A note mysteriously arrives at the Temple of Habbakuk addressed to Alexy Reynn. Taking the letter and moving off a bit to read it privately, Alex opens it cautiously. The note is penned on the back of her father's death notice.

Alexy Reynn,

Such a pretty name for a very bright pretty girl. I was always jealous of you ya know. The way your father adored and doted on you. I only wanted to share it. You were always able to make people notice you, to like you. Oh yes my dear, I know all about your little puppy dog Valandil. Sweet obedient Alexy, watch your back and warn those you care for. I am here and I am watching. Why you ask...Simply put, you didn't slice deep enough.

Your Sister,

Brianna

Alex's face pale as her hands tremble she notices the morning sun glinting off of the bracelet on her arm. Her eyes fill with tears as she drops to her knees.

"Oh dear Fisher King, guide me on my journey, watch over my friends, show me what I must do to rid myself of this trial. I trust in you to do what must be done. You have all of my gratitude for sparing my life and showing me the light. Thank you."

Her prayer finished, Alex lifts her face to the sky, sitting back on her heels.

"I must warn him and then I shall go. For his protection I will go."

A not is left with the innkeeper in Zaradene. (PM Sent)

"Valandil, Sir, a note for you." The Innkeeper calls to Valandil as he moves towards the steps to go upstairs.

"Hmm? Ah, alright," he replies, taking the note and opening up to read it. "Going home... deh deh dah," he opens the other note and reads through it, his eyes going wide. "Damnit."

Turns and balling up the note and crumpling it, he tosses it into the fire within the inn. Then proceeds to the door, throwing it up and then slamming it closed. With a sigh he draws up his hood and proceeds to exit the town and upon leaving takes the form of a panther and leaps away into the night, hoping to find some trail of Alexy.

Albert, typically meandering around Zaradene from time to time, has begun to notice that both Valan and Alexy have disappeared. Pondering on the thought, he lightly puts it out of his mind for the time being, assuming that they decided to elope to someplace nice for a change.

"Woman like dat passed through 'ere naht but a day 'er two ago! Yepyep.. That sounds 'bout right." the innkeeper says to the cloaked man, receiving a nice sum of steel that evening for his aid. The door shuts and the man returns to the trail, sniffing the trail for her scent as he takes the shape of a wolf.

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[The Thoughts of Valandil]

'' I'm not picking up her scent anywhere, yet I constantly get the feeling somebody is trailing me, and that I've been lead in the wrong direction. I should double back again, take a different route."

_______________________________________________________________

Indeed he was followed, for that evening while he lay to rest another wolf approached him, and spoke to him about Alex. They exchanged barks and growls for a minute or two and then turned and ran off neck to neck in a different direction.


_______________________________________________________________
[The Thoughts of Valandil]

" Gammet was a big help, now I've been set in the correct direction, and we may be gaining on her now, we'll see when we reach our destination. His concern for her has grown as well since he had not made contact with her in awhile either. Now alert of the situation Gammet and I will track Alex down, and ensure her safety. I've told Melanne of my absence and she will be joining us shortly. "
_______________________________________________________________

The two wolves, running hard through the forest for hours and hours. Until finally they decide to settle and rest, believing they have gained much ground for the day. Gammet raises his head, sniffing the air and looking around.

"You will not find her before I do." the whisper flows on the air, a chill now running down both of their backs as the immediate sense of danger fills their minds. What seems to be the longest hours in their lives pass before arrows flies out from the trees, striking out around them and luckily not hitting their targets. With Gammet dashing left and Valandil resuming his own form and cutting right, they try to break free from the encirclement. Gammet being a hunter in his own right tackles and bites the neck from one of the assailants. With Valandil on the other side, scimitar drawn in his left hand, and an unusual tactic of his, from his right hand spews forth a whip of flame and rips the neck from one assailant as he ducks a blade and cuts the stomach of another. Gammet having already dashed back and forth between the tress and tackled another, repeating his tactic, quick, and deadly does he take another assailant.

The skirmish goes on for a few minutes. The defense flawless and without error or mistake. Leaving seven dead, and the rest wounded and fleeing the campsite. Immediately after the battle they take to the trail again with haste, seeing this is much more of a threat than they may have previously thought.

Upon arriving in Gateway after no mishaps on the road, Alex goes straight to the mayor. He happens to be the same mayor from when she was a child and rumored to have had an affair with her step-mother.

" Excuse me, I need to speak to the mayor. One of his residents is posing a threat to several others including that of the long lost daughter of his former deputy chief. I am Alexy Reynn", she says , the meanings behind the name apparent.

She is ushered into an office to wait alone. After some time she gets up to look at the portraits along the wall. The current mayor burly and obese sits with his many ringed fingers crossed over his swollen belly. Next to him is a plaque in memory of her father. As tears come to her eyes to see his handsome face again the door behind her opens.

