The 3 rode on, going up the northern end of the mountain range towards Fujima. Their time was occupied retelling the tales of their battles and adventures before they met Red. Red was however, not so eager to share her past, and Romel and Solaris made sure they didn't tread into unwelcome territory with her. A few days into the journey, a small argument began, as she, much like Romel, had some problems initially believing the stories.

"You fought a dragon AND lived? And let's not forget the fact that this dragon speaks! Shall I ask it for a cup of tea should I happen to run across him?! Dragons are extinct. They have been since long before I was around!" Red shouted in protest of one of their tales.

"You're gonna hurt Quasar's feelings if you meet him with an attitude like that, or worse, you'll piss him off" Romel replied jokingly, yet still partially seriously.

Solaris looked over at Red and calmly asked "Miss Red, you wouldn't happen to know anything about swords, would you?"

"I know enough. I can tell a good sword from a bad one if that's what you want to know" she replied proudly. “Oh, and don’t call me ‘miss’! Just how old do you think I am?

"Know anything about the materials of the blades? Also, I’m not answering that question on account of the fact that I feel my life will be endangered regardless of what I say."

"Isn’t that pretty much the same question? I thought I said yes, and as for the second answer, you’re smarter than you look" Red answered with an annoyed tone.

Solaris pulled out his sword and presented it to her. "Have you ever seen one like this?" He asked.

She took a moment to inspect the cracked and fissured blade. "It’s not like any metal I've ever come across. What kind of blade is this?"

"Well, I'd love to tell you, but you wouldn't believe me if I told you it was made of dragon claws." He answered her with a grin. "Most metal wouldn't crack like that anyways, it'd just shatter."

"I can’t really argue against that, but I won't believe it till I see this dragon you speak of".

The carriage stopped suddenly as she returned the weapon to Solaris. "We've reached Fujima already?" she asked.

"No, not just yet." Solaris answered, and looked outside. "guess we get out and check."

They got out to find that their driver had 2 arrows pointed at him from either side of the road, and 2 men carrying swords approaching the carriage from either side as well.

"Bandits? Really?" Romel said as he raise an eyebrow. One of the archers turned their bow to him as he spoke. Romel simply laughed. "Well, I did have to use the bathroom, guess this stop saves me the trouble of having to ask us to stop."

Red drew her bow and aimed back at the archer. "This isn't a fight to be easily won." She said. As she finished speaking, one of the 2 swordsman approached her.

Solaris spoke up, "I didn't expect to run into you guys again. I suppose you didn't learn your lesson back in Alpis. Where is the 5th of you?"

Romel looked mildly slightly confused. "You know these guys Solaris?"

"I'd have thought you might remember them; they did attack your house after all."

Romel raised an eyebrow. "Those guys you owned the day we met?!"

Solaris nodded "The very same ones. These were the original reason I left that small nameless village."

"And we've been hunting him ever since that day! Though I must admit, I didn't think we'd find you here of all places, and in a carriage from Azidon at that! It looks like you are trapped this time, and may even have valuables. Fortune smiles upon us on this day." Said a man who appeared from the woods. He stood tall, easily higher than 6 feet, and carried with him a heavy oak staff, which appeared to be used more for fighting than sorcery.

"We're still a day or so from our destination by carriage. If you were defeated here, it would take you closer to 4 days to actually catch up to us. That's assuming of course that you can still walk despite your injuries. Are you sure you wish to fight us?" Solaris asked calmly.

The tall one frowned. "Don't you think you're alittle ahead of yourself? We have the advantage. You and your party are at arrow point, and outnumbered. You should be seeking mercy from us, not the other way around."

Solaris looked over at the other 4 men around them. "You do remember what happened last time right? This time I won't go easy on you, and the ones with me probably won't either. If its food you want, we can share dinner. We do have an excellent cook."

A smile spread across Red's face from behind the bow and arrow she held. The 4 others hesitated for a moment, as if in thought. The tall one spoke up "FOOLS! KILL THE BLONDE ONE! I don't care what happens to the rest, though it'd be best to kill them too!."

They raised their weapons at Romel, Solaris, and Red, who were already standing with their weapons drawn. Solaris sighed, "This is what happens when I try to talk things out. See, it really doesn't work."

"Guess that means we're fighting now?" Romel questioned.

"Mmmmhmmm" Red replied as she released the arrow into one of the archer's right shoulder. He'd released his arrow just before he was hit, yet he was not so accurate. The arrow grazed her hair and a few strands fell to the ground.

Romel jumped in between her and the swordsman running towards her. He occupied him while she readied another arrow. She took aim at the archer's other shoulder, but this time he was wary and evaded.

Solaris was occupied with the archer and swordsman on the left side of the road. The tall man ran off to the right, to assist against Red and Romel.

Romel, since given the strength of a beastman, easily fought back the swordsman, and was met by the tall staff wielder who swung at him, forcing Romel back to his original place.

"2 vs 1 isn't fair you know." He said as he tightened his grip on his sword. He swung with all his might and disarmed the swordsman. The sword flew and nearly hit Frost, who stepped a bit to the left to avoid it.

Romel put the swordsman down with a blow from the hilt of his sword, then turned his attention to the tall one as he approached.

Red had a much easier time evading the archer's shots since he had an injured shoulder. She took her time and avoided him easily, taking shots as she pleased, slowly disabling him. She hit him at his joints, specifically his shoulders and a knee. She stopped when he could no longer fire his bow and looked at him, ready to fire again: "Would you like to stop while you can walk, or shall I make things more painful?" she said while lowering her aim to his groin. He shook his head.

"No, have mercy, please!" He dropped his weapons and fell back against a tree.

