Time has passed for me, as it does for all. My past seven years have hardly needed explaining, seeing as I did almost exactly what I wanted to do. I've forged a new alliance between Lord Raistilin and King Gratling, our king. I've worked every day, making new friends and alliances to rid the world of torture and pain. It was not easy, and many died in the pursuit. It has made my life difficult, seeing people I cared for die in front of my eyes.

                The enemy forces in the world were also rampaging more freely. I've killed more daemons in the last 6 months than in all the time I was a hunter of Justice. The Holy Warrior I was referred to, and respected by many.

                I had a fitful night of sleep, tossing and turning, my mind in a jumble. It felt like someone had crept into my dreams, and ran rampant through them. A noise woke me up, and I sat up in my bed, covered in a cold sweat.

                A bird had landed on my windowsill, waking me out of my sleep. The sleep of a warrior or soldier is always light. It chirped twice, and hopped onto the headrest of my bed. It chirped three times, and I noticed the note wrapped around its leg. I sat up and pulled it off, at which the bird promptly flew away. I unrolled it and began reading. Before I had gotten halfway through it, I dropped my eyes to the bottom of the letter and read who had written it. My eyes misted over, and I sat down in my chair.

                Dear Taurclax,

                                        You most likely think me dead. But it is not so. Those many years ago when I left you in the hands of the doctors, I had no clue what I was to do. For most of my adult life I was a mercenary. I killed for hire, with no remorse or pity. I came to be known, as you may have guessed by now, The Evil One. When I killed, I wore my cape, crafted by the magical powers that no one understands, and given the hue of the most rare metals. I cannot tell you where I am or what I am doing except I thank you for everything. Already tales of a great warrior that looks identical to The Evil One and is accomplishing amazing feats, vanquishing foes that have terrorized the lands for centuries. I also think I know why you do this; you have always been deeply religious. My life has been of great suffering, causing more suffering for others. But I do think my life since I left you in the healers has lessened the pain I feel, and caused. Knowing you, as soon as this is read, will track the bird down and see where it came from. But of course you know I sent it from a random bird trainer, and already are hundreds of miles away. Be safe, my little brother, and dont sacrifice your life for mine. Be The Holy Warrior for yourself, not to ease my debt to society.

                                                                                Your Loving Brother,

                                                                                                                                Grayhem

                I cried, for only the second time in my life. The last one was for realization that my brother was evil incarnate, and the second was learning my brother was as tormented as I knew he would and should be.

               And another bird landed at my windowsill. I dried my eyes and pulled the message off the bird's hind leg. That one was totally unexpected and from someone that I thought I never would hear from again, an old friend who was asking for my aid once more. I put the letter down, just to pick up the one from Grayhem and read it again. So he is alive.

                 I prepared myself for a long journey. My old friend lived two moons away, and it was through the Dark Forest. It would not be particularly easy, but I could do it. I went out the front door, and started towards the stables. An old man and young woman materialized out of the bushes surrounding my keep, which was given to me from the king for my outstanding work. When they came closer, I noticed just how old the man was. He was bordering 90, if my guesses were right. The woman waved, and ran the last 20 meters to me. A look of recognition crossed her face and she beamed.

                "I beg your pardonbut do I know thee?" I asked with the greatest of care.

                "You do not remember me?" She looked down at her feet, hurt. She looked up into my eyes. Her's were familiar, but I just couldn't place them.

                "Honestly. I do not recall you." I trailed off. It almost came to me, but the memory slipped away. I opened my mouth to speak, but stopped.

                "Do you remember when perhaps I showed you this?" She held out my family signet, the one I hadn't used in seven years.

                "So you did finished your apprenticeship." I said.

                "I finished several years ago. It took me until now to track you down." She had tears in the corners of her eyes, and I reached up to wipe them away.

                "Dont cry, it doesn't suit your face to have tears on it." I gently lifted her chin.

