"I don't know... If we don't come back with that sword, we'll have to explain to Mr. Winsler and his father." Zemica thought about it for a moment, then pulled out his flipping coin. Kissing it, he tossed it into the air and caught it in his hand as it came down. He flipped it over to the back of his hand and looked at it. "Heads... I'll stay and fight."

John stood somewhere near a wall, hands held behind his back and legs slightly apart, standing at ease. With a few deep breaths, he turned and came back.
"As will I."

With everyone determined to see the mission through, Zemica looked up at the Bandit Leader and smiled.

"I'm sorry... But the sword is not yours. I suggest you hand it over. I don't much like the idea of killing other magic-users, as there are relatively few of us, but I can make an exception for rogue sorcerers..." Zemica advised the mage, his own sword in hand.

"You will not live to regret this decision..." The sorcerer in purple-robes hissed. Firing another bolt of electricity at the group, who managed to evade it. Nerthach struck his staff against the ledge where the sorcerer stood, causing it to crumble beneath him, bringing him down to their level.

"You miserable druid!" The sorcerer yelled, sending a bolt of lightning towards Nerthach, who slammed his staff into the cave floor, sending a flurry of earth upward to intercept the electricity.

Zemica rushed the sorcerer, a flame trailing from his left hand, his sword in his right. He swung his sword, and the sorcerer blocked it with the Winsler Sword. Zemica blasted the sorcerer's feet with the flame, causing him to jump back and fire a blast of lightning at Zemica, which he caught with his sword and sent back to the ground.

"You're not the only one with a magic sword..." Zemica said to his enemy, the others began to lob their own attacks at the sorcerer.

As Zemica drew the sorcerer's lightning to his own sword like a conductor, Faldir gripped his sword and shield tightly and bolted forward.

Sprinting past Zemica, he felt his hair rise on end from coming so close to the lightning, but he pressured himself to continue. The electricity vanished into the ground with a thunderous crack, and Faldir struck, slashing his blade at the sorcerer's chest before attempting to slam him in the face with the heavy copper shield.

The sorcerer grabbed Faldir's shield and sent a pulse of electricity through it, shocking Faldir. Faldir was knocked back onto the ground, his arm tingling and slightly burned. John and Vladek came running towards the sorcerer with their swords raised, Vladek tossed a pair of knives at him, which were intercepted by small sparks. With a wave of his hand, Vladek's sword was suddenly pulled towards John's armor, the heavy steel made a magnet by the sorcerer's magic.

Coming from behind, Kelale spun her staff in her fingers, the blades whistling in the cold air of the cave. She swung one end, and slashed the face of the sorcerer, whom she caught on surprise. With a pulse and crackle, the sorcerer pushed back Kelale magically, sending her flying backward. Zemica sprinted, and caught her in his arms, protecting her from being smashed against the wall. Letting go of her, he went and helped up Faldir, who had fallen mere moments ago.

The sorcerer ran the index and middle fingers of his left hand along the new gash on his face, his fingers glowing with lightning. When he pulled them away, the gash was gone, and only a wicked, red scar remained where it had been.

Faldir and Zemica began swinging their swords at the sorcerer, who was blocking their attacks with Winsler's sword. Zemica swung his blade downward against the upper part of the sorcerer's blade, Faldir lunged his downward towards closer to the hilt. The blade was loosened from the sorcerer's hands, who lost his grip on the sword as it went flying. Nerthach crumbled the ground behind the sorcerer, who tripped as he was moving backward in an attempt to catch the sword as it fell.

The sword landed in the ground, next to the body of one of the fallen bandits, out of reach of the sorcerer. With a chant and hand-movement, Kelale bound the arms and legs of the sorcerer behind his back, rendering him unable to move his arms to do his spells. The sorcerer, whose magical ability had been brought back to normal without the sword, struggled against the magical ties that bound him to no avail.

"John..." Zemica said with a tired, yet relieved sigh. "Would you like to do the honors?"

As the sword fell to the ground from the sorcerer's hands and Kelale bound the man, Faldir took a shuddering breath and dropped his own. Feeling the pain lace up his other arm, he tore the shield from his grip with a painful gasp and attached it to his back. His arm prickled unpleasantly as though poked with countless needles, and he rolled up his sleeve to the elbow.

Admittedly, it was a fair bit more painful than it looked. The skin was turning a rough shade of red quickly, and patches of fine hair had burnt away. He could see the veins pumping underneath, and each pulse sent a new shock of prickling needles up his forearm. Gritting his teeth, Faldir let his arm hang loosely at his side, and scooped down to pick up his blade from the floor and slid it into its sheath with a little difficulty.

He felt as though he should approach the sorcerer and help the others restrain him, but something else caught his eye. The sword. Surely Arthur knew...? He crouched by the blade and reached for the handle to pick it up, curious.

