Omen: 15, 20

  The fire flickered as Nirot spoke the tale. She started from the fight, when Adam had fallen, and spoke of what had occurred. Adam listened ily, trying to uand what the old man was. Someoh the ability to take him out in a single blow wasn’t surprising to him, even Adam could knock himself out in a single blow if they were to fight, but…

  To take out pretty much their entire party within seds? That level of strength was something only creatures like Dragons possessed, and they had to be quite powerful. Evealia would have been heavily wounded from their assault, so to think that this old man could just shrug them off…

  Adam sighed. That wasn’t the most important thing. His eyes fell to Fred, who had fought with them, and had dropped almost instantly. The young man had finally chosen to fight, and Adam had gifted him a sword which would have assisted him quite well.

  ‘Jonn didn’t do too bad either,’ Adam thought, looking to the other Half Elf. The man, though a no good liar, at least regained some respect from Adam. ‘I guess I ’t be too mad at you any more…’

  Adam tapped the bowl with his finger. His eyes fshed between both Kitool and Jurot, who had mao will themselves up to fight the old monster, only for them to watch as Lucy died. ‘Damn.’ He wasn’t sure what to say, feeling his throat close for a moment, before his eyes fell to Lubsp;

  ‘How could…’ Adam’s thoughts stopped, as he uood just how they had met the old man. ‘It’s definitely my fault. This entire year, I’ve beeing Mistress Fate, and now…’

  The hair at the back of his neck began to prickle, ahought about what he had learnt. ‘I ’t be so cocky any more…’

  The group fiheir baths, courtesy of Adam’s spell, before they tinued on. No one decided to admonish Adam for the spell, not after what had happehe day before.

  “Alright,” Adam said, turning to face the entire group. “We o get to the forest safe and sound. We’re going to speed up a little just to put some distaween us and that old guy. Instead of heading to Ever Green, we’re going to tinue along the road, and we’ll even pass the town and stay outside if we have to.”

  “Moving so quickly is dangerous,” Okvar said. “Are you certain?”

  “I…” Adam decided against tempting Fate. “Let’s say we meet a Champion, a Champion of Order, perhaps…” Adam shared a look with Jurot. “Let’s say we meet the Champion, we take him on, all of us?”

  “Yes,” five Iyrmen replied.

  Adam blinked, w how they could be so sure, but if Iyrmen were in agreement, then he decided to take it as fact. “Then we should be alright.”

  “Will we e across the Champion of Order?” Jurot asked.

  “More than likely,” Adam said. “If the Champion does appear, we’ll deal with him. How strong is a Champion?”

  “At least a Paragon,” Jurot said. “There are feions who are a tier above.”

  “What’s above a Paragon?”

  “Idol.”

  “Idol?” Adam asked, thinking back to what Crowseer said. “Are the Great Elders Paragons?”

  “Most are, probably,” Jurot firmed. He was unsure of Ashmir, but he was certaiher Great Elders were.

  ‘Probably?’ Adam thought. He wondered how many times Jurot had replied so uainly. “Could the Great Elders fa Idol?”

  “Yes, though they would most likely lose,” Jurot said. “There are some ways to defeat an Idol, but the definition of an Idol is broad.”

  “So that man was an Idol?”

  “Yes.”

  Adam sighed. “Alright, well, let’s get ready to face the Champion of Order, I guess. Let’s pray they aren’t an Idol.”

  They tinued along their way, though Adam thought about what Jurot had told him. ‘Does that mean the old man is strohan a Champion? The what the hell do the Gods send after someone like that?’

  Omen: 3, 12

  They were still within the hills when they could see it, far in the distance, a figure. Heavily armoured, sitting down against a tree, greatsword ying beside them.

  Fred squinted his eyes. ‘Is that a Champion?’

  Adam and Jurot gnced between one another, and the group cautiously approached the figure, only to speed along ohey realised what it was. Vonda dropped down before the figure, pg her hand against the heavily armoured, and heavily wounded, Guardian of an Order, rather than a Champion of Order.

  The woman winced as she awoke, feeling the healing magics fill her. She gnced up towards the group, her vision blurred. “Hello?”

  “Hello,” Vonda replied. “Are you alright?”

  The woman squinted up at Vonda, fused, before reag up to grab her scarf. Vonda pulled back, while Adam grabbed the woman’s wrist.

