noticed that he

was nervous about this place for some reason. It was easy to see why this
part of the road was the perfect place for an ambush. I had heard that this

country was crawling with a small type of people known as Lutins who were
perfectly willing to kill those in the keep and those who supplied them.

However, from what I had also heard that threat had been reduced of late and
now we were only supposed to be guarding against the more normal threat

of raiders and bandits that infested areas of roads were ambushes were
possible. This spot was certainly a candidate for that because there were
rocks on

one side of the road and a straight drop off on the other side. After
another look at Oberon, my Soul Guide, I loosened my swords in their
scabbards

before I reached over the wagon that I was walking beside of and pulled my
long bow from its place behind the driver's seat. When I had first joined
the

caravan the master merchant who had hired me had asked

"Why on this green earth do you have a full chest of things to bring with
you?" I had looked at him for a second before I had replied

"I have a full chest master merchant because it contains all of my weapons
and clothing that I am not wearing." What I hadn't mentioned was the

fact that there was a false bottom about four fifths of the way into the
chest that concealed a compartment where I kept my pay, since I made more
money

than I could normally spend. Now he looked over at me before he asked me

"What's the problem Adòn you seem a little nervous."

"Master merchant it has nothing to do with being nervous and everything to
do with being cautious. This is an excellent place for an ambush and I would


hate to have made you feel good just by not being prepared for the
eventuality that we do get ambushed." He looked up at the rocks in
apprehension before

he fumbled for the short sword that he wore at his side. This man was
definitely not from any place where war was a common. As he fumbled about
with

his weapon I kept my eyes on the rocks above the road. Although I did spare
more than a moment to ask Oberon what he thought of road.

"I don't know sir but I can tell you that there is danger in the area." I
mentally nodded my head before I looked at those blasted stones. The

problem with Oberon was the fact that he could never be specific about his
information because he was only an ethereal spirit and not a true person. We


were more than half way through the rock garden when it happened. Suddenly
the air was full of arrows raking the caravan, killing the caravan master by


hitting him in the neck and wounding or killing a few of the other guards. I
ducked behind the wagon the instant I heard the arrows but none-the-less I
still

received three arrow hits, none of which was major. The first hit my left
shoulder pauldron, the second embedded itself in my right chest plate, and
the third

actually managed to hit flesh, on my right arm though it wasn't all that
much of a hit. I took a second to yank it out before breaking off the two
that were

embedded in armour before I returned their fire with my own longbow. In my
own lands I had been only considered a merely adequate bowman but at the

ranges at which I was firing I was able to score a hit almost every time. I
had managed to kill six more bandits before they came running down the hill
to

meet the caravan guards and merchants who were defending their livelihoods.
I dropped my bow and threw all six of my throwing knives in roughly ten

seconds taking down six of them before I drew both my hand and a half
long-sword and my short-sword before getting up close and personal. This was
the

kind of fight that I had been bred and trained for. Before they could
realize that I was no ordinary country caravan guard I had killed five more
of their

number. Several of them stepped back and gave me some space while some of
the more desperate men tried to get through to attack me. I wasn't a cheap

prize after all considering the fact that my weapons and armour could
probably be sold for quite the load of money.

"Why do you guard this caravan when they probably don't pay you what you are
worth mercenary?"

"I guard it because I am being paid and because I swore that I would guard
it until it reached the Keep down in the valley." The man who had

shouted his question at me shook his head before he yelled that he would
give any man who put me down a large pile of gold for killing me. I smiled
at the

challenge as I brandished both of my swords and replied

"Come to me and meet my swords, they thirst for the blood of those who will
serve my Krytă in paradise." This was a battle that any Kelmar

Warrior would be happy to engage in. Hopeless odds, little chances of
escape, a determined enemy, and no retreat were things that any Kelmar
Warrior

would relish as I did. They rushed me en masse in a clear attempt to get in
too close for me to do any damage but it was a flawed tactic when coming up

against a Warrior. I used my swords in concert with each other to create a
whirling, singing net of steel that sprayed out bright red blood almost
constantly.

