Chapter Three
By Untwisted

Reprinted with permission.
Added 07/19/2002.

The sun had nearly set on their third day of journeying before they finally saw the desolate town in the distance. Dajyrad had learnt much about Padre-Adamo and his brother Charon Soulseeker, and their ways. He had known from the camp on Di-Jin's lands that he would like them, he sensed as if there was a great aura engulfing them.

When the travelers finally arrived at the outskirts of town Padre prompted them to stop. "Charon and I will check out the area before we go any further." he said in a hushed tone.

"K." replied Dajyrad while nodding his head slowly. Palyn gave a small nip at his leg, asking to be picked up. Dajyrad put Palyn on his shoulder and slowly spun in a circle observing the area carefully. They were in a desert town bordering the sea. The buildings were of a sandstone brick which held up nicely over the years. From his position Dajyrad could see that the town was small; composed of no more than a row of buildings with a highway for traders leading in from the north, and one from the east. A roadsign stood no more then ten feet from him, but he couldn't make out the name on the rotting wood.

Padre and Charon returned to Dajyrad after taking a closer at the town. "Just as we suspected!" the brothers said in unison.

"The town is infested!" added Charon, "Filthy creatures those banderlings are."

Palyn jumped from her perch on Dajyrad's shoulder and gave a squeek of fright, as a large banderling charged at the group. Nothing prepared Dajyrad for this hideous monster, not even the lore his mother told him as a child. Frozen in terror Dajyrad just stood there dumbfounded. The sound of the banderling's gait was getting louder by the second, the monster would be there any second. Preparing to be hit Dajyrad poised himself and sighed, awaiting a blow, but it never came. Padre had unsheathed his sword and delivered a quick hit to the monster's abdomen. Just as the beast doubled over in pain Charon followed up with a crushing blow to the skull, not only rendering the banderling lifeless, but also leaving a reasonably large indentation in the skull.

Padre-Adamo let out a hearty chortle as he kicked the corpse to the side of the road. "Scared ya there didn't he!" he said with glee in his voice.

Padre was a hunter by nature, he seemed to love it as if it were a sport, and his brother seemed to show the same interest.

Dajyrad spoke, "I... I want to join you. You know, be your apprentice, like you asked."

"Wonderful!" exclaimed the fighter! "Wonderful!" Padre unshouldered a large pack and opened it. He rummaged around a bit before withdrawing a triangular shaped knife with no hilt -- or so Dajyrad thought. From the back of the pack Padre unstrapped three poles of solid steel and screwed them together. Finally he screwed the knife upon the pole.

"What in the world is that!" asked Dajyrad with an obvious excitement in his voice.

"A spear," Padre said handing him the pole, "and your new weapon."

Dajyrad waved the pole clumsily around followed by a series of jabs to the air. He nodded at Padre, unsure of what was to come.

There was no time to think though as Palyn gave a cry. Another banderling was making its way toward them. This time Padre didn't unsheath his sword though, nor did he bother to stop the beast.

Preparing for the attack Dajyrad readied his weapon in each hand, squeezing the cold steel in his now sweaty hands. He poised himself and thrust forward just as the banderling reached him. Jolted by the attack Dajyrad let go of his spear and fell backwards. However the butt end of the spear found a notch in the cobblestone highway and stopped the banderling in its tracks. By this time Dajyrad was already on his feet again, being the nimble man he was, and grabbed at the steel shaft.

In pain the banderling thrashed, each time narrowly missing Dajyrad. Palyn scratched and bit at the monster's legs as Dajyrad, unsure of what to do pulled on the spear trying to remove it from the beast. As the spear came loose Dajyrad thrust again, but this time with better footing. He grazed the monster's left shoulder. Again he thrust, but this time he hit the creature causing it to reel in pain. Dajyrad saw this as a chance to kill the monster and delivered a swift spear thrust to its abdomen. Dajyrad twisted the spear, and attempted to lift it, monster and all. The beast let out a cry and fell limp.

Charon clapped as Padre laughed. He had killed a banderling. An intense sense of pride filled Dajyrad as he removed the spear from the dead banderling's abdomen.

Palyn let out a small squeek of approval in her friend, and he picked her up placing her gently back on his shoulder.