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Still alone he traverses, poor and hungry, so that he may find shelter this cold night...

As Roto is travelling the outskirts for the first time he happens upon a woman surrounded by a trio of rogues. "As an archer of the kingdom i cannot sit idly by." he says to himself and takes shelter behind a tree and readies an arrow. The first arrow takes one of the knaves in the arm and spins him around. The second rogue drops to a knee and rolls off to the side, presumably out of harms way. Roto knocks another arrow and picks off the third in the same manner as the first. Then he draws his knife and rushes to the woman's aid. "Come on!" he tells her as he grabs the bewildered ladies wrist. They make it safely to the plains of Kane and roto takes her to her town. "Thank you kind sir." she says with a smile. Roto, thoroughly abashed at how roughly he handled her looks at the ground and replies "It was nothing ma'am." He then hurries back to the castle.

"Damn..." Roto said to himself as he left the kingdom once more and entered the outskirts. He was vaguely aware of being watched but he knew that the thieves and scoundrels would stay well away from him. At least that was what he had hoped. Suddenly his head exploded into fireworks. As he fell he saw a glimpse of the thieves that he had saved the woman from the other day.Cowards... was the only thought his mind could squeeze out. As the three were about to mass upon their prey with cold smiles and much malice a fireball flew from the trees and caught one in the chest. Another caught one of the rogues square in the face. The trio fled back to the forest and a man in bluish white robes with flowing silver hair rushed to Roto's aid. Roto woke up an hour later still in the outskirts with a blanket covering him and a cool chill on the back of his head. He saw the sage Raiyu above him concetrating as he used his icy touch to calm the flaring pain at the back of Roto's skull. After about ten more minutes Raiyu removed his hand and spoke "Are you alright Roto?" he said with a kind look. At first roto was amazed that the stranger knew his name then he realised that it was Raiyu. "Yes i am much better thanks." he replied.

Raiyu smiled, "I need you to find something for me." He was very straight forward and to the point. "There is a very distructive weapon that the enemy camp is holding. They are two stones, the stone of light and the stone of darkness. Together they will destroy the kingdom. We need to have it or else it's all over for us. We aren't sure if they know how to use them yet, but we can't afford to take that chance. The camp is about 1 mile east of here. Please hurry. Master Nerru wouldn't have picked you if he didn't believe in you." He smiled and gave him a pack of food and suplies he might need. "Good luck." He called after him.

It was very early when Roto woke in the morning. There was fresh dew coating the grass and the sky was still burning orange with the sun's rising. He ate some bread from the provisions Raiyu had given him and drank from his flask of water. "I can't be too far now..." Roto said to himself. He collected his eqipment and headed off.
If these artifacts are all that powerful... shouldn't it be more than just me. he thought to himself. Then a smile came to his eyes. Maybe the king and queen see me as someone that can handle large responsibilities!! blaugh he thought ecstatically as a new determination swept over him. "I will not let Milord and Lady down!!" Roto exclaimed to himself.

Then another voice spoke and Roto quickly realized he had come upon the enemy. "What the hell was that?" said a man a couple of yards ahead of Roto. "Damned if i know." said another man. Roto spotted them as he moved into the trees. Heavily armed cavalrymen. Roto had confidence in his skills as an archer but he knew even his spinning arrow would not be enough to penetrate a cavaly man's steel chest plate. He withdrew further into the trees as one of the men on horseback approached. All Roto's years of hunting had taught him stealth in great measures. His father used to tell him that he would be better as an assassin/archer rather than an archer/assassin. He quickly slipped past both guards and after about fifteen minutes in the forest finally found the camp.

It was not overly large but it was still a fairly large encampment. He saw what he knew he was looking for. It was a fairly large tent that had a consistent flow of mages and sages going in and out of it. "The runes must be there, but how do I get in..." he whispered to himself. Then he felt a blade against his throat. "How about in a body bag you Kane scum." the voice was obviously female as well as the slender hand holding the blade. "Get up, slowly." she said rising with Roto. "How long have you been there?" Roto inquired genuinely interested in how good his opponent was. "Ever since you made it past the cavalry kid." she said with a flat tone.