                "You showed me the way. I was headed for trouble. My boss wanted my head for not delivering. I would be dead if not for you. You showed me the right way, even if it was only a glimpse." She gingerly leaned forward and kissed my cheek. She had to reach up to my cheek, and I made it easier by stooping just a bit.

                A cough behind her brought my attention away from the way her dirty blonde hair glistened in the morning air. When she had looked into my eyes, I felt the pain she felt, feeling herself useless. Her eyes were a beautiful deep green. "Ah yes. This is my mentor and teacher, Yarrow RueSong. He is the smartest man I have met."

                She bowed to him, and he crept forward to shake my hand.

                :It is a great honor to meet the man who brought my dear Lainie back to me." He paid me too much respect, him being such a great magi.

                "Just a man. Nothing special about me." I said, and knew the truth in it. "Wait a minute, your dear Lainie?" I was interested.

                "She is my student, and also my only daughter. I thought her lost a long time ago, but she came back to me, in a better mood to learn than ever before."

                "Then I am glad whatever I did brought her back to you." I smiled, and led them into my house.

                "This is quite an impressive house." He said, "Sure you arent special at all?" He asked, jokingly.

                "You misunderstand. The king gave this residence as a sign of good faith for my services to him. I turned it into a tavern, of sorts, but its completely free, and I help all people down on their luck.

                "That is very noble of you." The scholar said.

                I shrugged, and led them into the small antechamber, the only place my guests werent normally allowed to go. I showed the man a place to rest his tired bones.

                "So what brings you two here in my neck of the woods?" I asked casually.

                "I told you when I finished my studies I would help you on your quest for redemption." Lane said, and I served them both hot tea.

                "I'm not sure if it was ever about redemption. It's like someone else wanted me to do it. But I don't mind others using my body and mind if it achieves noble ends. I would gladly give my life for that cause."

                "Taurclax, you have the charms of a snake." Yarrow laughed, and I chuckled lightly.

                Lane looked at her father, who sighed helplessly, and motioned for her to speak. "Taurclax. You are not a magi, and I bet you've needed the aid of one before in your past. I offer my services to you."

                "I've always had many friends that were willing to lend their magical abilities to me." I told her.

                "Were they also willing to give their life for you?" She retorted. Fire blazed in her eyes, she would make an excellent magus some day.

                "Yes, many have. I am only alive now because of them. I lost many a good friend because of the evil residing in this world." I bowed my head and was just able to keep myself from crying; my only true friend had died only months before, and I had taken it badly, much more so than I thought I would.

                We all sat in an uncomfortable silence for several minutes, the father and daughter sipping their tea. I remembered why I had left the house in the first place. I picked up the letter, and pointed down to it. "You two may stay as long as you like. But I have business elsewhere." I tried to leave, but she blocked my way.

                "This is a chance to learn to trust me." She insisted, but I brushed past her. "You're right. I can see what you are thinking. Even if I am very powerful in the mystical arts, I don't have training against other thinking people. But I also believe my skills as a spell caster will conquer them." She set her jaw, and scowled.

                I knew her kind of people, they couldnt take no for an answer, no matter what you did. I resigned myself to taking her; nothing else would suit her. "Okay, you can come with me, but always be careful. Don't take anything for granted. Stay close to me, and don't get cocky." My jaw too was set, and I was deadly serious. The look my eyes cast proved my point, if not my words.

                "Okay. But you remember something, I'm not a little girl, you dont have to protect me all the time." She paused for a moment, thinking. Trying to mentally prepare herself, or so I hoped.

                "The ride will not be easy, that much I can promise you. We have to traverse woods and deep forests, where many evil creatures are known to live. Be prepared for a month's ride, at least." I walked outside, and she followed me.

                "I think I see why you wanted me to not come with you." She muttered under her breath.

                "If you still wish to back out, I won't hold it against you. I'm dreading the journey myself." I said, hoping she would reconsider.

