"I believe the 'Ladyships' are doing better than you are sir."

Ulrich laughed at this at he took a small swig from Krankas's wine-skin, especially because he was quite sure it was true. However, now that the others had started talking about it, Ulrich had felt fatigue creeping up on him as well. The initial adrenaline rush of beginning their journey must have been all that lasted him this long. After a moment of thought, he said, "We would be foolish to waste too much daylight, but a brief rest couldn't do us any harm. He looked around for a good place to stop, but it was really just grasslands to be seen on all sides. He tugged on the reins and pulled his horse over to the side of the large dirt road they'd been following. "As good a spot as any," he commented, heaving one leg over the side of the horse and dropping to the ground with a muffled 'THUD!'

"I think I may have a story, though," he said as he lay down his sword and shield in the grass. He stretched, recalibrating his body to move with the decreased weight. "When I was a boy, my mentor--Sir Ruben--and I, came out to these lands to investigate a series of vandalism reports. Nothing ever stolen. Just general mayhem--upsetting farm animals, knocking over crates and barrels. But no one had ever caught the culprits. We must've spent a week staking out different farms at nights, just waiting for these men to make an appearance. Finally, one night, we had set up camp inside a family's barn to catch them in the act and we heard a noise outside." Ulrich sat down as he continued, "We ran out into the darkness and saw some seriously distressed cows and some movement at the forest's edge nearby. We left the horses behind and followed the movement through those woods for a quarter of an hour before Ruben finally caught up and tackled our prey. It was a wild boar that had been causing all the trouble." And with a wide grin concluded, "We chopped of its head and roasted it for dinner with that farm family the next night."

As the sun began to hide beneath the horizon it became clear to Orana that the capabilities of her companions, they were so very stoic and enduring and also they either had the perception of a blind mole or were expecting her to be up to the task.

She had tried to give them some kind of signals that she was tired but the fools kept ignoring her and while the idea of shouting "The goddamn horses will die at this pace!" had crossed her mind several times, she was on a schedule after all surely the princess was not enjoying her time on that accursed tower.

She still had her own wild guesses, if the mage could sneak into the castle and get the princess and his goal was to spread mayhem... why not kill the king instead? There was more to it she knew, maybe Ulrich, Leslie or Kerix knew more than what they were letting on, she would have to speak to this with the other mercenaries, the Titan of Midas and the scout.

At last it had been that the knight had come to the conclusion that it was a bloody good time to take a well deserved rest and also to exchange tales and talk about the future.

She heard their tales, the one about the bandit who made more of a steak than a public menace was particularly amusing, and it had been the Slave made god who had asked for their epic tales, she tried hard to remember something that was wild enough to shock them but not too wild to not be taken as truth

"Well" she as she rose her arm high telling them that she had a tale to share "I never fought an evil doer, or beat men to death with their skulls or ripped someones hearth off right in front of them to look at" she had heard of the wild exploit, when Krankas had fought a Tiger naked as the gods have brought him to this world and he drove his arm trough the jaws of the beast and pulled out its still beating hearth

"There was this one time, I was on Deloro a lovely port at the south that trades with the lands beyond the Great Sea and naturally as I often do I found myself on the local tavern were we heard all sorts of gossip" it felt like telling tales to children to be certain

"Anyway, so me being myself" she pointed at herself with the right hand thumb "Was keeping my ears up to hear whatever I could and there was a chilling tale that got to your bones"

She saw something that could be confused with amazement and fear behind their eyes "They had been to Azazel`s desert, searching for some long lost heirloom on Everglade.

Everglade as you may know is the ruin of what was once a city of considerable size, so these folks 4 lads and 3 laddies they were, the one I remember was a pretty one with red hair and clear eyes"

She shook her head to focus back on the idea "Anyway so they are telling how they were moving in the dark of the night trough the desert, no moonlight just brooding dark, they were using the same path they had used on their way in so thats why they werent using torches or any lights so then they spot a far light and being curious for news or maybe trade they make their way towards it"

Then Orana stopped and said "Well since were crossing the desert I better not tell you, probably just the hallucination of some folks on the road and not an ounce of truth to it" she gave them a devilish grin, she wanted them to ask for more but she had to tease them

Kerix smiled with a devilish grin, but only for the briefest of moments.

"Well I never fought an evil doer, or beat men to death with their skulls or ripped someones hearth off right in front of them to look at."

He had actually done all three. The last was one of his most delightful kills, lasting over four hours from start to finish. And it was a bloody finish in deed. With a tiny shake of his head, Kerix returned himself to the world around him and batted at an invisible fly dumbly.