These bandits had numbers and desperation in spades but they had little
training. However, even the most ill trained horde can eventually beat a
well trained

enemy given enough time and willingness to take casualties. As they pushed
me back towards the cliff to the left of the road I sustained more injuries,


although my armour served to protect my torso from any major damage. As they
pushed me towards the cliff several of caravan guards rushed to my aid

though they didn't possess my skills in combat, but every little bit helped
and our efforts were beginning to show on the bandits. I was almost at the
edge of

the cliff when a huge man in rough jerkin came up beside me and tried to hit
me with a war mace. I managed to parry his blow with my short sword but it

rattled my arm to the shoulder. I ducked under his next massive blow before
I thrust up with the sword and spilled his guts all over the dusty road.

However, as he fell the massive axe that he had been wielding hit me in the
head and I knew no more.

"How is he Brian?" One of his assistants asked cautiously as the raccoon
morph leaned over the large dark haired warrior who had been brought in

with the caravan that had just arrived from the Midlands. The caravan had
been ambushed by bandits just outside of demesnes of the Keep and hence was

in an area that the keepers weren't responsible for. The mercenary who had
brought the man into the infirmary had said

"He was injured roughly a day ago and he hasn't woken up. His injuries are
outside of what I am capable of healing." Brian had told the man that he

would do what he could to save this mercenary's life. "Can you do it in a
couple of days because we don't intend on sticking around to get whatever it
was

that turned you into what you are now."

"I highly doubt that I will be able to heal him in such a short amount of
time but I will do the best that I can for him." The mercenary that had
brought

in his patient had nodded before leaving the room to leave Brian and his
assistant with their patient. Before he could do anything He had to get the
warrior's

armour and equipment.

"I don't really know Jasmine, this could be difficult. With head wounds you
never know, but considering that he's survived long enough to get here I

have some hope that he will survive. First though, we have to get him out of
this armour. The armour in question seemed to be a composite type with

plates, chain-mail, and hardened leather integrated in its construction.

"One thing's for sure this guy definitely likes his weapons considering how
many he had on his person." Brian spared no more than a glance at the

goodly sized pile of weapons lying in a pile by the bed. When his
compatriots had brought the man in he had at least a dozen bladed weapons on
his person

and they had quickly removed all of the hardware before they got down to
work. As soon as the man's armour and clothing was stripped off Brian gasped


in shock. The man's torso was a maze of scars, in some places there seemed
to be scars on top of other scars.

"This man has seen a lot of action Brian." His assistant quietly mentioned

"That he has Jasmine. I didn't know that you could pick up this many scars
in a lifetime and still be a functioning human being. Although in his

profession getting some scars is a part of the job."

Over the next several hours they worked hard to save the strange mercenary's
life. It was a difficult proposition especially since Brian knew so little
about

his patient. He was obviously human but there were some things that puzzled
him to end. For instance the man appeared to be healing at an increased rate


when compared to normal humans. For another when Brian had opened the man's
right eye to check to see if his patient was still alive he noted the fact
that

the man had golden eyes instead of any normal hue. Once the man was
stabilized late in the evening Brian managed to get some sleep while his
patient slept

on not knowing what was going on.Over the next few days things didn't seem
to change much although Brian could tell that the man's personal ability to

heal was still functioning because his head wound appeared to be nothing
more than a simple bump that one would acquire from getting hit on the head
with

an acorn falling from a high branch on a tree. After more than a week with
no change to his patient Brian was beginning to wonder if the man would ever


wake up.

Chapter Two

I opened my eyes slowly and looked around without moving my head. The last
thing that I remember was the sight of the large man with the axe

that I had just killed with a thrust from my long-sword stiffening and then
beginning to slump forwards dropping his axe at the same time. After that

everything was a blank. I could already tell that I was in a bed in medical
ward in some town. I had spent a lot of time over the past thirty years in a
bed like

this after getting wounded in some battle or another. It was a hazard that I
knew went with my profession. Finally after looking around for a few moments
I

propped myself up and then rapidly let myself back down onto the pillow as
my head started spinning like a Ptaen Death Spiral. At that point a man, at
least

I think it was a man, who had had the facial features of a raccoon came into
my vision and asked me

"Do you know where you are?" I thought back to where I had been going before
I had been hit in the head with a stupid rock before I replied

"I believe that I am at Metamor Keep, and that you are one of the residents
if I am not mistaken."

