Elora never moved from her horse. She sat and watched as Nyal removed himself from the saddle, gently patting Chocolate on the side to calm the poor horse down. The men stepped closer to him, pointing their daggers right at his face. He flinched back, until his back was pressed against Chocolate's side.

"Sword, pass it over," the man in front of him said in a thick eastern drawl, waving his dagger in Nyal's face. He wore a dark hood, but as far as Nyal could tell, the man was a faun, a creature with horns and the legs of a goat. They weren't too common in the east however, they were mostly found in the mountains. The man hid it well, the only was Nyal could tell is because his horns lifted the hood up into two small points.

The others, Nyal had no idea what they were, except one fairy, whose wings were beating frantically behind him. The fairy and another man moved towards Elora, yelling orders and waving their swords around. It was as though they had no idea what to do with them.

"I said, pass over your sword!" the man in front of Nyal bellowed, holding his own sword just underneath Nyal's chin. Saying nothing, Nyal removed his sword from it's scabbard, dropping it on the floor in front of him. He glared at the faun, eyebrows raised.

He glanced over at Elora, who was still sitting on Snow, looking bored. She looked to him and shrugged, wings twitching at the movement.

Turning back to his supposed attacked, Nyal sneered. "What do you want?" he asked, sounding just as bored as Elora looked.

The faun looked surprised for a minute, before regaining his composure. The remaining two men began to rummage through the bags on Chocolate's sides. "We need your food an' your valuables," the faun growled in a gruff voice.

Nyal frowned, looking down at the sword in front of him. He had heard about things like this in Skodur, that the people in the east were resorting to thievery to get the things they needed. He just didn't think they would run into it.

"Not going to happen," Nyal told him, standing up straight and tall, towering over the faun. Sometimes Vodan height came in handy. The man didn't back down however, instead his pressed his blade harder against Nyal's skin, drawing blood.

"Oh really? And what are you gonna do?" said the horned man, sneering at Nyal.

Nyal heard the buckle of one of the bags come undone and turned to see one of the other bandits digging through the bag that held Ringwild's book. The other two were still yelling orders at Elora, who was doing nothing in response. They jabbed their swords at her body and neck and wings, the feathered appendages flaring out and smacking them away. They yelled loudly, preparing to attack the winged woman.

He took that as a signal and began to draw upon the water that had been left over from the rain. He took it from the tall grass, Chocolate and Snow's body, the clothes of his attackers, until it moved around his body in one long tube.

The faun moved back, removing his blade from under Nyal's chin, only to swing it at him, aiming for the warlocks chest. With a flick of his wrist, the water around him flung the sword into the air, sending it into the grass next to him.

"Warlock!" the faun cried, moving to retreat, only to be hit in the side by Nyal's water. He went flying, clothing drenched, until he hit one of his fellow bandits who was going though their bags. The pair hit the ground harshly, but it didn't take them long to get back up.

Flinging his hands outward and with a great amount of concentration, Nyal turned his water into separate blocks of ice. He looked back over to Elora and frowned at what he saw. She was still sitting on Snow, doing absolutely nothing! The two bandits had turned to Nyal instead, and were trying to get the attention of the one with Ringwild's book.

The five of them rushed towards him, swords and daggers raised in the air. A couple of them let out a yell as they came for him. Nyal dodged the swing of a blade, smacking his attacker in the chest with one of the blocks of ice.

The man stumbled backwards, right into the path of Chocolate's back legs. The horse kicked outward, sending the man to the ground, unconscious.

Nyal held in a laugh as the rest of the crew came at him. He gave Elora a frantic look, silently asking for a little help, but she did nothing, just sat on Snow and watched. With and irritated groan, he threw his ice chunks at the attackers, catching two of them in the head.

He span, moving out of the way of the fauns sword. He drew in more water, freezing it as soon as it got to him. He smashed one of the blocks in the fauns face, blood spraying out as he sprawled onto the dirt road. He cradled his now broken nose and groaned, not getting up again.

"Bloody warlock!" one of them cried. He saw the glint of silver in the corner of his eye and moved to get out of the way, throwing ice in it's direction. He winced and cried out when he felt a sharp bite in his shoulder, the blade sinking in.

He directed all his water and ice at the man who had stabbed him. The blade was pulled out of his shoulder as quickly as it went in and just as painfully. Nyal didn't check where the man went, instead he turned back to the last two.

He took a step back when a clump of rock went zooming past his head. One of the men was standing in front on Nyal, sneering with his hands out to his sides, wielding spinning clumps of earth. Another warlock.

The dirt road lifted up ahead of him, the huge block speeding towards him. It slammed into his stomach, sending his backwards onto the ground. His clutched his stomach, winded, trying not to let out the food he had eaten that day. He straightened up with a wince and gathered his water again.

Before the other warlock even had a chance to attack him again, Nyal shot ice and water him without pause. The earth warlock was bombarded again and again with the hard ice and freezing water. He was pushed backwards, shooting chunks of rock in every direction, hitting the final bandit in the head.

With a final hit to the head, the other warlock went down, lying in a heap on the edge of the road, his blocks of dirt and rock scattered around him.

Nyal bent over, leaning his hands on his knees and panting. He let the water drop and the ice melt, watching it spill all over the ground. Chocolate whinnied next to him, stamping at the ground with her hoof. He moved over to her, patting her side to try and calm her down.

Still on her horse, Elora was staring at him silently. He ignored her, moving to the other side of Chocolate to grab Ringwild's book, which had been left in the dirt when the rest of the group attacked him. He placed it back in it's wrapping and then into the bag on Chocolate's side.