"So vere's peoples living out in this abandoned city? Is that whut you are saying?" Kerix slowed more and even dismounted as the horse trotted on. Although he had a part to play, he was not about to be driven to his death just because some overzealous do-gooder with too much to prove wanted to burden himself with fatigue keeping up a breakneck pace across hot sand. The horse immediately nodded his head with relief as Kerix set foot on the ground. Better to walk beside his steed and let them both save their energy for whatever lay ahead. And if the rest of the group got too far ahead, he would find them, that didn't worry him.

The attempt to instill fear from the brazen woman worried him. Not because of its infantile method of unsettling the hearer, but because of the distinct possibility that they were not alone in this desert and what waited for them was something that none of them had encountered before. He had heard stories, but he also knew that most stories were stalks of wheat grown from a single kernel of truth.

Krankas swung himself down from his saddle to land heavily on the grass with a grunt, as Sir Ulric finished his tale,
The Gladiator chuckled at the story and nodded to the Knight,

"A fine kill, I'm sure it was an epic battle...!"
The former slave commented with a grin as he patted his mounts neck, the creature whinned and nudged his chest with its nose

Krankas shook his head and began working on the straps of his horses saddle as the Huntswoman began her story, removing the beast of its burden, the Gladiator dropped it to the grass and let his mount stroll off to graze, before throwing himself down on the turf and stretching his legs out comfortably before him, head now resting back on the his saddle.

The former Champion of Midas grinned to himself as Orana made reference to some of the more exotic, bloody tales of his arena days and, glancing around at the his gathered comrades, caught the eye of the Scout... who appeared to be sharing the same knowing expression, before apparantly catching himself, and returning to his usal blank demenour with a small shake of the head, even apparantly thinking to bat stupidly at a none existant fly...

Krankas frowned thoughtfully, and kept his eyes fixed on the man as he dissmounted to join the rest of the group, meanwhile, the Ranger was finishing her tale...

The Gladiator withdrew his gaze from the Scout and returned it to the storyteller,
"You would finish your tale on such a note?!"
He asked the woman, raising an eyebrow as he did so,
"I think not, come, don't be coy, tell us of what you know!"

He opened one eye and noticed they were all beginning to rest so he did the same leaping from his mount and gently landing beside Alterian. The Large wolf quickly leapt at him and tackled him to the ground where he rolled the beast off before it returned and licked his face. The loyal Wolf was one that he would hate to part with but the desert wouldn't bode well for him and he decided it best to try and find him when they returned. However till they reached the accursed place he would keep his friend with him as long as possible.

He began to stretch out alongside the group as they stopped and listened intently to there story’s. Ahhh, folk tales, always fun to listen to unless of course one had an over active imagination. Then these stories could indeed be costly.

Well she had them with ears and eyes peeled

"well then if you are so interested in the tale then i guess its my duty to indulge you all" Orana scratched her chin and continued "now where was I?" she snapped her fingers and she kept at it " so these people are going trough the dark of the night and they see lights far away and like moths they feel inevitably drawn to it.

As they make their way they realize that there are several items dropped along the way, cups, bags, and other traveling gear but when they finally get close enough they realize it is a wrecked caravan, and there are signs of struggle everywhere.

But if the caravan was assaulted by say, bandits, why would they leave behind the goods? and where were the people?"She was setting the dramatic mood she knew, she had not heard it like this originally but she had to put some emphasis on certain elements on the tale so that it might be enjoyed more

"Now them being travelers, think its just right to take some souvenirs of this scene since there are no people around that might use it anymore, so they decide to help themselves.

It is until one gets close enough to a wreck of a wagon when things really get hard to believe, from the wreck a thing crawls out a nightmarish thing bigger than any of them and it made a deafening hiss" She could tell that her audience was fairly amused "So they naturally do what is sensible of a group of unarmed travelers and run to the hills without looking back" Orana leaned back and included the final dot to the tale "There are of course a lot of accounts of groups and individuals that cross the desert and simply vanish, the logical thing to deduce is that they were taken by the heat and exhaustion of that accursed place.

But how come people with experience that had been at it are suddenly defeated by a place they had already mastered?" there was some tension and excitement she could feel it "Thats what I got to share, make of it what you will"

"You tell a good tale, Huntress!"
Krankas called,getting to his feet and slinging his saddle up over one shoulder;

"Still the desert is where we must go, whatever the fuck infests it, we shall make it through! We shall not be turned from our path by tales of danger, nor threats of violence from this Wizard, nor distracted from our goal, even if the gods where to split open the hevans and dangle forth their cocks!"
The Gladiator laughed good humouredly, and clapped Orana on the back in a freindly fashion.

"But come, the day wears on, we should take to the saddle once more, and look to find out for ourselves what joys this Desert holds!"

With a whistle, Krankas called his horse back to him and, after a moments work, re-attatched its saddle, before swinging himself back up into it and taking up the reigns once more.

"Let us away, and carve our name in Legend!"
Touching his horses flanks with his heels, the former Chapion of Midas goaded his mount into motion, and set off at a trot.