Nerthach grunted as he picked himself up, the man was struggling on the ground beside him and was roaring horrible things at the top of his lungs. He suddenly began weeping, it was a horrible sound to heard for the man was clearly mentally unstable, his howls echoed throughout the cave as Nerthach walked toward Zemica,

"Well we have the sword, but I'm not sure what we should do about the man. He is clearly unwell mentally, do you think it would be right to just kill him and be done with it? We should consider the options befo-" Nerthach was interrupted by a particularly horrible scream form the man, he had quickly switched back to anger and was yelling things about Kelale and her tendency to sleep with men, "Kelale, if you can restrain his arms, its it possible to restrain his mouth?"

She nodded and the man was silenced, Nerthach turned back to Zemica and noticed Faldir was reaching for the sword. In a flash his hand was interrupted by Nerthach's staff, he looked up at Nerthach who had a worried look upon his face,

"I'm not sure you should touch that. Powerful magic items tend to have very bad effects upon non-magic users. For instance, if you were to grip my staff with two hands and strike the earth, you yourself could become part of the earth!" Nerthach explained why he had rudely interrupted Faldir, "I feel a magic user would be safest to pick it up, although I'm not sure anyone at all should even touch it."

"I'll carry it. I'm not so easily corruptible as this weak-willed fool." Zemica said, picking up the magical weapon. As he held it in his hands, he could feel the magical energies emanating from it. "This is a powerful heirloom... But this lowly sorcerer could not bring out its full potential. Artifacts like this only respond fully to their rightful master. Usually, it is the person for whom it was created like with your staff Nerthach. But often it is a descendant, like with this sword, or Kelale's staff. The parent usually wills the object to their child, but it can be willed to anyone..."

Zemica picked the sword's sheathe from the writhing sorcerer and placed it in his belt. He spied a silver ring on the sorcerer's left hand, with a small, bright blue gemstone placed in the middle. He slipped it off, and held it in his hand. It too, had magical power, but it felt like something he had felt before. It was like that of the boy they had saved... Seth, his name was.

"This ring... It belongs to a boy that we rescued." Zemica said, holding it up in his hand. He placed it in a small pocket in his bag, and clipped it shut. He sheathed both his and Winsler's swords. "Now... If anyone would like to help... There is a chest of coins in the cellar of this cave. I aim to take my fair share of it... I could use some help, though."

Zemica looked down at the sorcerer, who had now slumped over himself.

"As for him..." Zemica said, indicating the wretched creature that lay before them. "I say it would be a punishment worse than death to leave him here with his own mind."

Faldir nodded silently and rose, eying the sword with a peculiar expression. The strength it emitted, he found, was a little more than frightening; it called, begging for the touch of a powerful being, screaming for blood and action. With a stern face, he looked to the sorcerer.

Earlier he had been filled with rage and chaotic strength, but all had been reduced to a pitiful state of being. As he yelled behind his muffled mouth and writhed for freedom like a wretched worm, Faldir drew a deep sigh, contemplating his position. Had the sword driven him mad to the point of insanity, or could their still be some essence of the original man lying deep within his mind?

The words of his father echoed again in his mind at that moment, faint with the passage of time but still accurate. Why do we serve, son? ...So that those who cannot protect themselves, are secure.

He heard Zemica mention a boy, and looked at the ring curiously. "Maybe this man is a friend to the boy, or an ally? In any case..." he moved toward the sorcerer, standing at his side. "This man was corrupted by power. He appears to be innocent, in my eyes at least. I implore you to spare him- if nothing else, allow me to carry him. We can leave him in the care of any neighbouring village once we leave this place."

"I don't mind, Faldir... It's your horse he'll be riding." Zemica said. "Now... Let's get our chest of coins and get out of this blasted hole."

Faldir nodded, the mention of his horse sending a ripple of worry through his heart. He had completely forgotten of her in the midst of this wretched cave, and though she was likely well-guarded, he couldn't help but feel for the worse. In an attempt to suppress his worry, he lowered his sleeve back over his wound, ignoring the stinging and burning sensation, and picked up the crazed man, slinging him over his left shoulder and wrapped his injured arm around his legs to hold him still.

The man seemed to have calmed a little, and though he still yelled obscenities through his muffled mouth, he had at least stopped kicking. He must be growing weary. Satisfied, he looked to Zemica.

"As long as we're ready, then, lead us to this chest." He had no interest in the coins it might carry- he had his own back at home. He had already carried his reward over his shoulder, one he could be more proud of.

Zemica led the group down the tunnels into the room with the treasure chest. Creating a small flame in one of his hands, he opened the chest with his other hand, exposing the number of Ignots in it.

