The pitiful canine whimpered and cowered backwards, bleeting about a thousand apologies. I threw an annoyed glanced at Pohl, who shifted the weight of the somewhat heavy sack of crystal to his other shoulder while scowling slightly. "I'm sorry sir!" The trader shook violently in his shorts. His speech was slurred with with broken barks and pathetic whining. "Sir, a collector from South Window has been disrupting the crystal trade lately... he makes shinier crystals and sells them in our market, so the crystals from Tinto just aren't in demand much anymore..."

"God dammit!!" Even I was surprised how angry I was turning out to be. It was all of Pohl's money at stake (3,500 potch to be exact), no skin off my back. But he was my travelling companion and, well, I guess you could go so far as to say he was now a friend.

We practically threw ourselves out of the stank, greasy mudhole of a hamlet and stood irritated outside on the road. "Dammit, Pohl! What do we do now?" Pohl dropped the dreaded sack with a surprisingly satisfying tinkling noise. "I'm a little peeved right now too, Vik. But I'm not out of ideas yet."

I tried to calm down. Count to ten Vik... Yeah, like that was going to work. I always managed to skip the even numbers when I tried that tactic. But it wasn't Pohl's fault. "Okay, kid. Whatcha got?"

"I've heard of this guy. He makes synthetic crystals for for cheapter rune housing and makes a killing selling them to runemasters. He does it with an alchemical process, but he needs to start with actual crystals."

I was impressed. "Are you sure, kid? How do you know this"

Pohl shrugged. "You don't spend time in South Window without hearing about the crazy alchemal prodigy Adlai."

"No vacancy."

I looked the innkeeper right in the eye. I tried to reason with him.

"Look buddy. It's early in the morning. I just walked here all the way from North Window, since no one had the nerve to tell me that the place was deserted!" I started to shout. "Before that, I was sexually harassed by a female kobold, and shortly before that I was mugged and left for dead. I haven't had anything to eat all day, and all I'm looking FOR IS A PLACE TO SLEEP." I grabbed the innkeeper by his chest and pulled him up over the counter. "I have a thousand potch I'm willing to pay just for one nights sleep and a meal." I said right in his face, causing him to cringe.

"No vacancy." The scrawny man said right in my eyes. "Now get out of here before I get the guards in here." He spit in my face for a bold touch.

I threw the man against the wall in frustration. I promptly exited the inn and slammed the door behind me. I wiped my face.

Where the hell am I going to go now? I exited the inn. I wandered around the city for a few minutes, as fatigue started to set in. My stomach grumbled. I had no where to go, and I was in no mood to travel to another town. So, I sat down in front of a house. I eventually stretched myself out, and feel alseep on the cold streets of South Window.

*

"Get up!" I got a kick in the gut.

I rolled over, back towards my kicker.

"Get up you bum and get away from my house!"

I rubbed my eyes as I stood up. I was one step away from socking someone. "Who the hell are you?" My eyes focused.

"I am Adlai, a GREAT scientist! And you are in front of my house!"

"I'm willing not to beat the shit out of you if you just leave me alone." I threatened him as I walked past him.

"I need a fire rune!"

I turned to look at him.

"You must get me a fire rune! As payment for sleeping outside my house, you must get me a fire rune!" He jumped up and down.

This was a great chance to get rid of the one I had. While it was nice of the Asreala family to give me one, it's not for me. I miss my Thunder Rune. "Deal" I said.

"GO NOW!" He ushered

"It's dark kid. And I'm tired. Do we have a room or what?"

Pohl came walking out of the inn, his arms slumped lower down his sides than the bags hung from his eyes. "No dice, Vik. Sorry."

At this point I was convinced of Pohl's apparant affinity for good fortune. "You got a backup plan?"

"Well... I got a buddy named Reuben whose old man is the runemaster around here," Pohl half-said, half-thought, gazing up at the opening vault of stars. "He owes me a favor. We can probably kick back there until morning. He makes good chili."

I never did like chili; Barbara used to force feed us her nasty kobold pepper concoction when we were kids. Not only did the slop leave me emotionally scarred, but I don't think my stomach has ever forgiven her. "I think we can skip the chili. But I'm all for kicking back. Is he still up?"

"You kidding, Vik? Those folks are up all night. His old man's always open, tinkering with some kind of rune or another. C'mon, the runic shop is up that way."

I heaved the unforgiving sack onto my back and trudged uphill, following Pohl to the top of some cobblestone stairs, which can be damn near deadly in the dead of night. Especially with a monster sack of Tinto crystals slung over your spine.