                She didn't say anything for a moment, but then, "No, I'm going. I was so eager to join you in the first place, I should be able to accept the consequences." She was back to confidence again.

                "It is good I always keep several horses here, or we'd be sharing." I mentally kicked myself, for letting the dismay enter my voice.

                "You don't make it sound good." She laughed good-naturedly. "Even monks don't always think with their brains I suppose?" She trotted ahead of me, laughing merrily.

                But truth in point, it was embarrassing. I've never let anything but cool logic guide me in my life since I was 16. It was the way of the spiritually in-tune. The Order of Brother's taught all monks to deal with everyday goings on systematically and logically. It wasn't very often when I couldn't do either.

                I walked into the stables, and Lane had already saddled a horse for herself. Of course it was mine. "Sorry, Lane, but that horse is mine. The only thing on this property I don't let anyone use but myself." She climbed off my horse, a rueful grin on her face.

                "Fine, but you gotta saddle mine, because I did yours." She winked, and I felt refreshed for some reason. I did as she asked, and the horses were ready for the journey.

                I only needed a bow, and a quiver of arrows, and water. Everything else I could get on the way. I wasn't sure about Lane though, so I got a heavy pack and filled it with dried meat and cheese, in case we got too hungry.

                "Everything is ready to go." I announced, and Yarrow came out of the keep.

                "I wish you both safe journey, and please, Taurclax, keep her safe." He said as I turned my horse away from the keep, and Lane followed.

                Only a moments ride before she giddy. "If you don't calm down, you'll be so exhausted by mid-day we wont be able to travel any longer. Patience is a virtue." I said to her, and she nodded.

                Within moments, she was a bit giddy again, but this time contained herself better. The horse she sat on was a battle-friendly steed, one I'd used for many faithful years. Nothing could spook it. I only changed because the horse had become too old, and couldn't last on long rides across desert. I would not have picked that one for Lane if not for the slow journey I had planned. It wasn't needed to rush there at top speeds. It was a request of a friend, but not for assistance in killing a murderer, or an evil plague, but of something else entirely. I wasn't quite sure, but I owed it to him at least. He lost two of his children because of my foolishness. He had not asked for swiftness, just my presence.

                The first day we covered fairly good ground; about six miles. She was too tired to move, and went to sleep without a thing to eat.

                She got used to traveling, though, and we could make better time then. She was a cheerful companion throughout it all, making the boringness of travel seem tolerable. Then it changed...

"Wake up. I said wake up!" I heard a man's voice through a haze of color and sound, which affected everything around me. I did not respond. "He's not responding. He's too far gone." I thought of trying to move, but it was futile. I could not feel any real connection with the world and myself anymore. My lips were dry, my stomach was empty; it'd been a long time since I last awoke, apparently.

                My back went into a spasm, and my arms flung out, wildly wheeling about. My eyes went wide, and I felt a death rattle in my lungs. It truly felt like death... but it was not. I fell back to sleep with the sound of the cause of everything in my head...

A single howl was the cause of everything; I had thought nothing of it. Perhaps it was a crazy old man. The shout wasn't pained, or really loud. I stopped the horse and looked around, confused. "What was that?" She had whispered to me.

We kept riding for a several yards, before I heard the strange sound -almost like a call- resound again. I stopped Lane that time. It was distinctly human, unlike the other one. She opened her mouth to speak, but I silenced her immediately. An even more distinct noise came from my left, which was different yet the same as the other two. Then it dawned on me, I was hearing the same ululation from multiple people! "Lane, we must flee, now!" I said, but it was too late. The warriors were upon us. It was too late too run, we were forced to stay and fight. The men all carried swords with them, and had the look of insanity implanted in their eyes. Seven of them converged on me, but I was able to keep them at bay by swinging my blade wildly about me. Lane gasped somewhere behind me, but I could not spare more than a second's thought of her, less I die as well. I had looked at her for a second, and she was swinging a knife clumsily about her, but the men seemed to be taunting her, not afraid at all. Use your magic, foolish girl!  I cursed silently, and then roared in pain as a blade slipped past my defenses, and pierced my side.