"Well at least I am glad that you kept your mind my mysterious mercenary,
you are indeed in Metamor Keep and I am the Healer Brian Coe. I have

served as healer here since before the Battle of Three Gates." After a
moment I looked around again before I asked

"Do you know where they took my sword?" The raccoon looked confused before
he nodded his head and responded by saying

"Yes they took them up to a room that has already been prepared for you."

"Are you meaning to tell me that I was expected?"

"The people may not have been expecting you but the Keep on the other hand
may have known that you were coming."

"What do you mean that the Keep knew that I was coming?"

"The Keep here has a spirit of its own and it knows when someone is coming
to join the population full time."

"I have no intention of staying here. There is money to be made out there in
service of anyone who is willing and able to hire me."

"Do you know anything about the keep at all sir?"

"I have heard quite a bit but I don't really make it a habit of listening to
all of the gossip that I hear in city taverns where I am serving as a
mercenary.

Most people's tall tales come from the bottom of an ale mug or a wine
bottle."

"Well in the case of Metamor Keep most of those tales are true, although I
haven't heard any of those tales myself since I spend most of my time

here in the Healer's Quarters in the infirmary."

"Do you at least have one of my swords still here?"

"Yes we do, but why should you need it."

"It's not that I need it but that to my people a warrior's sword is the
center of his being. So if you take a warrior's sword from him you are

removing his honour."

"I think I see your point there my strange friend."

"If it would make it easier on you I will give you one of my names."

"That would be much appreciated."

"I am known as Adòn Naharél."

"That is a usual name Adòn, I haven't ever heard of one like it."

"Well you've probably never met a Kelmar Warrior and nor are you likely to
Mr. Coe." The racoon nodded slowly and then pattered off into one

corner of the infirmary before he returned with my hand and a half sword
lying across his hands. I took the weapon from him with a grateful smile and
then

slowly drew it out of the scabbard a couple of inches before I returned it
to its normal position and let myself fall asleep once more. I wasn't sure
how much

time passed this time but when I awoke again I was feeling much better. When
I sat up this time there was no trace of the spinning in my head. I looked
at

my arms and noted the fact that there were distinct stripes of black and
white skin running from my shoulders to my hands. What was more noticeable
was

the fact that the palms of my hands were now black in colouration. After
looking at my body for a few moments more I shrugged my shoulders. This
really

wasn't something that I was looking forward to the effects of the curses
that this place was under. After all how Oberon manage to find me when I
didn't

look anything like myself?

"Hello I see that you're awake again, I sure hope that you don't intend on
spending to much more time in here. I've other things to do besides

watch someone sleep and I would guess that you probably need to get some
food into that body of yours." At the mention of food my belly grumbled like


an agitated beast and I felt very hungry.

"I guess that as soon as I get some clothing I'll leave you to your little
domain while I explore what I would quite simply guess is going to be my new
home." The raccoon nodded slightly before he handed me a robe before telling
me that as soon as I got my own clothes on I could return his robe. "I will
make every effort to be prompt with its return Mr Coe."

"I would appreciate that Adòn." After I threw the robe on and took my sword
in my left hand I made my way to the door

"By the way how in the name of Săvnator am I supposed to make my way around
this pile of a castle?"

"Oh that's easy all you have to do is think of where you want to be and the
Keep will get you there eventually. That is if she isn't playing games at

the time." I smiled at his comment before I walked out the door and headed
down the hallway to the right. Within ten minutes I found a door that was

marked with the five Kelmar Runes that made up my full name, not the name I
used in public but my full name Adòn Naharél Sahnăť'Haǜdörn of the