Sure enough, the runemaster's shop was illuminated in candlelight, the door slightly cracked open beckoning for visitors off the street. A young kid sat against the outside wall, gorging himself on a long, foul-smelling cigar.

"Reuben!" Pohl called to the obvious delinquent. "Reuben, I'm back!"

The kid stood up, dousing the cigar against the ground, stomping it with a heavy clomp and pushing the black ash into the cobblestone. "Pohl Treybell, I never thought I'd see you again this early! I heard you ran off with some big ugly-"

At this point, the kid must have noticed me emerge from the overhanging shadows of the city, because he froze in mid-sentance and rerouted his description of me. "Er, that is, a warrior who-"

"Save it," I interrupted. I was too tired to argue. I needed something soft under my head, and fast. I'm even more brutish than usual if I don't get my eight hours, a mark of my inevitable old age. "Do you have a couple of beds for us? We're worn out... travelled all the way from south Two River today."

"Dad's removing some guy's rune right now... but once he's done I'll ask him. Come on in, guys. I put some chili on earlier. Got some good kobold peppers, too."

"Great! I'm starved," Pohl glowed, practically skipping into the shop.

The shop was rather cramped, the upstairs serving as lodgings for Reuben and his father. But as you're climbing the stairs in that little shack, if you glance back just right at a small mirror hanging next to the door you can see right back into the runemaster's back room, where all of the rune attatchments and removals are handled. Now, the light was dim, but no matter how hard you try, you just don't forget the back of that man's head.

I was dead shocked to run into Barbara so unexpectedly a few days before, but seeing Baby Blue in the runemaster's chair in South Window knocked the wind flat out of my lungs. I half screamed, half laughed his name as I half leapt, half fell down the stairway.

After Viktor made a complete ass of himself, and I got the rune removed from my hand, we both headed to the tavern. Sure, they had no room, but the bar was open at least. We left Reuben, and Pohl, Viktor's companion, at the shop. Let them have their Chili. It was never for me.

The innkeeper was surprised to see Viktor and me enter the tavern again. "Look. I told both of ya, we're full!"

Viktor scowled at the keeper, biting back, "Look, pal, why don't you just go find us some alcohol? We have a few years to catch up on."

"And I want the good stuff too, don't hold back." I added.

The innkeeper made a face. "It's 250 potch a glass." He sneered.

"I said don't hold back." I said louder, as if he didn't hear me the first time.

The innkeeper grunted, and went to the back room. As I sat down, I realized that a certain somebody was missing.

"Where's your sword?"

Viktor grunted, choking back a breath. "He was annoying, so I laid him to rest. He'll probably get a good millenium's sleep, then be back cramping someone else's style." He then cracked a smile and tilted his head in direction of my hand. "Speaking of which, where's your rune? Can't very well just call you 'Blue Flik' can we?"

"It fizzled out. Have you ever heard of a rune fizzling out?" I took off the glove, showing the outline of where the fire rune once was. "I got the fire rune removed to give to some old whacked out scientist for payment for sleeping outside his house.

The bartender came over and put two mugs on the table. We would have thanked him, had he not been so pissy.

"You're forgetting who you're talking too. I'm Viktor, remember?" Viktor said, wiping a layer of froth from his upper lip with the back of his hand. "I don't trust the damn things, you know that. I don't wanna end up like our good pal McDohl."

Poor McDohl. The kid was a true hero, but the rumor was that the Soul Eater, his rune, was taking over his body. "Have you ever been back to Toran? I haven't even seen the prez." I said, jokingly.

"Me neither. Hell, it wasn't my idea to be there in the first place. If it wasn't for Odessa and Humphrey, I woulda spent those few months rotting away here in Jowston..." Viktor suddenly stopped and set his glass to the table. "Sorry, Flik. I didn't mean... that is, I don't regret joining Odessa back then..."

It was an unwritten rule that when we enter sensitive territory, we quickly change the subject. I started to laugh. "Can you imagine us as Government officials? Senator Flik just doesn't sound right to me."

"And I suppose Speaker Viktor seems much better to you? And it'd not like I'd wanna be a general, neither; not on the same level as that rosey freak Oppenheimer."

I continued to laugh. "Like they'd ever make you speaker of the house. You can't even stand on your own to feet and talk at the same time." Making reference to a few moments before.