"You see? I think our payment will be supplemented very well by this... Don't you?" Zemica closed the lid, and handed the chest to John. "You're obviously the strongest one here, and I don't think anyone else could carry it without their arms giving out... You don't mind, do you?"

John nodded and the group headed out of the cave, within a few moments they had exited the large cave and the whole group breathed a sigh of relief. Nerthach closed his eyes and thrust his staff into the ground, he open his eyes and looked at Faldir,

"Your horse and its escort will be arriving shortly, they are nearby and will not take long." Nerthach explained to Faldir, "Your horse is safe and well fed."

Faldir breathed a silent sigh of relief, the warm smile returning on his face that had vanished when they had entered the cave. He nodded, adding, "Thank you. I owe you a great kindness."

As he looked to a copse of trees nearby, out trotted Donya, accompanied by the same mighty bear from earlier. She appeared unharmed, if not a little on edge, and moved swiftly to her master. Grinning from ear to ear, he greeted the mare with a hand to stroke her long face. After a moment, he heaved the magician onto her back and slipped the reigns off from over her head and stood beside her as she nudged him to verify that he was truly there.

As Faldir greeted his old friend, Chang looked toward the sun. It was beginning to set behind the high trees. He looked toward the rest of the group and said "We better get moving. It'll be dark soon and we won't be able to see the path." Zemica nodded toward the Monk and began to lead the group toward Arthur's home town.

The group walked down the dirt path, the pine trees stoood tall on there left and right. Twigs broke and grassed rustled as the nocturnal creatures came out to hunt. Nerthach examined the area around him and caught sight of a few wolves running through the woods.As they entered the town, they saw the townsfolk locking there windows and doors to keep wild animals out. The group walked through the nearly emptied streets and came to Arthur's home.

Zemica knocked on the door of Mr. Arthur Winsler, who answered it carefully.

"Oh, it's you. Do you have the sword?" He asked nervously.

"We do... It's right here..." Zemica showed it to him on his belt. "Let's discuss our payment inside... With your father."

"Hopefully his father is well enough." Kelale said to Zemica.

"We would not want to further weaken his father by pestering him with how he is going to pay us."

"I have a funny feeling that the father was all a clever ruse by Mr. Winsler." Nerthach mumbled to Kelale, "I believe he not only knew the power of the sword, but also the contents of the cave."

Nerthach looked at Arthur, who was stumbling for an excuse to not let the group in,

"Erm, I do thank you for retrieving the sword, but my father is in no condition to be letting people in, his heart would jump right from his chest I fear! One moment." Arthur shut the door, the heroes waited in silence and he returned with a large heavy looking bag, "Here is your payment, I really would let you in but- Oh? Coming father!"

And with that, the heroes were left standing on the steps of Arthur Winsler's door, they had got their payment, but Nerthach had a funny feeling it wouldn't be the last they would see of him and the sword.

"Well, I suppose we should head back to town, how about a round of drinks? On Arthur!" suggested Zemica.

Faldir stared after the silent door after the peculiar man had vanished. They had done his deed, yet the man showed little signs of gratitude. What could Arthur possibly be hiding..?

He glanced over his shoulder to Zemica as he suggested they move onward. He saw little reason to cling to the group; their quest was complete, and Faldir would have to find an adequate new home for the sorcerer he had strapped to Donya's back. But... was their quest truly over? With a quiet sigh, he looked to Zemica.

"We left a powerful sword in the hands of a stranger we do not know. Should we not keep an eye on him? What if he is more powerful than this fellow?" He took a quick glance to the demented sorcerer.

"The future is not ours to predict, History not ours to ignore, but the present is something to behold. If our benefactor Arthur gave justly as he promised for the reward we expected to find and give him, who are we to judge him? It is the same as begruging a Gnome by assuming all Gnomes steal.

Furthermore, what are we to do with these?" said John, indicating held comfortably over one shoulder an old man in the form of a former sorcerer, and in the other the order of four hundred pounds of gold in a chest.

"Well, I say that we split the gold among those that want it. If we go by the same number of people that wanted Arthur's reward... That adds up to about... two-hundred Ignots for each of the people that wanted gold..." Zemica said with some quick calculations. "As for him... Drop him off at a jailor... He might have a bounty."

Zemica pulled out the ring that was in his pack, and looked at it in his hands. It emanated a calm, cool, youthful energy, it definitely belonged to that boy. Bringing his mind back to magic, he remembered that he had something to say to the group.

"I feel that I should explain something to you people... About my hiding my magic from you." Zemica said calmly.

"I don't know why, but I can't accept that money. Something about this entire mission just seems.. off. Things don't add up." Kelale began to mumble slightly.

"I feel that I should explain something to you people... About my hiding my magic from you." Zemica said.

Kelale turned to Zemica and smiled. "Sorry, I was a million miles away. What were you saying?"