She marched Roto directly into the enemy camp. After he was stripped of his weapons and beaten up a little he was dragged to a pen and left there.

Robin slipped out of the alley, thankful that the man believed her slippery lies. Robin tried to remain calm, so if Ixion came bolting out the door she wouldn't appear suspicious, or suspicious for a theft at least. Now where did the Theif Lord say that he was going...? She slowly turned a corner out of the dark alley into the bustle of the streets. "The outskirts," she muttered to herself.
She saw a man walking up, dressed in middle class clothes, with his purse loosely tied to his belt. She slinked over to him, and silently cut his purse and slipped it into her pocket. She refrained from laughing, even though a smile was dancing upon her lips.
She saw Lord Draiten talking calmy to some men. She did a deep bow, "excuse me sir, I have a report for you." She eyed the men he was talking to suspiciously, "can I have a private word with you?"

When they reached the tent of the sages Roto was thoroughly abashed to realize that his shirt and pants were missing no doubt taken as they searched him for weapons. He understood that, but not the fact that they had not been returned to him. The woman entered the tent and only looked over her shoulder at him. The look was more than enough for him to realize that she did not wish for him to follow.

He sat outside and observed the movements of the camp. Even though he was captive he never gave up hope that he might be able to escape, and therefore wanted to make sure that he would have information to bring to his lord and lady. He saw that the encampment had a rather vast array of training grounds which he assumed was to make sure that the soldiers skills stayed sharp. His wandering eyes took a particular interest in the archery range where in the early morning there was an archer practicing his shot. He watched as the archer closed his eyes and fired their first arrow and was amazed at it's flight speed. Then he realized that as that arrow found it's target another, less than a second behind it, split it in two. He opened his eyes in wonder. Is that the skill of a truly high leveled archer? he thought to himself then he realized that he was being watched.

He turned around and realized that the assassin was standing at the opening of the tent watching him with a Sage in faded green robes beside her. The sage regarded Roto with much interest. The same way the one from the observatory had.

"Well boy it was you that was sent to recover the runes was it not?" the sage said bluntly. Roto's eyes widened in shock as he tried to figure out how they knew his mission. Then he saw the assassins gaze and realized that he was expected to answer. He averted his eyes and said "Quite possibly."

"It's alright boy the runes are useless to us anyway. You may take them and be on your way." the sage said with a casual flip of his wrist. The assassin looked off guard and Roto imagined that this had not been part of the plan. He looked at the sage for a moment trying to imagine a catch and seeing none simply asked "Why?" with a distrusting stare. "I have no more need for it. Take it and be on your way child." the sage said as he entered the tent.

As he walked his voice drifted back "Wilez remove that dreadful collar, and give the boy his clothes so he can be on his way." The assassin, Wilez her name obviously was, bowed and produced Roto's effects. She reached out and tapped the side of her neck with a finger and Roto felt a tension in his neck ease. His eyes widened as he realized that for the first time he had met someone with a subclass. An assassin sub classed as a mage...

She saw his wonder and smiled. It was not her cold assassins smile it was a smile filled with mirth at his child like wonder. "You heard him take your things and be on your way. Roto put his garments back on and slipped his bow over his shoulder. After he was clothed she handed him a sack that seemed to contain two stones. He checked the bag and realized that they were the runes as he had been informed they would look.

"Have a safe journey home Roto." she said and re entered the tent.

As Roto left the camp bewildered he had the strangest feeling that he was still being watched. Try as he might he could not see anyone or hear them.

Back at the encampment Wilez stood behind the old sage still trying to figure out just why they had simply given the enemy such a powerful weapon. "He really is an interesting boy don't you think Wilez? Even though the all seeing eyes is meant to be undetectable his simple woodsman's sense tells him he is being watched. Well now we have a new pair of eyes into Kane." the sage said with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Yes milord." Wilez said simply. She gave up trying to figure it out.