"Well, that was it. Hope you all enjoyed your night because we're going for at least another three to four days before we'll be able to sleep in an actual bed again." Brandon didn't even look back as they left the town.

"Not like I mind." Janet muttered as she walked beside Lucy. "Had enough of towns for a while."

The raven-haired windian glanced at her friend curiously. "I thought you were the one who wanted to stay in the first place?"

"Yea well," Janet sighed. "Our choices for towns to stay at haven't been that good lately."

"There was nothing wrong with that town." Jason's voice growled from behind Janet as he paced at the back of the group.

"Oh yes, that's right." Janet rolled her eyes. She didn't even bother to face Jason as she replied. "Anything is fine as long as Menolly is around."

"Will you shut up already?!" Jason's pace quickened and soon he was almost in front of Janet as he glared dangerously at her. "What the hell have you got against that girl anyway?"

"It doesn't matter." Brandon glanced over his shoulder at the two arguing windians. "She's behind us now. Stop fighting for at least a minute and focus on the situation at hand."

"What situation? We're taking a fucking stroll through the fucking woods!" Jason shot a look at the scenery before turning back to the windian guard. "What is there to focus on? Oh my god! What a beautiful flower!" The red haired windian rolled his eyes as the group passed by a small patch of wild flowers. "And look! That tree! Wow, I've never seen anything like it before! It just looks like every other fucking tree in this fucking forest!"

"Jason shut your trap!" Brandon whirled around and stopped right in front of Jason. The windian almost tumbled into him as he did his best to stop in time to keep from running the guard over. He shot Brandon a challenging look but the menace in his eyes seemed to fade a little as he caught the angry gaze of the windian guard. Stuffing his hands in his jacket pockets, he waited for Brandon to continue. The wait took longer then he had hoped it would.

"Keep going." Brandon turned to where Ray and the others had stopped to watch. He motioned down the trail with a nod of his head. "We'll catch up later."

"Busted..." Janet smiled innocently at Jason as she, Lucy and Ray started forward again, leaving Jason to deal with the annoyed guard alone.

Brandon watched them go before turning back to Jason. "Alright Burnhart, listen up and listen good." The windian's voice was just barely a growl, but his icy blue eyes seemed to burn with a fire as he spoke to Jason. "I have had it with you and your attitude. You have been nothing short of the biggest problem to this group when we first left Windia, and the only reason we've kept you along with us is because we've been waiting to see if you'd lighten up any." Brandon gave Jason a long and studying look. The windian seemed to shrink back under the gaze and he fidgeted a bit, shifting his weight from foot to foot and shuffling as he waited for Brandon to continue his lecture. He didn't have to wait long.

"Now then, you've got two choices here." The growl in Brandon's voice seemed to rumble. "You can either stay with us and keep that smart mouth of yours shut, or you can stay behind and do whatever you want to." The guard shrugged and motioned back in the direction of Springton. "Go back to town, or head back home to Windia, I don't care which. You're not our problem anymore if you stay behind, and you're definitely not going to be a problem if you continue on with us is that clear?" Brandon glared down at Jason as he waited for his answer. The windian barely managed out a nod and quiet 'yes.'

"Good." Brandon flexed his wings. "Now then, are you staying behind or coming with us?"

"I'm coming..." Jason muttered, barely audible.

"What?" Brandon crossed his arms in front of his chest and raised his eyebrow at Jason.

"I said I'm coming!" Jason snapped with a growl. "Now are we going to catch up or what?" He glanced past Brandon to where the rest of the group had almost disappeared from sight down the trail.

"Hold on a second Burnhart." Brandon gave him a studying look. "If you're staying with us then you're expected to start doing something for this group. No more hanging back and complaining, or running when the odds are tough."

"Well fine then." Jason pulled his hands out of his jacket pockets and threw them down to his sides. "What the fuck do want me to do?" Irritation rose up in the windian's voice as he finally matched Brandon's studying look with an annoyed one of his own.

"First of all, I want you to watch that temper." Brandon tapped the hilt of his rapier lightly. "That's going to get you into a lot of trouble really soon if you're not careful."

Jason muttered a few choice words and stuffed his hands back into his pockets, his gaze slowly drifting down to the ground. Brandon watched him for a moment before continuing.