"Well... I hid my magic from you at the beginning. It would have been much easier had I used it earlier." Zemica sighed, and pet Gerik, who was riding on his shoulder. "I don't really like using my magic unless I really feel a need to. It's not like your magic, Kelale... It doesn't rely on spells or chants. My magic is a part of my blood, it's runs in my family. It's destructive, it's main purpose is combat... When I was young, I didn't want to simply be a sorcerer, I wanted to be able to do something on my own merit... To fight with my own strength... I took up the sword to find out who I was as a man..."

They continued walking, the setting sun visible in front of them.

"I don't even know why I hide it from people... I guess I just don't want to be seen as just another magic-user, however uncommon they might be. And... I guess that I prefer to use my sword over magic is that I'm running... Running from something that I'm not ready to face. You see, my father survived to have children, because he had to kill his brothers to survive. The same happened with my grandfather, and his father before him. As long as my family has had the gift of magic, there has only been one male heir per generation to extend the family line. I don't want that to happen with my brother and I, so I guess if we can both have children before one of us kills the other, the cycle may break."

Zemica wiped a tear from his eye and sighed heavily.

"Forgive me for dropping all of this on you people... I barely know you, and I opening my soul to you. Still, I hope you understand. I hope you forgive me."

"Don't apologize Zemica. Revealing to someone that you have the ability to use magic is hard enough, but your situation.." Kelale stopped before she would say something she might regret. Walking over to Zemica she put her hand on his shoulder to try and reassure him.

"Though we have not known each other for very long I do consider you my friend.I'm just glad that you had enough confidence in me to tell me all of that"

Kelale smiled one again and continued. "I'm sure that this cycle will end."

"One must help himself before he can help others, lest trouble befall them all. My dear Zemica, change will occur as soon as you have faith that it can happen. If you truly believe, even without any material evidence, that the treacherous method of your line can be altered for the better, then it will be so. I don't know how or when, but it shall. It is in the Lord's hands."

"Thank you Kelale..." Zemica thanked the girl. "It means much to me to know that I am your friend."

He hugged Kelale for a moment, then broke the embrace before it became awkward.

"I do believe it will be changed, John... But I just don't have the same faith in the Gods as you do... The Gods have their own plans..."

The group continued on, until the arrived at the Gates of Castle Town. Tired and hungry, the group returned to the Shattered Axe Tavern to celebrate the successful mission.

"I suppose we should divide up the reward..." Zemica said once the group had managed to find a spot in the Tavern. He spied a boy in a blue cloak sitting at the bar. Zemica approached the boy, leaving Gerik behind, sitting atop the chest of Ignots.

"Excuse me..." Zemica tapped the boy on the shoulder. When the boy turned around, Zemica saw that it was the same boy whom he had rescued earlier.

"It's you!" Seth exclaimed, with a surprised, yet relieved look on his face. "You made it out alive... I must thank you for giving me my chance to escape..."

"It's not a problem." Zemica explained. "We couldn't just leave you there. But that's not why I'm here..." Zemica pulled out the ring and showed it to Seth. "Would this happen to be yours?"

"My ring!" Seth said with exuberance. "You managed to get it back from him? Thank you so much, you don't know how much this means to me."

"I understand more than you might think... Anyway, I just thought you might want it back..." Zemica tousled the young man's hair, and turned back to his table. "Good luck, kid."

Faldir sat with the group's table, his finger sliding along his own cup, smudging the drops of condensation. It held not liquor, but simple water, as he was not so strong at keeping his mind clear while under the influence.

As Zemica returned, Faldir grinned somewhat, raising his cup from the table. "He seems like a good young man. You met him within the cave? ...What on earth was he doing down there?" He lifted the drink to his lips and took a deep few gulps, enjoying the cool sensation down his throat.

"He's just a boy who got caught up in more than he could handle, so we helped him out a bit..." Zemica answered Faldir. "The sorcerer had stolen a ring from him, which I returned."

As the group was sitting towards the back of the tavern, in a corner, not many people could see them. Zemica took this chance to open the chest of gold.

"Alright... I suppose we should start divvying this up." Zemica said.

Leaning back, Faldir raised a hand and shook his head, as if to push away the gold. He looked at the piles of gold as though it was something regular to him, like clouds- still exceptional, but they would always be there to look at.

"Ignore my part. I've no need for it." He grinned. "Sorry to disappoint," he said jokingly.

"Of course you've no need for it. Your blood's bluer than a sapphire." Zemica joked. He began counting out the pieces into groups, one for himself, one for Kelale, and Chang, and Vladek, and Dekres.

After Zemica had counted up and divided up the money, making sure no one was short-changed, food arrived for the group.

"So what are you all going to do now?" Zemica asked his comrades. "What are your plans for the future?"