“Yes... Eclipse doesn't seem at all like the outdoors type... so where would they go?” Chaucer wondered.

When he had little luck with scent, Severo just followed the footsteps in the snow. “This way...” he announced. His conversation always suffered when he was tracking.

Chaucer followed, speeding up slightly in an attempt to keep up with Severo.


The Yan lowered its head, preparing to attack.

Ellipsis struggled to control his fear and keep up the illusion that he was Eclipse. This meant his response was delayed, but believable. “Trouble,” he started. “We should get out of here, now.”

Drake looked back at Ellipsis, mildly confused. “What is it? It doesn't look dangerous...”

Ellipsis grabbed Drake's arm. Didn't Eclipse teach him anything? “It's a Yan, they are dangerous. We have to get out of here, now.”

The cave was in sight, and Severo was picking up scents now. He sped up even more; he knew that scent...

Chaucer sped up, too. “Something wrong?” He asked, getting worried.

Drake was a bit confused as to how the little sheep thing could be dangerous. He had a toy Yan at home; this one looked different. But... if Eclipse said it was dangerous. “O...Okay...”

Severo did not answer; he just sped up even more, very near the cave now.

Ellipsis began to pull the boy toward the exit, but it was too late, the Yan attacked, and they were hit with Float. Suddenly Ellipsis was floating off the ground, and was unable to run. All he could think to do was quickly retaliate with Flare. He wasn't even sure if Drake had been hit with the spell too.

Drake yelped, managing to avoid the float and flare spell. He looked back at the Yan with a growl.
It stomped its hooves and lowered its head. Something gold and sparkly formed between its horns.
Drake spread his hand wide, letting his fire spread across his fingertips and lighting the area, but he didn't think he had enough focus to attack this odd creature. The fire did confuse it for a moment, forcing it back a step or two till the fire started to fade.

“Get out of here!” Ellipsis shouted, seeing that the Yan was preparing to cast a spell. As he couldn't move, he decided to cast Thundaga on the Yan.

Outside, Severo has just arrived at the opening, and was starting to climb inside.

The Yan faltered its Comet attack, distracted by the Thundaga hit. It was hard to fight in such close quarters; Ellipsis was having a hard time not to panic with not being able to run away.

Drake bolted for the exit, but stopped when he saw Severo coming through.

Severo came through the opening, his face twisted in an almost primal grin. On his back, he reached for an arrow; he was looking for just the right one. The wolf man knew them all by touch, and quickly found just the right one and pulled it out.

Taking his bow from his shoulder, and lining up the arrow with it, seemed to be only one fluid, well-practiced movement. The arrow itself was made of a dark brown wooden shaft. The flights on the back were white and black feathers. Only what was at the head of the arrow was unique. It was black, very black. It shimmered in a way that made it appear that it wasn't a metal, but was not translucent enough to be a gem.

Severo moved so fast, it was near impossible to guess how long he had practiced to aim that quickly, but the arrow shot out nearly instantly. Traveling far too fast to see, especially in the dim light, the only thing that was important to know was one second it was in the bow, and the next it was stuck right in-between the eyes of the Yan. Accompanied by a sickening 'thwack'.

The Yan stood for a moment, unmoving, before it finally dropped, its life was over in an instant.

Drake watched, rather impressed by that. “Wow!”

“Oof!” Ellipsis blurted involuntarily as the Float spell suddenly ended and he dropped to the floor.

Severo trotted enthusiastically over to the fallen monster, and yanked out the Shadow Arrow. He laughed heartily. “Great work lads! How did you manage to find a Yan so quickly? You must be more skilled than I gave you credit for!” He bellowed loudly, thoroughly in a good mood. As if to show it, he slapped Drake on the back a little too over enthusiastically.

Ellipsis got to his feet slowly, hoping that he hadn't ruined Eclipse's image too much. If he had, this would only be the start of his pain.

Drake grinned, though he was shoved forward a bit by the slap. He glanced over at Ellipsis to be sure he was okay, but then instantly went back to watching Severo. “What was that? That arrow? It's not like any of mine.”

Chaucer arrived right at that. “A Yan?” He asked, peering into the dimly lit cave.

Ellipsis stayed silent, the answer to the King's question was rather redundant. Seeing as any moron could see that it was quite clearly not a dead rabbit.

“It is an elemental arrow.” Severo answered, he had apparently found a new fondness for the boy. “Few people have heard of them, and fewer still have seen them.”