"Second of all," Brandon paused for a moment, shrugging his wings lightly in thought. "Second of all I want you to watch out for Janet."

"WHAT?" Jason's head shot back up and his gaze matched with Brandon's once more, this time a look of shock mixed into the annoyance on his face. "WHY THE HELL-"

"Because I said so." Brandon snapped back at Jason, cutting the windian off. "Because you need to get a long with her and if you're going to serve us any purpose that may as well be it."

Jason tried to reply but couldn't seem to find the ability to speak as his mouth opened and closed. Shaking his head quickly, he stared back at Brandon in wonder. "I don't fucking believe this!"

"Hey, that's the deal. Stay with us, be a part of the group." Brandon shrugged and nodded towards Springton. "Or you could always stay here."

"Fuck that." Jason muttered and shoved his way past Brandon, starting down the trail again in the direction the others had left. "Let's just go." Brandon chuckled to himself as he followed behind Jason, the two hurrying to catch up with the rest of their group.

"Anyone else feel like we're being followed?" Janet glanced behind her suspiciously. Jason and Brandon had caught up with the group, and Janet couldn't help but notice that something seemed to be bothering the windian as he walked along silently, hands stuffed into his jacket pockets. He hasn't even responded to half the things I've said to him. Janet had directed a few comments toward the red haired windian when he finally caught up but he had just ignored her.

Lucy shrugged and glanced over her shoulder. "Actually, yes I have. But I just figured it was my imagination."

Ray paused and turned around, staring down the trail. "I don't see anyone."

"Well I just can't shake this feeling..." Janet sighed.

Brandon shrugged. "Come on, let's just keep going. It'll be getting dark soon and we need to make good time, we've still got a lot of road ahead of us."

The group turned and started down the trail again. They hadn't been walking for more then a few minutes when Jason stopped suddenly.

"Hold up, I hear something..." The group stopped and listened to the woods around them.

Footsteps.

Jason whirled around just in time for a form to run blindly into him, sending the windian stumbling back as he did his best to keep his balance. "What the..." glancing down he caught sight of what had slammed into him.

Menolly clutched at the windian's jacket, hands trembling as she buried her face in Jason's chest and sobbed. The group stared down at her in amazement as Jason worked to calm her down.

"Whoa, Menolly, hey..." he stroked her hair lightly and did his best to loosen her grip on his jacket. "What's wrong girl?" Jason's voice seemed to hold a certain amount tenderness and worry to it that no one could recall hearing before. The girl continued to cry and only clung on to Jason harder, her knuckles turning white from her grip. It was minutes before anyone in the group could get her to calm down enough to let go of Jason's coat, let alone start talking. The party watched and waited as Menolly sniffed loudly and wiped away the many tears from her eyes before she began talking.

"Ya'll have got to come back to the town." She managed out her words between two loud sobs. "Ya'll have got to come back... ther... there's somethin' there..."

"What?" Ray looked at her curiously. "What's happened to the town?"

"I... I don't know." Menolly sniffed loudly and shook her head. "Ya'll left and somethin' happened... suddenly there was this... this..." the girl's eyes widened as she searched her mind for words. "This thing... some demon... it was big and black and it raced into town and..." Menolly shook her head. "I dunno... I saw it and ran out of there, had to find ya'll..."

Brandon tapped the hilt of his rapier lightly as he gazed at Menolly thoughtfully. "A demon? What'd it look like?"

"I don't know..." Menolly shook her head and sniffed again. "It was big... and black... and I dunno... it looked kinda like some giant horse or something..."

A horse? Janet felt a shiver travel up her spine as she thought about the hoof beats she had heard the night before. Menolly continued nervously.

"I don't know what's happened to the town... it's like everyone has suddenly become sick or somethin'... like some sort of weird plague... Please..." she gazed from one member of the group to the next, tears welling up in her eyes as she finally rested her look on Jason. "You have to come back and destroy this thing... you have to save the town... my home..."

The group exchanged an uneasy glance between its members before Brandon finally nodded. "Alright... let's go see what we can do."

"Oh thank you!" Menolly let out a grateful cry and tugged on Jason's arm lightly as she smiled up at Brandon. "Come on! We need to hurry! Thank you so much for helping!"

As the group headed quickly back to Springton, the sky darkened as the evening slowly slipped on closer to night.