"Did they hurt you?" Nyal asked, opening up another bag and digging through it.

"No, I'm fine," Elora replied.

Nyal pulled out a small sack full of apples, looking at them triumphantly. "Good," he said, walking over to where the faun was lying, clutching his nose.

"Bastard warlock," the man growled, glaring at him darkly.

"If I was a bastard, would I be doing this?" Nyal asked, dumping the bag of apples at the fauns feet. "For you and your families. It's all I can spare."

Wandering around, Nyal checked on each of the men. One was dead, the one that had been hit by the other warlock. Nyal winced, staring down at the bloody mess that had become the mans head. He couldn't help but feel guilty, but then again, it wasn't his fault.

Using the water from the ground, he healed his shoulder, ignoring the blood stains on his coat and shirt. It seemed that there was no keeping his coat from getting dirty. He sighed, before hopping back onto Chocolate's back.

Elora went ahead of him, no longer staring at him. He glared at her back, slowly trotting after her. She had just sat there, doing absolutely nothing to help him. All she did was watch. He could have been maimed, or killed, especially if he hadn't moved as quickly as he did when that other warlock showed up. It was like she didn't even care, even though she needed him.

He growled low in his throat, face turning red from anger. He clenched the reins tightly, knuckles turning white. He couldn't really explain his anger, but he knew he felt more like a pet than a person. There only to be used.

"Thanks for your help," he sneered at the figure ahead of him.

"What does it matter?" Elora called to him, turning back to look at him.

He hadn't exactly meant for her to hear that, but it didn't really matter either way. He trotted up next to her, looking her right in her creepy green eyes. "You did nothing while I was fighting them off, you just sat there!"

"You didn't need my help," Elora replied nonchalantly, her bristling wings giving away her irritation. "I wanted to see what you could do."

"You've seen what I can do!" Nyal yelled, gesturing wildly. "I fought the dragon, I lost, but you've seen my abilities."

"Not all of them," Elora said before looking at him strangely. "I hope you know, you sound like a young girl when you complain."

Nyal pursed his lips, narrowing his eyes at his companion. "Doesn't matter," he told her, "You should have done something. I still don't even know what you can do. The only thing I've seen you do is intimidate people and fly around."

Elora glared at him in the dark, her fluorescent green eyes locked on him. He gulped, regretting his words. Elora held her hand up in front of herself, not moving her eyes from Nyal's. With a sound similar to the wind blowing through the trees, something grew and spilled out of the Gate Keeper's hand.

Darkness, absolute darkness. He could barely see it, the light of the moon showing the faint outline of Elora's hand and the dark mist that tumbled out of the palm. It tangled itself around her arm until it reached her shoulder, where it then began to move around her wings. The mist that dripped from her fingers swarmed around Snow's body, making the horse whinny loudly.

"By the Gods," Nyal muttered, staring wide eyed at Elora's power. It began to move faster, tangling itself around her arm again and again, moving with a furious pace. With a flick of her wrist, the dark mist went flying from her arm.

Before Nyal could even blink, he found himself falling from Chocolate's back, landing with a thump on the hard dirt road below. His foot was still stuck in the stirrup, and for a minute he panicked, thinking that his horse would take off down the road with him still in it.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he realised that Chocolate wasn't going anywhere. Sitting up, he pulled his foot out from the stirrup, rubbing his ankle. It was sore from the angle it had been sitting at, but there wasn't any use in healing it.

"No big deal," he muttered to himself, standing up. Elora had stopped when she flung him off his horse, holding on the reins so that she wouldn't go galloping off like Nyal had expected. She stared at him, not looking angry, just indifferent.

"Happy now?" she asked, tilting her head slightly and raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I wasn't expecting you to do that," Nyal replied, patting Chocolate to calm her down.

"You wanted to see, I showed you," Elora said simply, watching as Nyal got back on his horse. "We will stop for the night when we reach the next inn."

"When will that be?"

"I don't know."

"Great," Nyal sighed, starting Chocolate off in a trot, before moving to a gallop. He was tired from the fight and wanted to sleep. He had definitely exerted himself in that fight, especially his brash reaction to the other warlock. He admitted now that he attacked too quickly and too hard. It wasn't very often that he had to fight another warlock.

"I have a question," Elora said, drawing Nyal from his thoughts. "Why did you give them our apples?"

Nyal blinked, almost forgetting his good deed. "They just wanted to feed their families, I think. This place is a mess with the war, and I don't want people to suffer."

He thought back to the man that had died, he didn't deserve it, all he was trying to do was help his family.

It was the east, no one was fed properly or looked after. The only way to get paid was to join the army, which could very easily result in death. It was easier to steal than fight and die. Stealing would get people fed better than dying would. If Nyal had to make the choice, he would do the same as the faun and his men, despite his desire to help everyone.

The war had been going on for years, and it seemed like neither side was going to give up any time soon. Many people from all over Veridun and the WGP had been asked to help with treaty preparations, which was what Nyal was meant to do if he hadn't got caught up in the Gate Keepers plans. Even though every attempt to make a treaty failed because one side didn't like what was there.

They were in dangerous territory, bandits and soldiers were everywhere, and they no longer cared where a person was from, they were attacking anyway. It was going to happen to the pair, it just didn't end well for the first group that tried it.

"You're an admirable person, Nyal," Elora told him, smiling at him kindly. He didn't stop himself from thinking that it was the nicest he'd seen her since they met.