He offered the arrow to the boy so that he could examine it. The arrowhead seemed to have absorbed the blood, but at closer inspection, the shaft was stained with what was probably blood, from many uses. It was well cared for, though.

Drake looked the arrow over for a while. He could feel the energy radiating from it, such dark magick.
“Elemental... so there are eight different types?” Drake asked.

Chaucer moved some of the snow away from the entrance so it would be easier for those inside to get out.

Ellipsis observed the strange hunter instruct the boy on a subject even Eclipse might not know all about, which might cause trouble later. These arrows really were rare, and their creation was a secret so closely guarded that men had died before revealing even who made them.

Severo grinned wider and nodded. “Smart boy!” He confirmed, “Eight elements. Eight arrows.”

Drake grinned excitedly, taking the complement in.

“We should get back to camp.” Chaucer called, worried about a pack of Yan's showing up. “We set the bait, we should be cautious about what might show up for it.”

To Ellipsis, this was probably the first smart thing that the King had ever said. Eclipse would never believe him.

“Yes, good idea, Chaucer.” Severo agreed, taking the arrow from the boy, gently. Then hefting the Yan under his arm, he led the way out of the cave. He was obviously strong, the way he could easily hold the monster, and climb out.

Drake was all too impressed with this hunter and followed him out, amazed that he could easily lift the dead monster without showing any effort at all.

But there was a big question on his mind... he hadn't seen them bring much food. “Are we gonna eat that?”

In response to Drake, Severo lowered his head back through the opening slightly, gave him a grin, and wiggled his 'eyebrows'. As far as he was concerned, somebody was going to eat it.

Ellipsis sure hoped not. It looked very inedible, let alone the smell. Ellipsis had never smelled a dead sheep and a dead yak mixed together and then left in the sun... but he bet it wouldn't be as bad as that thing...

Drake gave a wicked laugh. “Cool!” He hopped through the cave opening.

If possible, Severo grinned even wider, showing his large sharp teeth. He had a unique smile, to say the least, but he was glad about the boy's enthusiasm.

Chaucer moved aside to let them pass. “Coming, Master Eclipse?”

Ellipsis grit his teeth for a moment, then stepped out of the cave.

Chaucer headed back for the camp.

Drake looked around a moment. Finding several things that caught his attention...

Severo followed behind Chaucer, still carrying the dead Yan, and Ellipsis followed behind Drake. He was not letting him out of his sight again. No way.

It was a good thing the campfire was not far. In fact, Severo could smell the burning meat from just outside the cave, he wouldn't be surprised if they found some monsters milling around their camp, looking for food.

“We have some tents set up near the beach,” Chaucer said. “I hope it's far enough from the bait trap. Though, we could move the camp... there aren't as many trees as I thought there would be.”

Drake noticed he was being watched so he zigzagged as much as possible.

Ellipsis glared at the boy. He was sure he was trying to be annoying now. To think he had felt sorry for him sometimes! He was tempted to grab his shoulder and force him to walk straight, but that might not go over well with his Father…, which irritated him more. Chaucer was never around, yet Ellipsis had to worry about angering him… as if that dunce of a man knew Drake better than Ellipsis did.

Severo considered this for a moment. “No, I think with your boy we should be able to find some fire.” He decided, “And remember what happened last time we set up camp too close to the bait? Do you still have the scar?”

Chaucer grimaced at that memory. “No... Marina healed it, thankfully. Such a wretched scar did not look good to important guests. As for the fire... I don't know how well he can control it.”

Drake was far too busy annoying Ellipsis to pay attention to the two men he was supposed to be following.
He was wondering a few things... the big one being that Eclipse would never let him toy around as he was... and Ellipsis did look a lot like Eclipse...
He decided he should test the limits by jumping into a tree and starting to climb.

Severo chuckled slightly at the King's talk about the scar, and then started to turn when Chaucer mentioned he was unsure about his son. Severo thought it was a little weird that the King wouldn't know about his own son.

“Well, why don't we ask h—” his words were cut short when he finished turning to see Drake starting to climb up a random tree, and Eclipse telling him to get down at once.

“Now!” Ellipsis demanded, already considering if he would get away with a carefully aimed Flare.

Drake ignored him and climbed higher.

