The   two warriors reigned back their panting horses and terror seized their hearts. The young soldiers stood beyond the forest's edge, gazing silently across the rolling hills of the meadow ahead. Both men felt desperation grow within as they viewed ribbons of black smoke rising into the air like so many cloud-like pillars.

        After a moment's silence, they looked to one other .Unspoken words uttered volumes. These two men were from the village "Lostar" which had been defending themselves years long Salvian attacks. The Salvians were a warrior race and the bloody battle had been raging for many years -until now. The Salvians had finally surrendered. Yet the smoke rising from the battlefield could only mean one thing - the surrender had been a trick! They shared this horrifying thought.

        Talnar shielded the bright sun from his eyes as he searched the area. He was the elder of the two travelers, having lived twenty four summers. He was a proud warrior, worthy of the respect held for him by his peers. He was well known for his strong sword arm and his somber personality. Kari, however, was quite different. Others knew him for his joking, if not sarcastic manner as well as his free spirit. He was considered to be quite handsome by the young Lostarian women. He had lived twenty two summers and had come to Lostar after living fourteen of them elsewhere.

        He kept his past as a well guarded secret. Even from his closest friends. He had appeared in Lostar one warm summer morning accompanied by neither friends nor family and asked to be accepted by the elders of the village. He eventually became what might be best described as an honorary Lostarian. He claimed that the tiny village which had been his home had been burned to the ground while he was away. There had been no survivors. Yet, he never revealed anything more, claiming that it was too painful to speak of it. Eventually, they gave up asking and accepted him as one of their own.

        These two were a part of a well known trio. The third member was Kristopher Tull - their undisputed leader and spokesman when the three were together. He was one summer younger than Talnar. It was Kristopher whom they now sought. Few had known the closeness that these three had experienced during their boyhood adventures together and the horror of what the rising smoke could mean brought the hurried commands for their horses to move continue.

        They raced onward, leaving the forest behind them. The biting scent of smoke grew with each passing moment. Finally, reaching the crest of a green hill, they surveyed the devastation below them in utter disbelief! Neither had dared to believe it possible, yet now it could not be denied. Their enemy, the Salvians, had deceived them! The announcement of surrender had been a lie - a last attempt to defeat the Lostarians! The small legion of Lostarian warriors sent to negotiate the terms had been sent into a trap!!

        Talnar had been first to command his horse onward, calling out curses to the Salvians and to the Elders of Lostar for sending his friends into the hands of their enemy! Kari followed closely. His tears wouldn't allow him to call out his own curses. Downward they rode as if on the wings of the wind itself. Their long hair tossed about their shoulders as their chargers carried them towards the source of the rising flames.

        The bittersweet smoke-filled air was hard to breathe, yet they hardly noticed. Their thoughts stayed fixed upon Kristopher. They didn't take time to observe the beauty of the spring day - the cloudless blue sky, the grass now green after a long winter. It all went unnoticed. All that mattered was Kristopher and their mission!!
^

        Kristopher stood beside his horse. His knee-high leather boots disappeared into the tall grass. So few had survived! Yet, thankfully, many like himself had secretly conspired to disobey the orders of the Council and had concealed their swords beneath their Tulnits. (knee length, brown and green hooded jackets worn traditionally by the Lostarians.) The Salvians hadn't expected the young Lostarians, famous for their discipline, to disobey the commands of their Supreme Council by coming to peace talks armed. Thus, the battle had gone favorably for Kristopher's small legion - yet not for all!!

        Many of his boyhood friends lay all about him - dead or dying. Those, like himself, who had survived, were busy attending to them. His exhausted mind would not allow him to continue. It had been a victory!!! Their enemy's plan had backfired. Victory?!! No! There is no such thing when your friends have been killed. Just another defeat!!!

        Suddenly, he was pulled from his remorse by a voice that seemed to come from a thousand miles away. "RIDERS APPROACHING!" Immediately, he turned to see what appeared to be two horse-bound Lostarian warriors riding from the North. His blood-stained sword slid deliberately from its sheath.

        His gaze stayed fixed upon the approaching duo. His knuckles were white from the grip he held upon his sword. "Murderers!" The Salvians had often dressed as Lostarians to gain entry into their camps. These two would pay dearly if they weren't what they appeared to be. Yet, how could they be? What reason would two Lostarians have for making the journey here when all at home believed the war to be over?

        Everything around grew insignificant as he watched them approaching. He heard no sound save that of the muffled roar of horses' hooves pounding on the meadow's tall grass. Suddenly, his eyes were afire. "Kari! Talnar!" Quickly, his sword slid back to its resting place as the excited Lostarian viewed his friends racing across the meadow / battlefield.
^

        The two horse-bound warriors looked about, unable to speak. Their expressions offered enough words to anyone who saw them riding by. At that moment, Kristopher was leading his horse in their direction to cut them off. After a few more tear-filled moments, Talnar found it impossible to remain silent.

        "I told the Council that those Salvian pigs couldn't be trusted!"

        Kari, uncharacteristically, offered no comment. In the years he had been a warrior, he had never witnessed the kind of death and devastation that surrounded them. Though the Lostarians had been at war for many years, they were not a warrior race by nature. They had been forced to defend themselves from the Salvians. It pained them both that many of their friends who lay dead all around them would never see the new peace that would soon follow.