Sundering Stone Clan. I put my hand on the latch and quickly made my way
inside. The wall by the door had at least twenty pegs on it for my weapons

which were either lying on my bed or still in travel chest at the foot of
the bed. I quickly opened the chest and pulled out my collection of weapons
and

began to put them on the pegs. I had several different swords that were each
suited for a different style of combat. Once I cleared my weapons out of my

chest I pulled out my clothes and got dressed in a simple black leather vest
and breaches. Once I was properly dressed I grabbed my heavy belt with its

double baldrics and slung it around my waist before settling the center of
the baldric with its enamelled Snow Tiger head over the middle of my torso.
For

some reason the people who had picked me up had managed to retrieve all of
my throwing knives. Once my weapons were comfortably settled about my

body I contemplated the quiver that was hanging on my right baldric before
removed my heavy belt once more to detach said quiver and replace it and the


sword that was slung on the left side with a twin set of single handed
double edged straight sabres before once more reattaching my belt and
baldric to my

person. After that was finally taken care of I put on a pair of boots and
one of my dark gray hooded cloaks before I opened to door to go exploring. I


almost ran smack into a large man, or rather creature who was at least half
a foot taller than I was. He looked down at me before he asked me

"Is all of that really necessary?"

"I am a Kelmar Warrior and that means that you will never ever see me
unarmed." The creature, I could only call him a he since I had heard his

voice raised and eyebrow before he settled down again and introduced himself

"My name is Copernicus and I have several functions in this place the least
of which is guiding you new folks around this place so that you will know

some of your way around." I looked at the lizard man for a second to get
some impression of what he was like from my Soul Guide. He stood beside me

and looked up at the strange lizard man before he nodded his great ruffed
head to tell me that I was safe with this man.

"I'll be glad to have your assistance in this matter. I have a lot of
experience in castles but from what the Healer Brian told me this castle is

somewhat unique in its architecture."

"Well I will show you the basic areas of the keep so that you know your way
around but once we get past that you will have to make your own

way. I can already tell that we won't have to ask you if you will be serving
with the local reserves of even army because that is evident in the way that
you

carry yourself."

"Is there some form of standing group that I can join that will go out into
the enemy lands frequently?"

"The Keep does possess a group of scouts but they don't possess anywhere
near the amount of weapons that you carry." I slowly muttered a

Kelmar phrase under my breath that meant ‛To deny thyself options is to doom
thyself to death and dishonour.'

"I would guess as much since scouts by their very nature normally like to
proceed through enemy territory by stealth and secrecy. They don't seek

combat but instead information that the army can use to defeat those
enemies."

"You sound like you know a lot about war."

"I have served for the past twenty eight years as a mercenary throughout the
Midlands."

"That's quite the achievement…"

"I go by the name Adòn Naharél."

"Yes Adòn as I was saying that number of years in service is quite an
achievement. Normally a person leaves the mercenary trade after ten years

because fighting for that long tends to wear heavily on the body."

"I am not most people, I am a Kelmar Warrior and I have only just reached
the prime of my life. Besides I was bred for battle and trained for war

since I was very young." He looked surprised before he shook his head and
began to walk down the hall all the while explaining several things

"This keep has never been taken by and enemy force although there are those
that have tried in the past. The curse is one of the effects of one of

those attempts to take the Keep and break out into the Midlands"

"The defenders must have fought very hard if they managed to beat the enemy
even when they had their forms changed."

"That we did, although our magic users should also be praised as they
managed to somehow reverse most of the major effects of the three

enchantments. You see the enchantments were originally a Bimbo Spell, a Baby
Spell, and an Animal Spell but our local magic users were able to reduce

the effectiveness of the spells making them so that the people who got
caught by them could still function. From the look of your arms I can tell
that you've

started to change from the curse and that you've been hit with the animal
spell. I nodded before he went on to explain some of the other features of
the keep

including some of the military areas of the Keep including the Arsenal Tower
in the inner ward. He also showed me a large number of areas were common

citizens were allowed including the Deaf Mule, the Baths, and the Library.
When he finished the tour he turned to me and said if you want to practise
with

those weapons that you carry I would suggest that you go to the inner ward
where there is a archery range as well as a parade and practice ground were

you can practice your skills.

"Thank you for the tour Copernicus I shall make a point of visiting those
practice grounds." With that said I turned and headed back to the Bath

were I could get cleaned up. I hadn't had a bath in days and I knew that I
was beginning to smell, indeed if I was in my home town of Hollow Stone I

would get chased out of town until I took a bath for stinking up the place.
Half an hour later I lounged in the warm water of the bath looking up at the


domed ceiling while letting the stink of the past few days get washed out of
my skin. I spent a good amount of time in the bath going from one pool to
the

other until I was sweating out all of the toxins in my body in the hottest
water that I had encountered since leaving my homeland decades ago. In my
mind I

saw that this place had a chance to become a new place that I could call
home after so many years of wandering and fighting for nothing but my own
purse.