Severo watched curiously, and with perhaps the slightest smirk. This was none of his business though, so he didn't step in, but it did amuse him. Quite the prince, this lad! He reminded Severo of himself at that age... and wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not! Probably not, for royalty…

Chaucer turned, too. “... How did he get up there that fast?” He wondered, not sure... what to do about it. He'd never had to deal with Drake doing... anything, before.

Drake looked down at 'Eclipse.' for a moment. His little experiment had given him his answer. “...Oooh, I know who you are...”

“Okay then, we'll just go and be by the warm fire.” Ellipsis said, turning away. He was freezing cold again, and knew the boy had to be. Drake probably hated it even more than he himself did. He doubted Eclipse would be able to do that much in front of Drake's father anyway.

Drake made a little fireball in his hand, “Alright.”

Ellipsis glared back at him out of the corner of his eye.

Chaucer decided to try his luck and called for Drake to get down, but he was completely ignored.
“... I guess he's safe up there...”

“I guess so...” Ellipsis conceded and headed toward the fire nonchalantly. He knew Drake would follow sooner or later.

Drake thought about it a moment. That was Ellipsis... he was sure it was... but he was also bored, so he was somewhat stuck on what to do. Staying up in the tree with fire could be a bad thing if the tree caught fire...
Irritating Chaucer was... meh... fun for the moment.
Irritating Eclipse was deadly
Irritating Ellipsis? Well... Ellipsis had never done anything mean to him, so it was just rude.
Drake crawled to the edge of the tree branch he was on and jumped down, landing by Ellipsis in the snow.

Ellipsis did not acknowledge, and definitely did not thank Drake for getting down. He just walked over to the fire, and started to warm up, which was a relief to him.

Severo shook his head a little, amused, and headed over to the fire as well. He thought it very strange how the two men acted around the young Prince… it was almost as if they did not realize he was a child.

Chaucer followed. “Oh... something took the bait.” He stated, motioning toward the white Snow Mu.
He struggled with his newly acquired rifle. State of the art, brand new, but... a pain to load.
When the King finally succeeded and fired off a shot that... went close to the Mu.

The Snow Mu freaked out and... ran into the fire.

Chaucer watched in slight horror and disgust as the creature burned and the fire went out. To actually see something purposely burn itself was more than he could take.

Drake had several thoughts on that.
Wow, that looks like my toy Mu at home!
Woah, that's a lot of fire...
Awww... my fire went out...
and finally. “...Yay! Dinner!”

Ellipsis just stared at where the fire had been. Then he stared some more. And just for a change, he stared a bit. Then he finally spoke.

“Nice shot, sir.” He said quietly, still staring at the fire, and scorched Mu.

“Totally ruined the pelt...” Severo shook his head while trying to wipe a grin off his face.

“... That was highly unusual…” Chaucer blinked a lot.

“We're gonna eat that right?” Drake laughed, “I wonder if a vegetarian would consider it wrong when technically it was a suicide.”

Severo laughed loudly. Though it was hard to tell if he found Drake's joke, or the idea of a 'vegetarian' more humorous. “I'm not sure if we will be eating it now...”

Ellipsis just sighed as the cold began to set back in.

Chaucer shook his head quickly. “No, I have some real food back at the camp.” His words rushed as the smell of the charred corpse got to him, causing him to feel sick, swiftly he turned and headed for the tents.

“Such a shame; would have made a nice scarf...” Severo commented as he followed the King, able to keep up easily. “Wait, what's real food?” He asked, finally remembering he was holding a dead Yan.

“Real food is food that does not smell like a carcass.” Chaucer explained; the same explanation he gave every time he went hunting with Severo.

“Come on.” Ellipsis said quietly to Drake, putting a hand on his shoulder and urging him to follow.

Drake followed willingly, the cold getting to him yet again. “... Ellipsis, why didn't Eclipse come?” Drake asked quietly, his voice hardly heard.

Ellipsis was a little shocked, but not very shocked. Though, he had to think about his response for a moment. Should he deny it? No, the boy obviously knew. So in the end he settled on, “He didn't want to.”

Drake thought about that a moment. “... Lucky him...” He grumbled, realizing Eclipse was getting out of being in all this cold. “I take it he doesn't want anyone to know?”

“You guess right,” Ellipsis affirmed quietly. “He dislikes the cold, I'm sure that's all. I know you would have tried to get out of it too, had you known you could.”

What else could he have said? He just hoped that he could explain this, and somehow keep it from the King. Eclipse would be mad though. That was not going to be pleasant… He had to hope Drake wouldn’t say anything to his father.