                I slashed violently where it had come from, and heard a howl of pain and felt blade thunk against bone. I pulled my blade from the person's hide, and continued to fight the others, doing my best to slowly inch towards Lane. The two around her were still toying with her, and she seemed to grasp that now.

                Using a single sword soon grew too much, and I was forced to draw my other, fending away the warriors with more ease than expected. Destroying daemons and humans of fearsome ability was something I excelled at, and these warriors were just novices. They ceased for a split second, and another of them fell, his skull split and blood splattering everywhere. It was all I could do not to bolt from the spot and rush to Lane's aid, but I couldn't risk a knife in the back, so I stayed where I was, and fought them.

                I had great stamina, for I was not yielding to the five attackers while they were getting sluggish. I was quite amazed I still stood on my feet, the blood flowing freely from my wound was a great distraction. That was when I heard a screech, and I turned my eyes to Lane.

                The two attacking her had had enough fun, and broke her hand that was holding the knife, and had her pinned to the ground. One man held her arms, while the other began to rip off her clothes, and removing his own pants. She had not used any magic on them. I jumped straight into the air, above the five attacking me, and ran towards Lane, hoping to stop the two from having their way with her.

                It was only a partial success. I jammed my strong-side blade through one man's neck, and it got lodged in the bone, and the other felt my wrath by being gutted from groin to sternum. I turned back towards the remaining men, and went back to fighting them, this time with a ferocity I'd not possessed before. I quickly dispatched three, and the final two were growing haggard from battling, and I killed them too, but not without sustaining another injury, this time a small dagger jammed into my thigh.

                I sheathed my blade, and wearily limped towards Lane, who was attempting to put her tattered clothes back on, without much success. I smiled grimly to her, and she started to smile, when a man appeared from the shadows, and brought a large mace down on her skull, making a sickening sound, and spraying blood everywhere. Lanes skull partially caved in, and she stopped moving.

                I stared at her for a second, and then averted my gaze to her attacker. "What have you done?" I screamed, and took my second blade from the fallen man, and moved to attack him.

                He said not a word, but rushed me with amazing speed for hauling such a heavy weapon, and began his own assault. If he was with these men, he was most certainly the best of them all. He swung his mace down viciously. I managed to block it, but it jarred my bones.

                I jumped back from him, to give myself a seconds breather, but he wasnt going to let me. A dagger appeared in his hand, and he flung it at me, with deadly precision. I wasn't able to completely doge it, and it nicked my shoulder. It stung worse than I'd ever felt. It didn't make any sense. "Poison?" I sputtered, feeling the affects immediately, and falling to my knees.

                He smiled triumphantly, and walked slowly towards me. He thought he'd won. Little did he know, I was negating the affects as best as possible with my own immune system. It wasn't easy, but I was doing it.

                A foot away from me, he stopped and raised his mace. I took this split-second opportunity, and with lightning speed, jammed my blade deep into his stomach. He grunted, and lowered his weapon, eyes wide. I stood up, and moved away, still swaggering. We both dropped to one knee. He removed my weapon from his gut, and threw it aside, and I shook with trying to purge the poison. But both of us were still battle-worthy, and we continued. His swings lost some momentum, but then my blocking and dodging skills were lessened, for even if I had halted the poison, it still affected me.

                We fought on, for a very long time; both of us shed countless amounts of blood from the other. He abandoned his mace ten minutes into our fight, and used a blade very much like my own.

                 He jumped forward, and struck me across the arm, before I could block or dodge him. I yelped in pain, and fell to the ground. He had nearly severed my arm at the shoulder. I stood up as quick as I could, and parried his next attack, and made one of my own. He speed was easily as much as mine, if not more, and both of us were equal in brawn. It would all come down to our stamina. Both of us were breathing heavily, and sweat covered both our foreheads. My left side was a big flame of pain, from the deep sword wound and the knife in the thigh, which I had removed.