"Alexy Reynn! What a surprise." The mayor's bright smile diminishes quickly as Alex turns with hatred in her blue eyes and notices several of his men behind him. "I figured you for dead", he smirks..."too bad."

I have come to warn y..." Alex is cut off as the mayor motions to his uniforms. " Take her away."

Knowing she can do nothing Alex does not fight them and only prays that the judge will hear her out.

He didn't. Him being the brother of the mayor did as he was told to.

"Alexy Reynn, you are hereby convicted of two counts of murder in the first degree and one count of attempted murder. Your sentence is death and will take place as soon as we can erect the gallows."

Lead back to her cell in a daze, she sits on her cot numb, staring out of the barred window, tears streaming down her face.

"I am sorry my love... I have failed yet again."

The door to the inn swings open, a hooded and cloaked man stepping through and proceeds to the bar, taking a seat.

"How's the day treating you sir?" he speaks to the innkeeper. Turns with a response to the cloaked man.

"Well enough, with all the excitement of an execution of some Alexy Reynn girl, a murderer from awhile ago, business has been very well." the man speaks plainly, almost uncaring towards Alex.

"Alexy Reynn you say? Hmm, wheres the lass being held?" slides some coin across the bar, taking a glass of wine.

"Ah, the jailhouse within the courtyard of the barrack down the road. Why do you ask?" he asks, a little suspiciously. A reply soon being shot back.

"Just to toss an egg at her of course." he replies, with a grin.

____________________________________________________________

Later that night, while the guards change shifts, Valandil slips quietly by with his longbow drawn. Coming across the jailhouse he ducks down to peer into the barred windows to find which cell Alex resides in, and finding her he then slips around to the front, spotting two guards, and slinging his bow across his back he draws a dagger from his boot and the scimitar off his belt and sneaks up along the wall. Leaving the two completely unaware of his presence.

Dashes out infront of them as he nears the closest, and in a quick blaze of the two weapons, cutting the first mans throat, and driving the other into the other's chest, leaving them both dead within a moment, with very little noise.

Steps in and closes the door quietly behind him, running to the first intersection quietly, and peering in both directions, torchlight illuminating the hallways dimly. Steps out and moves down towards the right, look into each cell this way and that. And coming across Alexy's cell he realizes he just made a mistake, he didn't find a key, and so he dashes back down the hallways to find the guard captain. Avoiding a couple patrols he finally comes across a doorway, spotting light from under the bottom he listens at the doorway for a moment, hearing words being tossed back and forth.

"She's to be executed tomorrow, no later Captain." one man speaks. The other replying.

"Mayor, what is the reason to all of this anyhow? What did Alexy Reynn do? And why was she not put on trial!?" he questions, a little frustrated.

"Shutup! Don't question me! She wronged a love of mine! She will die because of it! Even if I kill her myself!" he snaps, yelling at the man, and at this point Valandil had drawn his sword, and kicks the door open. Both men startled at the entrance.

"What is this!?" the captain questions, looking the cloaked and hooded figure over.

"You will release Alexy Reynn to me, or you both will die, and then I will TAKE her from you." He says firmly, intimidatingly, though it is not enough to convince the two. The captain draws a sword and the mayor pulls open a drawer and reveals a dagger. The captain moves forward, attacking Valandil, and he parries the man at every blow he takes, and pushes him back against the wall and slamming his blade against his armor, only denting it, but knocking him back a good way. The mayor moves over, and shoves his dagger forward, in the attempt of stabbing Valandil in his stomach. In a deft move he pushes the mans hand aside and slams the hilt of his blade against the mans back.

"The key to the cell. I won't ask again." taking a step back he requests it again.

"Fine fine fine!! In the drawer there!" The mayor points to a drawer in a desk off to the side of the room, and Valandil moves to open it, finding what he required and as he turns around, a burning sensation is felt in the pit of his stomach, a squeezing, he looks down to find a dagger piercing his leather, then up to find the Mayor, grinning wickedly. The hood, flung back by now, and the mayor finds he made a mistake now. He finds a man enraged with hatred, a flame in Valandil's eyes. He takes the mayors hand, and pulls it further in, he himself now grinning wickedly, then pulls the hand out and shoves the mayor back, taking the dagger and plunging it into the Mayor's neck.

With the man now dead, and the captain now quite intimidated, almost afraid to even confront the man, he just stands to the side, waiting for him to leave. Valandil grunts, pushing himself to his feet, now feeling the effects of his stupidity in pushing the dagger further in.

"You will testify to what this man had said, or be assured, I'll be back for you. Alexy is innocent now, despite what she's done in the past.. she's innocent now."

"A...alright.. Whatever you say, just.. I have family, they need me. M.. My name's Sorin, I'll .. I'll do what you say, I thought, she was innocent too.. Just don't hurt me sir." he replies, stammering over his words a bit, fearing for his own life.

With the guard now alerted, Valandil dashes back out into the hallways to Alexy's cell, and coming across it, he opens the cell to find her sleeping.

"Alex... Wake up."