As I finally pulled myself out of the hot water I looked over at Oberon and
he seemed to be nodding at me before his spirit voice said

"You do great credit to your mind Adòn if you plan on staying here. No
Kelmar has lived his life with only the pursuit of death and slaughter as
his

lone occupation and nor should you." I knew what he said was true but it
would be hard to change the habits of fifty five years of war and violence.
I had of

course learned some of the other things that Kelmar Warriors could do when
they weren't fighting but I had little time for those pursuits when I was
living in

my homeland and even less time for them when I was an exile. I spent most of
the rest of the day exploring this place that had just become my home before


I went to the Deaf Mule to meet some of the inhabitants of the Keep. The
place was full and there were people of all different forms and sizes
walking

through the room. Sitting at a table in one corner there was someone who
appeared to have some of the characteristics of a dog though his fur was
thick

and white. I sat down at an empty chair beside him and watched as an
apparently young girl made her way to the table and asked

"What can I get you Drift?"

"I'll have an ale if it's not too much trouble."

"As long as you don't get caught up in a fight again Drift, After all you
remember what happened the last time you drank more than one ale."

"Yeah I remember what happened." Then the girl turned to me and asked

"What can I get for you stranger?"

"I will try the ale as well." She nodded at me and then turned to go back to
the bar to retrieve our orders from the bar. The white dog turned to

look at me before he asked

"Do I know you?"

"Not likely considering the fact that I've never been here before other than
earlier when Copernicus showed me around."

"I see" He mused as our ale arrived. I sipped the drink to see if it was any
good and was surprised to find that this ale had some body to it. Granted

it wasn't quite as strong as Kelmar Mountain Beer but it was a close second
in strength. I stood up after a second and went over to a line that had been


marked on the floor several feet from the dartboard. I pulled three of my
throwing knives out of their sheathes before placing them in my left hand.
Drift

watched as I stood there as if waiting for a signal before I threw all three
weapons at the dartboard in less time than it takes to blink three times.
All three

knives had impaled themselves in the bullseye. I smiled slightly, took a
drink and went to the board and pulled the knives out before I returned to
the line to

throw again. I had always been good with throwing knives and I enjoyed the
practice until the ale began to affect me. I knew that it was time to stop

because I had always made it a practise to stop drinking when I began to
feel it. After all a drunk isn't all that capable to defending him or
herself when they

need to. I wasn't exactly sure when I left the Deaf Mule but I was enjoying
myself as I made my way back to my room.

That night while I slept Oberon came to me in a dream, but not one of my
waking dreams where I saw him beside me. Instead this was a full dream

and he was standing beside me like he had always done since he had become my
guide when I was fifteen. His form subtly shifted until he was standing on

two legs in front of me. He towered over me by a good foot or so but he
still seemed to be my guide

"Adòn something is changing you and there is nothing that I can do to guide
you through the change."

"What can you do Oberon to help me?" He looked around before he replied

"The only thing that I can do Adòn is to join you as one being instead of
our split beings. You will need my insights into instincts but you will be

yourself as you have always been." This was something that was very
difficult to contemplate since Oberon had been with me for more than fifty
years.

Through the rest of the night he gave me control of the somewhat human form
that he had assumed while I took my human form and seemed to leave with

all of the burdens that had come with my humanity.

When I opened my eyes the next morning I wasn't all that surprised to find
that my face seemed little different from the form that Oberon had given

me the night before. When I stood for the first time in my new form I looked
at my whole body before I tried to contact my guide. Just as I expected
there

was no response and knew that he had left me for good. I would have to make
my way through the world without the guidance of Soul Guide and that was

something that frightened me greatly. I had no intercessor with the gods if
I did something that they didn't favour. I was even more alone than when I
had left

my homeland after I was exiled by the destruction of my clan. After
considering things for a few moments I finally resolved that I wouldn't hide
in this place

without my guide I would try and patch my life back together on piece at a
time. When I put on my clothes I was surprised to find that just about
everything

fit even though I was much bigger than before. I guess the Keep had made
sure that my clothing and weapons still fit. I did have to change the swords
I

used as my sides since they seemed a little shorter than they had been
before. On my left side I put on my largest sword, a two handed long sword,
and on

my right I put a single handed broadsword to replace my short sword. Once
those changes had been made to my equipment I put on my obligatory black

cloak and headed out into the keep to locate one of the mess halls. As I
walked to the nearest mess hall I thought about my dream again.

