Nine
Corelands Forest, on route to Myst City
Umbra was still enraged as he stomped off to the northern trail out of the Heartless Swamp.
Before long he was surrounded by the tall pines of the Corelands Forest, lately it had gained a new name- Werewolf Woods.
Umbra pulled his black cloak tightly around him as the wind whistled through the trees. He stopped for a moment to enjoy the fresh air. He hadn't left the fetid stench of The Heartless Swamp in close to three years. He had almost forgotten what clean air smelled like.
Using his trusty quarterstaff to lean he continued onwards.
A dark figure watched from the pines above. Being the middle of the day Umbra wasn't expecting to be ambushed by any werewolves.
These beasts were known as Ferals, the scourge of the Corelands Forest. Their numbers had to be constantly culled to keep the trails safe.
Guard stations dotted the main trade roads allowing traders to move safely. Umbra was careful to avoid being spotted by locals so he stayed off the roads.
He knew where he could continue his training, there was a famous expansive archive in Myst City.
Perhaps if he could do some research...
So, it was decided.
I'll enter Myst City as an anonymous refugee and talk to whoever is in charge of the research library.
A howling noise rang out, followed by another and another. Beasts crawled out from the nearby stony outcroppings.
Ragged, dirty, crazed men and women crawled into view, wearing only tattered burlap. The Ferals, even in their diurnal human bodies they were just as ferocious as their wolfen forms, their bites just as potent to transmit their curse.
Their ragged teeth and fingers were reddened with the blood of a recent kill. There were a dozen converging on Umbra now and even worse he was tired from the long journey.
Before the Ferals could attack the sound of a battle horn rang out.
Three horsemen burst onto the scene.
One was a paladin, armored in full plate covered by a white monk's tabard with a matching white beard. His shield and sword were spattered with the blood of a feral he had taken down minute's prior.
Rider two rode a tan horse, dressed in a leather jerkin with a stubbly face, a longbow at the ready and a full quiver of silver arrows at his back.
On the final white horse rode a young sorceress with long golden hair. She wore a blue moleskin cloak and revealing two-piece blue regalia, clutching a glowing rune-engraved staff.
The three riders were from the Golden Sun Order. The battle-hardened heroes rode in tight formation picking off the Ferals with ease.
Something about the hooded young sorceress struck Umbra as familiar. She must have felt the same as she stopped her horse nearby.
"Look out!" Umbra yelled as a feral tackled the sorceress from her horse, pinning her down on the pine-needled ground.
Umbra leapt into the fray and cast a choking stream of blood magic at the feral to weaken it. He finished it off the beast with a quarterstaff strike to its neck.
Two more Ferals lunged forth, Umbra manipulated their shadows with dark sorcery to envelope them in the void.
Seeing this, the rest of the Ferals fled for the bushes.
Umbra helped the sorceress to her feet. Now with her hood down he saw her face; her deep blue eyes and high rosy cheeks. "Marin?"
"Umbra? Is that really you?" She was equally dumbstruck.
The other riders had clocked him as a maleficus immediately.
"Marin, get away from the heretic!" the paladin ordered. The leather-clad huntsman had a notched arrow pointed at Umbra.
"Fletcher! Lower your bow!" Marin pleaded, who reluctantly complied.
"Gladius, he isn't a heretic, his name is Umbra. He's a friend of mine!" Marin explained to the disgruntled paladin. She stood firm at Umbra's side
Gladius glared. "We all saw his demonic sorcery! The boy is a maleficus; you know how dangerous they are!"
Gladius nodded to Fletcher. "Bind him!"
"But boss..." Fletcher hesitated, but fell silent when he noticed how angry Gladius was.
Fletcher dismounted and walked up to Umbra with a length of rope.
"He reeks of the swamp. He is one of the maleficae of the wilds!" Gladius growled in disgust.
Fletcher leaned forward and whispered in Marin's ear: "Lets escort him back to the city before Gladius loses it."
"That's some gratitude, you Tabernacle Puppet!" Umbra spat at Gladius.
Gladius extended his sword and trotted closer, hatred in his eyes.
"No! No!" Marin pleaded. "He'll come with us willingly," she promised. 'Please' she mouthed to Umbra.
Gladius knew even maleficae deserved a trial in Myst City, he begrudgingly accepted. "I'm watching you, maleficus," he threatened in a menacing tone his eyes locked on Umbra.
"None of that funny demon stuff, you," Fletcher warned Umbra.
Umbra acquiesced and walked with the Golden Sun Order towards Myst City.
"Come, Charger," Gladius beckoned his horse.
This is just not my day!