The next day, Alex Mathis and Jezza hired a carriage to take them to Yakiro. The money that Jezza's father had given them was quickly depleting. With only 200 vargs left in her pocket, Jezza knew that she had to find a way to make money.
"What's wrong Jezz?" Mathis asked her fifteen minutes into the ride.
"You know all the money my father had given us?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Well, it's just about out."
"What!" By now Alex had also started to listen to their conversation.
"Yes," Jezza answered; her voice full of guilt, "my father gave us 1000 vargs. With the bills from all the inns, and taverns, and now this carriage, we have depleted down to only 200."
"What are we going to do!" Mathis pleaded. "Without any money, our quest's kaput! We have to get money! We need some money!"
"Calm down Mathis," Alex scolded. "It's not that hard to get money ya know."
"What do you mean Alex!?" Mathis asked.
"Very simple," Alex explained. "First, look around you. See those trees over there?" Alex pointed to a clump of trees that had plump, purple fruits hanging from them.
"What about them?" Mathis asked.
"First we pick the fruits. We keep a third for us to eat, and sell the rest. Also, we don't need that much money. We can sleep outside, and hunt for our food. If you want to be an adventurer, you gotta learn to rough it."
Alex's words hit dead on. Mathis felt like such a wuss. His head fell in shame. "Sorry Alex."
"It's all right. Just-"
Alex's words were interrupted by a scream. "Now Jezza, you die!" A glowing sword struck the road in front of the carriage. Beams of light shot from the ground, encircling the sword at a radius of about three feet. The radius decreased, and as the beams met, the ground exploded in a blast of dust and fire.
Alex jumped away in the nick of time. Jezza however, cowered and would have been killed if Mathis hadn't grabbed her and jumped out of the carriage.
Mathis lay atop Jezza, still shielding her from the rocks that were thrown upward by the explosion. When the rocks stopped pounding his back, Mathis arose and helped Jezza up. Jezza looked him and said, "Mathis, thank you."
Mathis turned the other way, and towards the ground as he said, "Aw, it was nothing."
"Nothing indeed!" said the same evil voice. The three looked towards the blast radius. As the dust cleared, a shadowy figure could be seen. He had three eyes, two in the "normal" location, the third on his forehead. His skin was black, and he had a long tail. His ears were pointed, like those of an elf, and he had no hair. Besides those features, he looked human.
"So," he said as he picked up his still glowing sword, "you think was nothing eh?"
"Who are you!" Demanded Mathis.
"My name," said the creature, "is Kward, one of the Malachytes' top assassins."
"Y, you're a Malachyte!" stuttered Mathis as he stepped back. He could feel his hairs stand up on the back of his head. He had never seen a Malachyte before. He only knew that they were extremely deadly.
"That's right boy! Now, where was I?" Kward scratched his head as he feigned memory loss. "Oh yes, I was gonna kill you." Kward pointed his sword at Jezza. With a scream, he charged for her.
"Jezza look out!" Mathis pushed Jezza out of the way and held up his sword to block the attack. As Kward's sword hit his, it instantly shattered, propelling Mathis backward into a rock and rendering him unconscious.
"Mathis!" Jezza screamed as her guardian was thrown backward. "No!"
"He was a fool to try to protect you. My Matron Sword can go through anything. Now, it's your turn."
"Black Dragon Quake!" Alex hollered as a dragon arose from the earth, and came back down smashing Kward into the ground.
"Alex," Jezza asked, "how'd you do that?"
"I don't know," Alex admitted," I just did it by instinct. I didn't expect it to work. None of my other spells work."
"I got it!" Jezza proclaimed. "Your other spells don't work because your not on Lunar right?" Alex nodded. "But your dragon magic still works because you're still wearing the Dragon Armor!"
"Of course! Why didn't I think of it earlier!"
"Hey, red-head," said a voice behind them. They turned around to see a tall man in his mid-thirties leaning against a cliff. He had long blond hair that was tied in a pony tail. His icy blue eyes looked as if they had seen a thousand deaths. Across his face were three scars that looked scratch marks. Next to him was his weapon; a naginata. "I'm glad you discovered the secret to his magic and all but, uh, what about your boyfriend over there?"
Jezza's face immediately flushed bright red. She quickly realized however, that now was not the time for embarrassment and she rushed to Mathis' side. "Mathis, Mathis, are you all right?" she pleaded as she shook him. "Please answer me!"
The man took his gaze away from the girl and looked at Alex. "So," he said, "exactly what kind of magic was that that you used back there?" Alex sighed. He didn't exactly want to tell his life story over again, but it looked like he had no choice. So he told him the excerpted version instead.
"So," the man said, "you want to find the great Kane right?" Alex nodded. "Well, it'll be tough since Kward there was lying. He was definitely not one of the Malachytes' top assassins."
"Thanks for the warning but, who exactly are you?"
"Where have my manners gone!" The man reached out his hand to shake. "My name is Nevanyk. Pleased to meet you Alex."
"Likewise." By now Mathis had regained consciousness and had joined in on the greeting.
"Ten years ago," Nevanyk started, "me and my brother Brazzen were on a journey when we were attacked by Malachytes. I was lucky to get away with this scar. But my brother; the bastards killed him. Ever since then, my only goal in life was to hunt down and kill every last Malachyte in Lograndia."
Jezza looked into his blue eyes. They were not the happy and peaceful eyes of her father, but the eyes of a cold-blooded killer. They scared her and she was forced to look away. "By the way red-head, why are the Malachytes after you."
"The name's Jezza, not red-head!" she spat. "And how am I supposed to know!?"
"Nevertheless, they certainly want you dead. And I want to find out why so I'll join your little rag-tag party."
"Who you calling rag-tag!" Mathis yelled.
"Why you of course little one. The only one here who I see as powerful is the Dragon Master. Anyway, since you plan to cross the Arkhis Mountains, there will probably be plenty of Malachytes trying to stop you from reaching Kane. And you will need someone that is experienced in dispatching Malachytes."
"We don't need your help you-" Alex outstretched his hand in front of Mathis stopping his little outburst.
"All right Nevanyk, you are welcome to join." Nevanyk picked up his naginata and walked toward the trio.
"Alex, why did you let him join us?!" Mathis asked astonished.
"Listen Mathis and listen well. Nevanyk might not exactly be the friendliest guy in the world, but I know he's not evil. Anyway, we can't just ignore his skill. We will need his help." Mathis acquiesced under his breath, trying to make sure that only Alex could hear him.
"Wise words Dragon Master, wise words indeed. So, where are we headed to?"
"To Yakiro."
"All right then, let's not waste any more time." The now party of four followed the road to Yakiro. Without a carriage it would definitely take longer. Probably three days they assumed. And so, they were off.