Three hours later found me in the inner ward practising with my double
sword; or rather it was my two double edged straight sabres joined at the

hilts to form a single double bladed sword. As I brought the weapon to a
halt in front of me I saw a battered looking red fox morph come into the
courtyard

with a five foot long black axe in his hands. He looked over at me in my
striped black and white fur before he came over to me and asked

"You new around here?" I nodded slowly looking at the way he stood. He was
obviously skilled because he held himself like a warrior and not a

citizen. The way he held the black axe in his hand also confirmed my
suspicion that he was a warrior. I slowly bowed at the waist in a show of
respect for a

fellow warrior before I replied

"My name is Adòn Naharél Sahnăť'Haǜdörn formally of the Sundering Stone Clan
and I am a Kelmar Warrior, but you can call me Oberon."

This was the first time that I had ever used my guide's name to identify
myself, but considering what he had done with me last night I believed that
I had

every right to use his old name. After all it was much easier than using my
own name. The fox's one remaining ear twitched and so did his tail and he

introduced himself

"My name is Misha Brightleaf. I am pleased to make your acquaintance Oberon.
Are you actually any good with that thing?" He indicated my

double sword with his free hand.

"I can hold my own if that is what you are asking. It isn't my favourite
weapon but it is one of my most formidable weapons." He nodded slowly

regarding the almost seven foot long weapon before he put down his axe and
asked me if I minded a little sparing practice. "I don't mind practice at
all sir."

I replied and pulled apart the weapon before sheathing both blades while he
ran over to the armoury to grab a pair of staffs. As soon as we started
banging

away at each other with the seasoned pieces of wood I could tell that this
man was very very good. His reflexes were good as was his positioning and

footwork. It probably didn't help that I was fighting in a body that I had
yet to get used to; his familiarity with his body countered my greater reach
and

power. Finally after a concerted effort his staff struck the back of my
knees and I ended up flat on my back with a growing lump on the back of my
head.

"Are you ok Oberon?" I rubbed the back of my head ruefully with my hand
before I replied

"I'll survive Mr. Brightleaf."

"You don't have to call me that you can just call me Misha." He said as he
extended a hand to help me get back to my feet. His plan backfired

though because he didn't take into account my own massive weight as he
pulled. I let go of his hand before I levered myself into a sitting position
and then

stood up. "You definitely have some skills Oberon and you gave me a run for
my money and that doesn't happen all that frequently."

"You're the best fighter that I've run into since I left my homeland thirty
years ago."

"Are you trying to tell me that you've been fighting for longer than I've
been alive?"

"There's a good probability that I have Misha." He shook his head before he
turned and headed back towards one of the gates in the wall with his

axe in hand and his tail held high. There was one highly skilled warrior
that I wouldn't want to meet in the field of battle. The one disappointing
thing about

my practice came when I was trying to shoot my bow. Inadvertently the claws
in my fingers cut the twisted gut string of my bow. What that meant was that


I couldn't use it while I had claws.

That evening when I sat in my room on my knees in front of the small altar
that I had set up to the gods I asked for guidance in going forward into

the future. This had been a hard week and it had all started when I had
first seen this castle in the distance from the road on the mountain with
the caravan.

I should've looked for something else to do instead of signing on as some
caravan guard. Well as my father had once said ‛You never get anywhere by

looking at what might have been.' That was the truth and I had to get used
to what I was now and live for the future not the past. Things had changed
but I

was Kelmar and thus bound to this fate like everyone else. With those
thoughts in mind I went to bed with a somewhat clearer head. Tomorrow would
be

the first day in a new week and a new beginning for me.
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