at what that meant back there he decided to get a better look at what was going on. He soon found the perfect tree to climb and surveyed the battle field. From what he could see in patches of clearings, it appeared to be mostly a clean up operation now, so there was little to be afraid of from that once arrogant enemy. They may have been arrogant, strong, fierce fighters, but they were also dumb, ugly, and far to slow for this group of odd travelers. Gunnar was glad they had found this band.

They seemed a clever lot that was for sure. He had noticed those “Death Spectres” floating through the trees and thought that was a pretty good trick, it would have gotten him to jump. Plenty of time to get to know them while on their way, but to where? Life was so unexpected now for Gunnar, but it was moving at a fast pace, so at least he was getting to somewhere quickly.

He had been in the tree for a few minutes settling his mind when he heard the sounds of two approaching from below. It was that samurai and the silverwolf. He thought of calling it grey, but that seemed to dull a word to describe the coat, so he settled on silver.

MMM, now what was this? The wolf disappeared into the brush and the samurai stayed where he was. Too dense to see clearly at that point, he left it up to his ears to describe what was going on down there. Soon, it was the rustle of silk that caught his attention. He distinctly heard two voices now. Yep, weird things go on in dark forests.

He climbed down eager to follow those two. I wonder if she likes cards, he said to himself. Every woman likes a good card trick. Might just be the thing. He promised himself he would not use his talents to make a profit from them. In this crowd too little was known and he wanted to keep his fingers. Still, one had to keep in practice. He was sure he would find the opportunity to gauge his skills against theirs.