"Well I'm just glad it's over... I mean, it's nice and peaceful here in Jowston. Political strife, sure, but lots of potential for guys like me just looking for some good, old fasion hack'n'slash. The whole Highland thing had me worried for a while, but since Agares decided on that peace treaty I've been at ease. I was thinkin' about going back to Toran actually. Me an' this kid Pohl... he ain't been back to his home in Gregminster since he was a little kid."

Yeah, Viktor had no clue whatsoever. "So you haven't heard then."

He looked at me, puzzled, squinting his eyes like he always does when he's confused. "Heard what? Is Granmeyer trying to trigger another invasion against Marovia?"

"No. Since Mathiu's scheme back in the gate war, the soldiers of South Window were trying to keep a firm grip on Marovia, but unfortunately things were more serious than that..." I said, taking a drink and inhaling. "Highland's youth army, the Unicorn Brigade was slaughtered. Highland and Jowston are pointing fingers at each other, and are about to go to war. The peace treaty is null and void now. Things are still hostile."

Viktor mouthed a silent obsenity. "Damn Agares. What the hell is he planning? He's been a jackass since I was just a sprout back in North Window."

I took another drink and continued. "In retaliation, they've burned down Toto and Ryube villages."

Another silent obsenity. He breathed heavily, the little rage vein in his neck began to throb. "They're going straight for Muse. They don't want to waste any time. Without some kind of fortification in that area, the whole blasted alliance is going to go straight to shit."

He looked at me. I knew what he would say next. I had felt it when Ridley told me, but it was about to become offical. We were going back to our calling.

"Well, Flik, I agreed to save your homeland a few years back... how about picking up that pocket knife of yours and repaying the favor?"

"That 'pocket knife' could easily hack even your thick neck off. What do you have in mind?"

"We have to get one of the state leaders to back a military outpost in the east. Otherwise Highland is pretty much just gonna dance around, burning things as they please. And who better to found that kind of establishment than a couple of old hats like us?"

"Great plan. You think Jowston'll go for it? And more importantly, will they fund it?"

"No, they won't. And that's a damned shame. I'll tell you what they'll do, they'll sit around and shuffle papers until Highland is on their doorstep, then put up some pussy fight and surrender. I'd feel weird going to Granmeyer anyway, knowing he's fought against some of my best friends for three years..."

"I don't blame you. Except we're still lack of funding. And soldiers."

"Me an' Pohl tried to get off with a few thousand potch selling crystal in a kobold town. The plot fell through, so we now have a bagfull of crystals we're lugging around, if that helps at all. But the only people who would pay any money for the damn things are Kobolds..."

"Y'know, speaking of Kobolds, I bet we could get some more money from General Ridley." I proceeded to explain to Viktor Ridley's plot, trying to stay clear of getting mugged and sexually harassed by Saily.

"That guy's a might powerful, that's for sure. He practically took leadership of Two River's militia overnight. But would he really help out? He's not all that influential in state politics."

"I think so. He gave me a few thousand potch just to find out information, I bet he'd fund a fort. Meanwhile, if he reports that he's funding a fort to solidify Jowston's lands, maybe the other leaders will get off their asses and take action as well." I looked at my empty glass. "This crap was not worth 250 potch."

"Well, you're buying," Viktor smirked, downing the last of his drink. He nodded, thinking. I knew he agreed with me. "Flik, it's damn good to see you. Let's put our swords together again, this time for the Jowston Alliance."

"Of course, we're saving YOUR lands this time, so after this, we're even." I smiled. Not like he cared that we're saving his lands, but that we're going to war again. I could see it in his eyes.

I mentioned earlier that it was painful for me to return to Jowston; I stand by that. It tore me up inside in a way. But something about running into Flik rekindled my fighting spirit. I didn't want to return to this place, to this spot, to this inn in five years, only to find it indistinguishable from North Window. It wasn't so much that I was fighting for Jowston, though... it was that I was fighting with Flik. The last time we did so was in Gregminster, blocking imperial soldiers from chasing our leader McDohl. "We'll set out tomorrow then. I'll tell Pohl about it all. He's a good kid, a soldier back in Toran. A compulsive liar, but a good kid."

Blue Lightning and I heaved ourselves to our feet as he threw 300-some potch onto the table. "If that jerk isn't going to check up to see if we need refills," he grimmaced, "I'm certainly not paying full price for that mug rot."

We started the treck back to the runic shop. "This might be easier'n we thought, Flik," I told him. "Why, you're pretty famous out here. Let me tell you, when I was passing through Greenhill about a year and a half ago..."