"Alex...wake up... Alex!"

As she hears a voice calling from the depths of her dreams, Alex's eyes flutter open slowly. Seeing Val kneeling in front of her, she bolts upright banging her head on the bunk above her.

"What... how... Valan!! You shouldn't be here," she whispers loudly and looks around. Seeing the door open and hearing a few curses down the hall her eyes widen in fear. "Valan what have you done? how did you... I told you I would be ba... "

"Alex, shut up, we have to go now! No time for explanations, the guard has been alerted, come on. "

He grabs her wrist and she notices the blood he leaves on her skin. A rage like she has never known comes over her and her eyes flash dangerously. She begins to chant, her hands whipping the air around them as she examines him over carefully. Focusing her concentration on the wound in his belly, she hears more cursing and a bell being rung far off. Footsteps coming closer as her crescendo builds to heal him. Val is pulling on her but to no avail, intent is she to save him. A figure appears in the doorway behind Val. Using all of her skills, both learned and granted, she simultaneously closes the wound leaving no trace of blood on Val as a lighting bolt shoots from her hand to knock down the man in the door. Stunned for a second he falls flat on his back then begins yelling for more guards. More footsteps come running. Alex looks at Val again with a smirk, she steps up to him with her arms out behind him, her hands out in a warning to any who dares enter, she smiles and kisses him passionately then winks as she begins to move around him towards the door.

"Thank you," she whispers.

He moves in close coming to her side with his weapons drawn. Stepping out ahead of her he turns and faces the five men coming for them. A look of pure pleasure turns his lips into a snide grin. Alex steps up behind him, casting as she goes, protecting them from the damaging blows she expects. As the five draw closer a deep growl is heard coming from Val and down the hall a shape takes form behind the men. Realizing her friend has joined them in this mission Alex smiles and wags a finger at the guards taunting them as Gammet silently stalks them. Not wanting to alert them to his presence she draws on all the power within her and calls silently to her god to protect her friend. He immediately takes on a skin of stone. Without her weapons Alex is forced to cast the little bit of spells she knows and hope to create confusion as Valan and Gammet wreak havoc on those that would stall their course.

The escapee and the two hunters leave the hallway, leaving a group of men knocked out or dead on the floor behind them. Turning and handing Alex his scimitar he unslings his longbow and notches an arrow.

"Alright, Alex, do whatever you can to avert their attention. Gammet, try to get out of sight immediately. Lets go." Valandil gives them orders, and then quickly opens the door, Alex praying, her hands glowing golden as she unleashes a blast of light upon the guards taking up a formation. The light spraying down upon the men, blinding them as Val dashes to the right, Gammet to the left. Now leaving Alex, who ultimately moves more out of sight as well, crouching behind a shed off to the side.

The guards all come to after a moment, and looks around, two of their men now taken out by a couple of arrows, leaving them scattered and confused. They split up into a few directions, tracking the companions down.

"Where's the murderin' wench at!" One of the men call out. Unfortunately for that guard, he had stepped dangerously close to Alexy, and she soon darts out, anger in her eyes as she engages the group of guards with the scimitar. Valandil quickly notches an arrow and pulls the bowstring back, firing an arrow into one of the men, downing him for but a moment, and continues to fire arrows at them. Another cuts downwards at Alexy, raising her blade she parries it, pushing it to the side and in a deft move turning the blade and cutting across the man's neck. Repeating almost the same process with the remaining guard.

Gammet having remained in the shadows until he saw an opportunity. Now having all of the guards backs turned and chasing after Valandil and Alexy, who were now running towards the gate of the barrack's courtyard.

Skirmishes take place here and there, until finally they reach the gate, and divert off to the side to enter the armoury and retrieve Alexy's belongings, finally leaving. Escaping into the night, and they leave rather peacefully after the skirmishes and the fight they put up at the barrack, the guard having lost morale and lost the will to pursue them further that night. They left very few dead, most simply wounded and knocked out.

Setting up camp a good fifteen miles outside town, they take a break to calm down, rest, and mend their wounds.

"Val, h- how did you .. why did you come after me?" Alexy asks, finally having the time to ask such questions.

"Honestly, I'm angry with you." He replies simply, taking a deep breath, calming himself and looking his tattered armor over.

"I'm, sorry..." she frowns, looking down, a sad expression coming over her. "I'll.. understand if yo-" Valandil cuts her off.

"Alex, I'm mad at the fact you didn't decide to let me help you, instead I had to track you down and rescue you from a prison, not to mention I'm not a murderer for this, you are now as well, and apparently, you are now a murderer, AGAIN." he grunts, adjusting his armor.

"I.. should have told you, exactly what I did. I'm sorry." her gaze remains downwards.

"It is okay, get some rest," he sighs, setting up a bedroll for her, and setting his cloak next to it as well, for her to use as a blanket. "Just get some rest, we'll talk ..later." And with that, she falls asleep, Gammet curled up next to her and Valandil left watching over the group.