                Then realization came to me, I knew why his blade seemed so much like my own, it was mine! When I'd jammed it into his gut, he had simply decided to use it. I stopped, and glared at him with newly intensified, and he chuckled. "You just noticed?" He asked, his voice raspy and low.

                "Aye, you vagabond. Why have you stolen it from me?"

                "So I might kill you with your own blade, but this," he pointed to the weapon, "is a very bad weapon. I'm surprised you havent struck me down from its uselessness." He rammed the tip into a tree, and bent it until it broke.

                I was mortified. I sheathed my blade, and looked at him as if to say, come and get me. He was weary at first, I'd never used this stance against him before, but he still came at me nonetheless. It was exactly as I was hoping for. In the last year, an old friend taught me a new way of fighting, it came from another country far away, but it increased my swordsman skills ten fold. It was the only time the entire fight I was faster than the macer.

                I pulled my blade from its sheath, it was so fast it was a blur, and it buried itself deep in his chest, breaking through bone and muscle tissue. He grunted once, and fell on top of me, not moving. Both of us fell to the ground, I breaking his fall, and knocking the wind from my already laboring lungs. For a moment, I thought I might die, but I regained my breath.

                I slid out from under his body, only to discover he still lived, somehow. "Why have you done this?" I gasped, the pain in speaking more than I ever expected.

                "I... I was sent by the leader of my group. He can't stand when people are righteous, so he tried to have you killed. He will be coming after you himself next, so don't expect to live much longer." Even with death unavoidable, the man laughed out loud. He abruptly stopped, a death rattle in his lungs. His face grew red as his neck jerked, and spittle sprayed from his mouth. Then he died. I said a pray for all who lay on the ground, broken and dead. I never liked to kill, but found it often unavoidable. That didnt mean I couldn't pray for their eternal souls.

                I stood up, away from his mutilated corpse, and looked down at the lattice-like wounding on my chest. I was cut in at least a dozen different spots on my torso alone, and he'd done a number on my lower body. Three deep gashes adorned each leg, along with a bloody knife wound. My head was swimming from the lack of blood, and I could no longer stand up.

                Devastation was all around me. I was the only survivor. I crawled to Lane, in hopes of blessing her soul, for being so naïve as to think she wouldn't die from being around me. No one ever survived who was my friend. That was when I truly believed in everything, the faith I'd been following for most of my life, the Monastery that preached it, and even my own words, for I'd given sermons before. She was alive. She yet lived, even if her breath was shallow, and her skull was cracked badly.

                I whistled, and my horse came trotting into the battlefield, content as could be. On her my canteen sat, and I needed to give Lane liquid. The horse was skittish of my call at first, my voice rang out oddly, but she came, and I removed the canteen, and held it against her lips. She gagged for a moment, but eventually let some roll down her throat.

                All that was the end of my endurance. I couldn't see, my vision was so blurry. Yet I could get no sleep now, or Lane and myself both would be dead. Though I could not avoid the sleep, it took hold of me, and I passed out I feel asleep next to Lanes body, a dead, dreamless sleep, and only black eternity.

I woke up abruptly, my senses coming back to me. Lane looked pleased with herself, her head still bandaged. But she was alive, and everything would be right with the world. "Glad you're alive. Thought I lost ya." Her face brightened more, and I smiled at her also.

                "How...?" I asked, but she said nothing, just continued to look at me...

Oddly enough I was reminded of my fathers teachings. I always trusted what my father and brother told me about fighting, and never argued any of their points. Maybe it was time to do something about it. Still, after the years since my brother disappeared, I have lived my life to the rules they instilled in me. Some of them were good, but the others... it hardly mattered; I didnt know what to do anymore. It seems the world had taken a pre-destruction aura to it, one I did not like at all. I had other worries though; of recovery, and the forest would keep my attention mostly focused on the problem at hand.