Severo made a disgusted face. “Like 'vegetables', blegh!” He exclaimed. “You have a strange taste in food, old friend.”

Chaucer laughed. “You can eat the Yan, then. Do you still prefer things raw, or are we allowed to cook it?”

“Bah! Very funny.” Severo said to the king, mocking offense. “You know I never eat things 'raw'.” He argued. “Maybe just a little 'rare',” the wolf added with a grin.

Ellipsis cringed at hearing that, but was prevented from talking to Drake further when Severo turned around to face them. He was looking at Drake with an odd smile on his face. If Ellipsis had to describe it, he would probably refer to it as the 'Grandma, what sharp teeth you have!' smile.

Drake looked at Severo and his odd, slightly frightening smile, then back at Ellipsis.

Ellipsis gave a shrug and looked at Severo.

Severo grinned wider. “Hey, Lad! You wanna start a fire?” he asked curiously, and winked.

Drake looked back at Severo. “Yes!—... but I'm not supposed to.”

“But you did it before...” Severo pointed out.

“Very true...” With that, the decision was made. Drake looked at the closest tree and blasted it with fire the same way he had done before.
The tree seemed to groan and then fell, landing perfectly in the center of the camp onto the semi dry pile of wood there.
Drake grinned, feeling the warmth from it, then looked back at Ellipsis cautiously, as if checking to be sure that was okay.

Ellipsis just shrugged in a very Eclipse-like way, then went over and stood near the fire, only wishing he had a chair.

“Good work, lad.” Severo congratulated him, and gave him a thumbs up.

Drake grinned at that. He never received such praise for his powers before.

Chaucer shuddered. “Just be careful... you might hit someone with that.”

Severo shook his head. He was sure Chaucer was over-reacting, and thought it was rather strange for him to be so afraid of his own son. The Eclipse person was just baffling to him. He didn't seem to talk a lot at all, let alone to praise Drake for a job well done... what was wrong with these people?

“So what did you bring?” Severo asked, trying to change the subject. The light was just starting to fade.

Chaucer opened a bag, “Mostly vegetables…” He grinned. “And some bacon, rock fisted potatoes, noodles, rice, eggs, meatballs and some steak cubes. That's it unless someone wants to go fish.”

Drake was disappointed in those options. Practically the same thing they had at the palace every day.

“I think I will stick with the Yan...” Severo said, while trying not to look too disgusted. True, the bacon would have been edible, but vegetables? Never. He was a carnivore; his stomach was rather sensitive to vegetables. He could eat them, but too many upset his digestion, and made him ill.

“Fine then, cook it.” Chaucer laughed, “I don't see how you can stomach eating those monsters.”

Severo nodded and went off out of sight to prepare it for cooking. He wasn't going to eat their terrible food, but he knew from experience that the skinning and gutting often put the King and his men off their meals. He didn't want to do that.

Ellipsis watched the wolf man head off out of sight behind a snowy hill; making sure the boy didn't follow. He was hungry too, and some of that bacon and rock fisted potatoes sounded lovely. Keeping in character, however, he stayed silent, and composed.

In the sky, a barely visible moon was just showing. Eclipse, you bastard. Ellipsis thought, knowing his master was on the equivalent of a lovely Holiday.

Chaucer shook his head and laughed as Severo trotted off.
Luckily, much of the meal was already done, and what wasn't the King knew how to cook. He added some of the vegetables, bacon, steak cubes, and potatoes into a pot and made a stew and put some in three bowls for Ellipsis, Drake and himself.

Drake ate his quickly and then occupied himself by making a whole lot of little snowball people.

Severo watched them eat, while he twirled the roasting Yan on a makeshift spit. It no longer looked or smelled so bad...

Ellipsis sat and finished the last few bits of his meal, while watching Severo spinning the Yan over the fire. It looked and smelled even worse, in his opinion.

The snowball people didn’t last long, they kept melting whenever he tried to move them. Thus he found an even more entertaining game of smashing them, the only flaw in which was that they disappeared even faster that way…
Drake looked up at the scent of the cooked Yan. It smelt better than the stew, which had hardly satisfied his hunger and for some reason he'd never understood, you weren't supposed to say that you were still hungry... Slowly he started inching his way over.

