They walked.
They walked for what seemed like forever.
Tendaru was in a bad mood, a VERY bad one. After all, anyone would be in a bad mood if you were nearly killed in a battle against cannibalistic bird people and robbed blind completely under your nose all in one day.
Tendaru's troop now had MORE problems thanks to Shei and Rumi,
Tendaru looked around, the sun was setting and most of the townspeople were in bed by now. But just when he was about to give up, something caught his eye, a light. The light was coming from a window on a small building that from afar looked like a shop.
" Hmm. " The wheels in Tendaru's mind began to turn. He and the troop COULD ransack the shop and tie up the owner, AND take all the supplies in the shop for FREE. But the struggle would attract too much attention from the townsfolk. And that was something they REALLY didn't need. So after a few minutes of thought, Tendaru took his chances and directed his troop in the direction of the shop. After filling his troop in on the plan, he rapped lightly on the door and he and the troop dove into the bushes lining the door. After a few seconds, the door opened and out came a tall figure. It was strange, the figure was quite tall for a kamenbito and Tendaru could clearly see that if he and the troop were to get in a scuffle with this man, he would probably put up a good fight and make enough noise to rouse the townspeople. If Tendaru wanted the plan to work, he and his troop would have to act fast, and NOW. Striking swiftly, Tendaru leaped forward and firmly planted his right shoulder into the man's gut, thus knocking the air out of him and possibly breaking a rib or two. The man uttered a small groan and crumpled to the ground, but it was a trick. Just as Tendaru walked over to see if the man was out, he leaped up and planted his hands on his shoulders and pushed him to the ground with brute force. Tendaru's troop tried to get the man off of him, but he shook them off as if they were fleas. "Come inside, NOW." Said the man.
Tendaru and his troop obeyed.
"What were you trying to pull out there?" The man was serious, and he stood in the way of the door just in case Tendaru and his troop tried to make a break for it. "Well...." Tendaru told the man their whole story, and he seemed interested.
"So you punks need a place to stay huh?" The man was tall, and well built, extremely well built for a man who had the lazy job of a shopkeeper. "Yes sir." Said Zironia. "Well, you can stay here, IF you help around the shop as punishment."
The man walked over to a table with a lamp on it and shuffled some papers around. That was when Tendaru got a good look at the man. He had mid sized black hair, with the right side of his face partially covered with it. He also had striking blue eyes and wore a red robe. "What are your names?" "My name is Tendaru, and me and my friends here are bandits." Tendaru had short blondish brown hair, dark blue eyes and glasses that he wore under his mask. He also wore a blue robe with red cuffs around his wrists and hood and wore belts around his waist and over his shoulder. After the members of his troop introduced themselves, the man sat down. "My name is-" Before the man could speak, another man entered the shop. He had unnaturally pale skin, silver hair and bright red eyes. He also wore a robe that matched his eyes. "Hey." Said the shopkeeper without even looking at the man. The pale kamenbito sat down in a chair in the far corner of the room and took out a book, which he began to read with exaggerated interest. "Well, it's getting late, there aren’t any rooms, but you can sleep in the storage room upstairs." The small band of bandits dashed upstairs without hesitation, they needed to sleep badly. It had been a long night.
The next morning was a difficult one, the tall kamenbito ordered them around the shop for hours. But what really frustrated the troop was that all he did was lie down on the counter and sip pokey juice. When Tendaru confronted him about this, the man calmly put his glass down and gestured at Tendaru to follow him to the next room. When he did, the man slowly sat down and said,
"Where did you come from?" Tendaru then told him his story, he told him of how he grew up in a village nestled in the mountains to the north. And of how he met the members of his troop while living there. Benamas had been the son of a blacksmith fly guy and was the team’s resident weapon and demolition expert, and his skill with an axe could also be noted. Hayvelos came from a well known family of stilt guys, and was known for his extremely good shot with a bow. Zironia was the daughter of a dojo master and was well taught in the art of the spear. Doibela was the daughter of the village shaman, and nobody that they knew of could match her in the magic arts, which made her the party’s mage.
"But why did you become a bandit?" Asked the tall kamenbito. "Um, you see." Tendaru filled him in on how his father was a brave warrior, and the groups turn to banditry was only their solution to passing their coming of age ceremony. Which was a custom in the village, Benamas had already passed, but he decided to accompany them anyway. When you started out in the ceremony, you had to go through training to prepare you for the outside world. You were then paired up with other children and sent out of the village, and you could not return until you brought back a sacred treasure, a rune you see. The rune was said to be nestled somewhere in a great cave, guarded by what some believe to be a devil dog. The trial was difficult, but the village needed the rune to awaken their savior, who would save them from the approaching armies sent from rival villages. It was said to take the form of an armor clad, red she dragon, and was foretold to be very wise and powerful. Her name was said to strike fear into enemy soldiers hearts, her name was Dragoon the red. Many others had failed to collect the rune, and none have returned. Tendaru’s troop was non violent, and only fought when they were attacked. They did not kill on their raids, only subdued and tied up. Tendaru then told the man of their problems.
"So you need money, I can help you with that." Tendaru’s face lit up, he held out his hands and FIFTY coins fell into them. "Thank you so much…." Said Tendaru breathlessly. He then dashed into the other room and told the others of the great news. A few days later, Tendaru and his troop left the village and thanked the man for all he had done for them. As they passed out of the gates of the village, Tendaru shouted,
"WAIT! WHATS YOUR NAME?!"
"THE NAMES SA-"
The man’s shout was drowned out by the cheers of Tendaru’s troop. The man’s name began with a S, and Tendaru would have really loved to have learned his name, but he did not care anymore.
After all, they had just begun their journey. And they still had far to go.