She turned her bow towards the large man fighting with Romel. It took a moment to aim as they were moving fairly quickly, dodging and striking at each other. Romel was surprised that the man was actually able to block his attacks using a staff. It soon became apparent that the staff wasn't exactly made of wood as originally thought. The 2 kept going back and forth, exchanging blows and blocking. Romel landed a stab to the man's right arm, and himself took a heavy strike to his left leg, which slowed him down a bit.

Meanwhile, Solaris toyed with his adversaries, dodging punching them at will. The only thing keeping him partially serious was making sure that the horses and other people weren't in the way when he dodged an arrow. He grew weary of the game and decided to end things quickly as he watched the men try to fight him with pain-filled expressions on their faces. He took his blade to the archer's bow, and sliced it, rendering it useless. He archer merely pulled out a knife and charged at him, at exactly the same time the swordsman charged as well.

Solaris's eyes widened with surprise and he activated nova, more as a reaction than actually needing to use the power. He turned and evaded to his right with incredible speed, surprising the former archer, and gave him a heavy fist to the back of the head as he passed around him. The archer fell to the ground, totally unconscious. He quickly turned his attention to the swordsman, who'd just changed course for the driver of the carriage.

Solaris was fast, but wouldn't be able to catch up to the swordsman before he caught the driver. The driver jumped back in the seat as the swordsman jumped up to the carriage and raised his sword to the driver's throat. His shoulder was pierced by an arrow from Red in the same instant. His other shoulder was pieced by another arrow mere seconds later. He fell to the ground, gasping for air.

Solaris turned his attention to the tall one, as did Red. He realized quickly that he was outnumbered, and very much outmatched. He leapt into the air and came down upon Romel with a thunderous blow. Romel was disarmed and knocked down, he looked up to see the tall one's boot coming down at his face. He closed his eyes and prepared for the pain.

Solaris shoulder charged him, knocking him away from Romel. Romel staggered to his feet to see the man leaning back against a tree, alongside the other injured archer. He had Solaris's blade and Red's bow pointed at him.

Solaris, still in nova, spoke slowly, and calmly, "Now, like I said last time: if I were all bad, you would all be dead. I even tried to talk this out with you, but noooo, you insisted on fighting." He walked towards the man and picked him up, pinning him against the tree. "Now, I like that staff. It's clearly not made of wood, or is it?" He looked at the staff, which the tall man dropped. "Yeah, We'll take it."

Solaris turned to Red. "Can you check on the injured ones? I don't want to have these people die out here, even if they are out to get me."

Red nodded and checked on the man she'd just shot in the shoulders. "This one is in bad shape, I got him pretty good." She said as she turned away from the man, who was gasping in pain.

"I guess we'll take them with us to Fujima. We can put them on the back of the carriage with our bags" Solaris said, while still holding the man against the tree. Romel spoke up as he dusted himself off and picked up his sword.

"You better have some rope for that guy."

The driver walked around to the back of the carriage and returned with enough rope to easily restrain a few men, and or horses, or, anything else that needed to be tied.
Red raised an eyebrow. "That's a lot of rope."

The driver nodded and handed it to Romel, who proceeded to tie the wrists of their assailants. He had Solaris knock the tall man unconscious by smacking his head against the tree. The bound his wrists, ankles, and tied his arms around him too. He was quite thorough, it was clear he didn't want that man trying anything dangerous. They loaded the men into the back of the carriage, boarded themselves. Solaris tossed the staff on top and left most of the other weapons on the road where they lay.

Solaris sat in the back with their captives, keeping an eye on them. They made it to Fujima the next day and found doctors for the injured men. Romel had his hand ready on his blade as the tall man was unbound.

Solaris spoke, "I was serious about keeping that staff, it's got good craftsmanship. I also think it a fair trade: that item, for your life."

"I guess I was wrong about you, you spare us, and help us, despite all we've done. It’s a safe bet that we’re done hunting you." said the man as he walked off down the road, fading into the crowds.
Solaris looked over at Romel, "Give me you sword."

"Why?" Romel replied.

"Because you aren't strong enough to break this" he said as he handed Romel his cracked sword.

"But, yours is damaged! You'll probably just break this one too!" Romel protested.

"I'm not that destructive." Solaris argued.

"How many weapons have you destroyed, how about clothes, and lets not get started about everything that gets broken when we fight somewhere, most of which is damaged caused by you."

Solaris stood silent for a moment. "Well, I was going to ask later, but I think a sword may not actually be the best weapon for you. You don't have the strength to break my blade, even if it is already damaged. Also, I was going to give you this." Solaris handed him the staff.

Romel looked at it for a moment. "You were right, this is nice. What the hell am I supposed to do with it?"

"Simple, we'll get a way to secure it tomorrow, and start training with it in a day or 2, after you rest up a bit from nearly getting your face caved in. How's that sound?"

"Uhm, 2 weapons for one, and I get trained on how to use another? I guess that works. Now, when do we eat? I'm starving! I'll accept the trade if you pay for lunch too!"

Solaris glared at him "You ungrateful little…"

"Now, now children, behave. We all have to share the same money anyways, so it doesn't really matter who pays." Red interrupted their fight. "Since we've already found an inn, we can go there to eat." She pointed to a restaurant. "Tonight, we eat at the Golden Duck. Their roast duck is even better than my own." she added, knowing that they both loved it when she cooked roast duck. They shut up instantly and ran to the restaurant.

She shrugged her shoulders and followed at her own pace. "I feel like I have kids all over again," she said to herself as a tear rolled down her cheek. They were so busy running off that they missed another rare smile from her.