Chapter 10

Hank and Chad slipped into the room, cautiously glancing around. The old castle had been battered until most of it had fallen down, from the blackened walls Hank could tell that a fire had raged through parts of the kitchen spreading to most of the castle. Hank walked over to the bed and knelt down "Crom, its Hank can you hear me?" touching the old man's hand. the old man reached out and grabbed Hank's hand in a surprisingly tight grip "save my Jenee, Hank, take her far away from this accursed land, take her to your land of fairies and magic, promise me Hank you have to promise me." Gently Hank laid the old man back on the bed "I promise Crom, I will save Jenee and take her away from here, rest easy now." The old man sighed weakly "you're a good man Hank."

Hank whirled drawing his sword, hearing a noise outside the door, motioning to Chad to be quiet he edged his way silently next to the door, as it opened he reached out and grabbed the person throwing him to the floor, his sword raised. Hank reached down his hand and pulled the man to his feet "You almost got yourself spitted Brax." The big red haired bearded man called Brax gave Hank a tight hug "knew you would come when word got to you, he's been trying to hold on long enough to talk with you, he needs your promise." Hank nodded "he already has it, do you know where she is?"

The two men walked over to the bed, Brax looked down at his father "go in peace now, Hank is here to help." he whispered closing his father's eye's pulling the torn blanket over his face. "He had a long good life, fought to the very end he did." Hank nodded giving Brax a squeeze on the shoulder. Wrapping his father's body in the blanket Brax carried him downstairs and out to the old grave yard. "I know I shouldn't take the time to do this but I can't just leave him for Mindon to find." Hank silently dug the grave noticing all the new graves in the family area and past. Once the grave had been filled in Hank walked away giving Brax a last private time with his father.

Putting what supplies he could find into a sack Hank impatiently waited for Brax. "What sort of things should I be looking for Hank?" Chad asked "try and find yourself a blanket or something that will keep you warm, I don't know how long it will take to find Janee and get her out of her so I'm taking as much as we can safely carry without being hindered." Chad flew out of the room smacking into Brax, Brax chuckled as he reached out and caught Chad before he hurt himself "hello there little man, you must be a friend of Hanks, this world has nothing like you on it, mores the shame."

Hank came out of the burnt out kitchen area tearing an old blanket into several pieces, "I see you two have met, Chad these will work for now, it gets cold here at night. Brax you have anything you want to take with you, you'd better grab it now." Nodding Brax headed back into the old castle, coming back out a few minutes later with a rolled up blanket, a sack and two old heavy coats, he tossed one to Hank. "We can talk on the way, it will take us at least 3 days to get to Mindon's hidden fortress."

As they walked Brax told Hank what had happened, The man that Jenee had been engaged to died suddenly, personally Brax thought Mindon poisoned him but couldn't prove it. His father had refused to give Jenee to Mindon. Mindon who had never been exactly stable rounded up an army and attacked, it went on for over a year, until someone had snuck into the castle one night and set it ablaze, while they were trying to fight the fire Mindon made his final attack snatching Jenee, it had been Mindon's arrow that had fallen their father. Brax sighed "it's just me and Jenee left everyone else is dead now, Mindon's had Jenee for almost 2 months I don't even know if she is still alive."

Hank looked at Brax "she was still alive when I left to come here have faith that we can get to her in time." They walked on for the rest of the day, the steep hills at times almost too much for Hank, he didn't dare use the sword to take them to the fortress the lightning would have alerted Mindon's people for miles around. Brax nodded in the direction of Chad "your friend isn't doing to badly considering he looks like his wings are about to drop off." Hank smiled "Chad isn't the type to give up easily but he also has never been in a fight other than a few thrown punches, if things get rough keep an eye on him for me will you." Brax chuckled "no problem."

Chad groaned hearing the others getting up, it seemed like he had just closed his eyes, he sighed and sat up shivering. They ate hard crusts of bread as they walked, Chad still had the piece of blanket over his shoulders. Hank stopped suddenly and held up his hand, listening, he turned and looked at Brax who nodded back, slipping into the tall brush and tree's they watched a group of Mindon's soldiers pass by. They walked for another half an hour, stepping out of a large patch of tree's they were attacked from the rocks by seven of Mindon's men.

Chad grabbing the small kitchen knife from the sack trying to help Hank and Brax, flying up and stabbing with his knife then quickly getting out of the way, Hank or Brax taking care of them as they whirled trying to see where they were being attacked from. To Chad it seemed as if the fight lasted hours but it had only lasted less than ten minutes. Brax wiped his sword on one of the bodies and sighed "we're going to have to hide them good, so no one stumbles across them." Hank and Brax drug the bodies off into the bushes while Chad tried to pick up the knives, swords, bows and arrows, tossing them or shoving them under bushes and rocks.

Once again on their way Brax reached out and grabbed Chad by one of his wings, pulling out a cloth he wiped the cut on Chad's cheek "you did well today little man, I'm pleased." tucking Chad into his coat pocket he said "take a rest little man you earned it." Chad didn't want to admit that after the adrenaline had stopped pumping through his veins an exhausted feeling had set in and it was all he could manage just flying in a straight line. Hank and Brax had been there many times and understood, that's why Brax had given Chad a chance to rest and recover in his pocket. Laying curled up in his blanket late in the night Chad sighed thinking how odd it was to be in the tree's yet not hear one sound, no insects, no night creatures stirring, he looked up at the sky even though it was night the sky didn't turn black or dark blue it just seemed to go a strange shade of dark greenish yellow. "You ok little man?" asked Brax quietly not wanting to wake Hank, "I'm fine just not used to the color of your sky and not hearing night sounds, makes it difficult to sleep, oh and my name is Chad by the way." Brax chuckled quietly "some time you will have to tell me about your sky and I know what your name is little man." Brax scooped up Chad and tucked him inside his shirt pulling the shirt closed over him "now you have dark, listen to my heart beating while you sleep, tomorrow we come to the fortress, it will be a long day you will need to be rested." Chad was asleep in moments feeling oddly safe for the first time since coming to this strange world.