        Every second brought them closer to Kristopher's path. Suddenly Talnar became overjoyed as he spotted Kristopher waving to them. Immediately he revealed his find to Kari and the pair, overjoyed by the realization that Kristopher was alive, ordered their mounts to move faster. Moments later, the three stood together and immediately dismounted, embracing and grasping forearms in the usual Lostarian manner.

        "Kristopher!!! Thank God you're safe!!" sighed a winded Talnar.

        "Are you kidding?" joked Kari. "I told you that the Salvian slime didn't stand a chance against him!"

        "Then word of this battle reached you?" asked Kristopher.

        "No." answered Talnar. "We had no idea until we got here."

        "I sent John with four others to get word to you. Surely you met them on the Lostarian Path?"

        "No. The Path was clear all the way here."

        "Well," added Kristopher, "we'll meet with them on the way home." He noticed a disturbed look come to Kari's eyes. "What is it?"

        Kari motioned towards Talnar. "Our bone-head friend here has a different future planned for us. He seems to think that we need to take the shortcut through Normat Forest if we are to get back to Lostar 'in time'." His last two words reeked of sarcasm.

        "In time for what?"

        "I'll give you three guesses."

        Kristopher's gaze turned impatiently to Talnar. "What's going on?!?"

        "It's your Uncle Samuel..."

        "What's wrong ?"

        "We're not certain. He started to speak in riddles and then grew very anxious. He told us that if we didn't get you home before the waning of the next full moon, it would be too late."

        "Too late for what?!?" Kristopher was growing more impatient.

        "We really don't know."

        "You know how the old man gets with that religion of his, Kris"

        "Kari!" scolded Talnar. "Samuel began speaking of the other side of the mountain, again. As usual, his words meant nothing to me. He just kept repeating how important it is that you return before the full moon's waning. He said he should have told you years ago about some key."

        "Key? What key? Why does he need me home now? What's going on?"

        "We just don't know. I promised him that we would bring you home."

        "But the full moon wanes in three days and it is at least a four day journey home."

        "That's why goof ball here wants to go through Normat Forest," added Kari.

        "Yes. I see no other way," sighed Kris.

        "Come on Kris!" complained Kari. "It's better to get home a day or so late than to get killed in Normat! Let's think it over."

        "Regardless of what you think of my uncle, Kari, you know that he would never make such a request if it weren't important." Kari's nod spoke his agreement. He knew that Samuel's love for his nephew was beyond question. Kristopher paused for several moments as he looked across the horizon. "It seems I must disobey the Council once more. First by coming to the peace talks armed, and now by venturing through Normat. I swear that more of you rubs off on me every year, Kari!"

        "You still have a long way to go." He patted his friend on the back as they mounted their horses. Immediately, they were heading through the debris of dead bodies toward the Normat Forest. Kristopher felt guilty leaving his fellow warriors behind, but he knew that his need to get home was paramount since Samuel had sent his friends to retrieve him. With a sigh, he allowed himself to move past the wounded and the dead.
^^^

        As they steadily ventured toward the forest, Kari gazed across the meadow. He knew the reason that no one used the Normat Forest any longer, even though it was a shorter route home. For a time, entire scouting parties were entering it, never to be heard from again. At first, it was naturally assumed that the Salvians had over taken over the forest, but Lostarian spies soon found out that the Salvians were losing men in the same way.

        One day a lone woodcutter was found just outside the forest's boundary. He had been very badly injured. As he was held lightly in the arms of a young Lostarian foot-soldier, he spoke his final tale. It was a story of tall and hideously demonic creatures that roamed the forest. He and his companions battled several of them. He alone survived...just long enough to tell his tale.

        His companions were never recovered. It was finally decided by the Council that the path through the forest was far too dangerous and would no longer be used. Instead, a trail to the North became the route used and soon became known as the Lostarian Path. That ruling had been heeded with usual Lostarian discipline--until now!

        The memory of the woodcutter's tale brought a chill to Kari's heart. It was he, Kari, who had gripped the aged lumber man in his bloody hands, hearing his final legacy. He could not forget the horror in the man's eyes, the terror in his voice and his warning to stay away from the forest. Even a skeptic like Kari could not deny that the man had battled a monstrous foe - man or beast!

        Now, the warning would have to go unheeded. Samuel had been very adamant about the time by which Kris must return to Lostar. There were many (like Kari) who believed that Kristopher's aged uncle was senile. Yet, there were still those like Talnar and Kris who believed that his adventurous tales of life on the other side of the mountain were more than an old man's fantasies. Still, none of the three could deny that Samuel would never put his nephew in any kind of danger if it weren't gravely important.

        Thoughts such as these were filling the minds of the three as they pulled their horses to a halt. They had reached a fork in the pathway. The lane-way to the right would lead them to the Lostarian Path - the safe way home. To the left was the now half buried path which passed into the Normat Forest. The three, surrounded by a heavy silence broken only by a gentle breeze blowing through the treetops, peered into the forest.

        Kristopher’s Tulnit was tossed about his shoulders by the gently breeze as he looked back to Talnar for moment. His eyes spoke his thoughts quite clearly. Talnar nodded. Kari shook his head mockingly. Each man entered the forest in his own distinct way. Kris with a stern look in his eyes and a tight grip on his sword. Talnar whispering a silent prayer and Kari playing the part of the jester. "I hope these legends are true. I haven't had a good fight in weeks!" Within, he knew that his joking had fulfilled its purpose - his friends felt a bit more at ease. He was, in truth, almost frozen with fear! _________________________________
_________________________________