  “Hello there,” Adam said. “How are you?”

  The woman gnced around, fused at first, before she sat up, feeling the pain running all through her. “Where am I?”

  “A little ways away from Ever Green,” Adam replied, letting her wrist go. “Are you okay?”

  “Were you attacked by a gryphon?” Jurot asked.

  “Yes,” she replied, as the memories rushed bato her mind. “How did you know?”

  Jurot’s eyes remained glued on the dead gryphon no more than a hueps away from them.

  “A lucky guess,” Adam said, smiling slightly. “You alright, miss?”

  “Sir Martha,” the woman replied. “Sir Martha Dawnfield.” She removed her helmet, revealing her pale skin, light eyes, and her chestnut hair. From her eye to her cheek were light cw marks, which lightened her face further.

  “Sir Voke,” Vonda said, greeting the woman.

  Martha mao stand, leaning against her greatsword. “Thank you for your assistance, Sir Vonda, and to your pany too.”

  “It is our pleasure,” Vonda replied, shaking the woman’s forearm.

  “Were you moving alone?” Adam asked.

  “I was,” the woman admitted. “I was making my way to the nearby Order, and came across a gryphon and…” She tilted her head, trying to recall what she had seen.

  “And?”

  “I do not remember.”

  “Oh. Well, we’re going to be passing the Order on our way, so why don’t you join us?”

  “I would be most thankful.”

  “Adam, son of Fate,” Adam said, eyeing up her symbols. “Which Order are you from?”

  “The Order of the Thousand Hunts,” the woman replied.

  “Oh,” Adam said. “I think I’ve met someone from that Order.”

  The woman gnced between the party. A look nition filled her eyes. “You are Fate’s Golden?”

  “That’s right,” Adam said, surprised. “You’ve heard of us?” He smiled at first, before it quickly turned into a frown.

  “A panion of ours is a member of White’s Ghost.”

  “That’s the one,” Adam said, snapping his fingers. “I k.”

  The woman’s eyes sed their faces, before looking to Jaygak, noting her Iyrman tattoos, before looking to Lucy. “You have some iing pany.”

  “Yeah,” Adam replied, simply. He narrowed his eyes at the woman. “We going to have a problem, Sir Martha?”

  “No,” the woman replied. “You have assisted me, and so I will not draw my bde against you because you’re an Elf or hold a Demon in your pany.”

  “She is a Devilkin,” Jurot said.

  Adam kept a straight face, though his heart skipped a beat. ‘What?’

  The woman looked to the Iyrman, and bowed her head. If the Iyrman said she was a Devilkin, then that was what she was.

  The group tinued on, and the day, they marched into the evening, where they found the Order. It was set atop a hill, with a number of vilges surrounding it. The woman excused herself to the Order, which would have accepted her, and perhaps a handful of Adam’s party, but Adam decided against heading into the Order, not wanting to start any trouble, as he expected.

  “Jurot,” Adam whispered, in the Iyrman’s tongue, “did you lie?”

  Jurot shook his head. He uood instantly what Adam was talking about, and he leaned back, eating a cracker with some cheese. “Devilkin. De means two. Vil means horn. Kin means people.”

  “Whe her, you said she wasn’t a Devilkin, she was a…” Adam decided against saying the word, even if they were whispering in the Iyr’s tongue.

  “I trusted you to crify the statement,” Jurot said. “Devilkihose who look like Jaygak, but also those with two horns. I used the definition to avoid trouble.”

  “I thought you were lying,” Adam said.

  “We do not lie, but sometimes, we do not tell the whole truth,” Jurot said.

  “Is there a difference?”

  “Yes,” Jurot said. “If it is to protect the Iyr, then we will only speak half the truth if we must, but we will not lie.”

  “Semantics.”

  Jurot said no more about the topic. He uood Adam’s point, but he also uood the Iyr’s point.

  “Thanks,” Adam said.

  Jurot nodded.

  It had weighed on Adam’s mind since he had heard it. He wondered if the Iyr had spoken half truths to him. “Will the Iyr speak half truths to me when we make deals?”

  “I do not know,” Jurot admitted. “Do you trust the Iyr?”

  Adam sighed. “I have to. Well, it’s alright. The Iyr will look after Lanarot, and I don’t really have anything else the Iyr o look after, for now…” He thought about the rest of the party, before sighing himself to sleep.

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