Ellipsis saw him moving, but he really didn't care. He could eat and smell all the dead Yan he wanted for all he cared. At least then he wouldn't be making a nuisance of himself— and there really wasn't any risk... Ellipsis doubted Drake would run off. Surely, the cold would be a sort of barrier for him…

“Hello there, Lad.” Severo said as he saw the boy approach out of the corner of his eye. He didn't look away from the Yan, as he seemed busy sprinkling some kind of spice onto it. The cold breeze would carry the smell of it over to Drake. It was very pungent, and no doubt gave the Yan an even stronger flavor.

Drake moved closer at normal speed, noticing Ellipsis didn't seem to care and Chaucer was busy making sure the stew didn't burn.
“Hello,” he smiled. “What's that?” He asked, motioning toward the spice.

“It's a traditional spice that my people use.” Severo answered, and offered out the little pouch to the boy. “Goes especially well with Yan, and Yeti.”

Drake sniffed at the spices. “...Yeti? Do they live out here?”

“They usually stay a little further north than here, but we might see one, you never know!” Severo said with a wink at the boy. “Any guess at what arrow I would use?” He doubted the boy would know, but he bet he would like to learn.

Drake thought about it for a minute. “Wind... Wind or shadow,” he replied.

Severo's eyes widened and he gave a nod. “Yes,” he started, “Exactly... How did you know that? You're a smart Lad.”

Drake grinned happy for the complement, “I get grounded a lot and have a lot of books in my room.” He replied with an even bigger grin, “I get bored easily.”

“That probably explains why you get grounded a lot too, huh?” Severo asked with a grin, which showed his sharp teeth. He then realized he was neglecting the Yan slightly, and began to turn it again.

Drake laughed and tried to mimic that grin. He didn't see or notice, but his own teeth did grow the slightest bit, and sharpen. His canines especially. “Probably,”
His teeth returned to normal the moment he stopped trying to copy the grin.

The wolf man missed the strange occurrence, as his eyes were on the near-perfect roast Yan. “Ahh, it's done!” He exclaimed, and then took a knife to it, slicing of a hunk of meat with practiced ease.

“Would you like to try some?” He asked the young prince, plopping the meat onto a plate. The suggestion made Ellipsis' skin crawl.

“Sure!” Drake exclaimed.

Only then did Chaucer look over. “Don't give him something that'll make him sick, Severo.”

Severo snorted. “It won't make him sick,” he objected. “It might be a little too spicy for him though…” And it was true, the flavor of the Yan was pretty strong, and the spices were made for 'his' people. Few humans liked it.

Ellipsis was less worried. If Drake was sick, he wouldn't move as much.

Drake found it a biiiiit spicy. In that he ate it and his hands erupted into fire. “Oops...” Over all, he liked it! It made him forget about the cold.

Chaucer moved back a bit.

“I wish I could do that! I wouldn't even have to cook it!” Severo announced gleefully, though he had been very close to burning some hair. “More?” he asked the boy, while helping himself to more. Apparently, a wolf man had a wolf's appetite. It was a big benefit of such hot and spicy food. Nothing warmed you up more, and made the cold around you almost a relief.

Drake grinned, about to say yes when,

“No!” Chaucer interrupted. “Don't give him more of that, the whole camp will burn down!”

Severo gave a helpless shrug to the boy, and continued with his own food. “Sorry Lad…” he apologized. “Maybe tomorrow you can try some Yeti,” the wolf added with a wink.

Ellipsis looked a little disappointed, it was even colder now it was dark, and at least if they had all caught fire, they wouldn't be cold.

Chaucer put the food away as the day faded into night. “It should be warmer in the tents,” he stated as he got up and walked to his tent.

Ellipsis gave a last glance at Drake, perhaps deciding if he should stay up to watch him, but an especially frigid breeze changed his mind, and he crawled inside his own tent. He was glad to find it blocked out the wind.

Severo turned to the Prince after dumping the bones from his plate. “Should head to bed, Lad. More fun in the morning.” He promised, and gave Drake another wink of one of his large yellow eyes.

Drake cheered up again at that. “Alright! Good night, Sir Severo.”

Drake got up and walked to his own tent, dropping down onto the mound of furs. It was freezing, but dark enough that he could risk using some of his internal fire to keep himself warm. For a reason he wasn't completely sure about, his powers worked better in the dark... which at the moment, he just was thankful for.

Ellipsis found it easy to get to sleep. Despite the king skimping a little on the food supplies, there were plenty of warm blankets, and the inside of the tent was like a small sanctuary. It was still cold, and Ellipsis still hated Eclipse for doing this to him, but at least he could get some rest.