Felicia put out the dying fire. She pulled her brown hair off her shoulders, and put a few more dishes back in the cabinets. She was in her mid twenties, and looked younger. The place was filthy from the dirt that came off the streets. Not that the place was that clean anyway. There was only so much one could do with dirt floors.

She set down her rag and looked at the chair. Her eight year old son, Jacob, lay draped in it. He had blond hair, and was blue eyed. His long hand clutched the blanket the blanket that was keeping him warm. He was not quite asleep, but he was close enough to be in an uncomfortable position. She touched his shoulder, and told him to go to his bed. He nodded, and went without protest. She watched as he drug his feet off to his bed.

Felicia dumped her water bucket out the door. The dirt street had at least twenty houses just on their side of the street. She felt privileged to own the home. She pulled the window garden inside to protect it from thieves.

She looked over the house, and realized here was nothing more she could do. This revelation made her relax. She walked into her room and changed into her nightgown. It was worn thin, but she loved it regardless. She heard a noise out side her bedroom, so she decided to go outside to see what it was. After exiting the bedroom it did not take her any time to realize who made the noise.

Jacob was standing on a chair holding a wooden sword when she entered his room. He leaped into bed upon seeing her. He hid under the covers when she approached. She reached down and tickled his ribs, and he giggled his way out from under the covers.
“What are you doing up?” She asked him.
“I was a warrior.” Jacob replied.
“Oh you were? Did you slay any gombrahs?” She asked.
“What are gombrahs?” Jacob asked with confusion. Felicia shook her head. “Maybe some other time.” She said. He pouted, but did not protest. She stood up and walked away.
“Can’t you tell me a story?” Jacob asked. She looked at him, and sighed.
“Sure.” She said. “What do you want?” She asked.
“I want a story about Sulfire.” He said.
She knelt against his bed. “Sulfire? Why there?” She asked with surprise.
“Because James told me it is ruled by a dragon.” Jacob said. Felicia laughed.
“No silly. It is ruled by The Dragon, he is a terrible man named Devioun.” She said.
“James said it was a guy who turned himself into a dragon.” Jacob said.
“No, James was wrong.” Felicia said. Jacob sat there thinking about this new knowledge.

Felicia sat down and thought about what to say. She then thought of a story Jacob might like.
“How about the story of Allan Nithcur?” Felicia said. Jacob nodded. “Well then, a long long time ago…”
“How long ago?” Jacob asked.
“What do you mean?” She suddenly asked with surprise.
“Was Dr. McCarthy around? He is really old.” Jacob said. Felicia stuttered, and then regained her composure.
“No silly, we are talking dozens of ages ago.” Felicia said.
“What is and age?” Jacob asked.
“An age is forty years.” His mom replied.
“Well then were his parents around? I bet they were 20 ages old.” Jacob said.
“No one lives that long.” Felicia said.
“James said the dragon did.” Jacob argued.
“Devioun is special.” Felicia said. “I guess I will go if you do not want to hear the story.”
“No! Please finish it.” Jacob pleaded. Felicia smiled and continued.
“Well over 40 ages ago, a man named Allan Nithcur owned a farm.” Felicia said.
“What did he grow?” Jacob asked.
“Will you quit interrupting?” Felicia asked him with annoyance. Jacob sat back and shut up.
“Ok, now Allan had owned a farm here in Melendy. He was told by Sulfirian soldiers he had to leave the farm. He fought them for the farm and won. The General of the Sulfirians was furious though, so he sent more troops. By this time his neighbors ran to help him, and they fought off the soldiers.” Felicia said. James snuggled into his bed to listen.
“That was when all his neighbors gathered together, and with him leading the army, went and took down all of the Sulfirians and drove them out of the city for good.” She said.
“Did Allen dance afterward?” Jacob asked, and Felicia stared at him.
“No, they decided it was time to move on. They wanted to free the other cities too.” She said.
“Oh, so they killed all the Sulfirians in Melendy.” Jacob said.
“You can say that yes.” Felicia agreed. “Then they celebrated for ten days when the Sulfirians were driven out.”
“I wish I had driven them out.” Jacob said.
“Oh it got worse.” Felicia said.
“It did?” Jacob asked with surprise, and tipped hid head over the side of the bed, so that he was looking at her upside down.
“Oh yes, much much worse. Devioun heard about these cities being taken away, and so he sent an army out to fight us.” She said.
“Was the battle really big?” Jacob asked.
“Very much so, Devioun sent his biggest army, and worse he came himself.” She said. “The army was so huge that it was impossible to see where it ended.” She said. Jacob sat there contemplating just how big that was. His eyes were really wide.
“Devioun would have won if Allan hadn’t cheated.” She said.
“He cheated?” Jacob asked in surprise.
“Oh yes. It was considered a terrible cheat.” She said. “He covered the fields all in fire powder.”
Jacob’s eyes were huge.
“When the army arrived, Nithcur had the sky filled with flaming arrows, and they blew up the entire field. After that the armies charged, and Devioun’s was weakened badly. Worse, his troops had to run around the flaming tar and woodchips.” Felicia said.
“I bet they won really easy then.” Jacob said. Felicia shook her head.
“No, quite the opposite, they nearly lost. Devioun started swinging his terrible sword called ash, and it burned up anyone whom it touched.” She said.
Jacob was just staring at that point. Felicia smiled.
“Nithcur took out his mighty sword. Unlike the red sword Devioun carried, it was smothered in blue flames, and was called Stonespark.” She said. “Nithcur started mowing down droves of enemies, and after a while they quit attacking him, and instead just ran by him and attacked other men. He made his way to Devioun.”
Jacob started squirming.
“The two fought very hard, but in a few minutes Nithcur overtook Devioun, and he acted like a coward and ran away.” Felicia said. Jacob giggled. “And that was when the armies of Devioun retreated back to Sulfire.”
Jacob gave her a hug. “Good night.” He said.
“You get some sleep, or you will be so tired that you can’t do anything tomorrow.” She said, and returned the hug.
“I will beat up and kill Devioun when I grow up, I will become just like Nithcur.” Jacob said.
“You are going to become a Nithcur?” She asked with a smile.
“Yes!” Jacob said.
“They are elite warriors.” She said.
“I know. I will become the best one ever.” He said. Felicia smiled.
She left him to his thoughts. She saw that she had left the curtains open, and went to them. She walked to the window and looked out to the sky.
“If only you knew.” She said, and drew them shut.





Northpoint village was quiet as Jacob sat on the dirt road with his friend James sitting next to him. He was a year older, and had much darker hair. They were waiting for dinner, and Jacob’s mom had cast them both out of the small house so she could work.

“Want to go see farmer Ben’s new chickens?” James asked.
“Nope.” Jacob replied.
“I heard that he got white chickens.” James said.
“That is nonsense; all chickens are brown.” Jacob replied.
James started picking up small rocks out of the ground, and threw them out at the other huts across the pathway. Another boy ran by their house, and stepped in Jacobs circles. Jacob who was furious went back to work making them again, but James got up.
“I am going to go see farmer Ben’s chickens.” He said.
“Okay.” Jacob said brushing some dirt off of his clothes.

They both got up and started running down the old dirt road. They were towards the middle of town, so it was going to take them a few minutes to get to farmer Ben’s field; his field was out beyond the old bridge. They came up to a bend that lead them through the town market. James took the lead and started running down towards the market.

The market was different from the rest of the town. When you arrived at the market you would see that there were bricks instead of dirt to walk on, and everything and everyone got louder. People having conversations would be walking from stand to stand, mothers would be carrying sacks of vegetables while dragging their screaming kids, but nothing was as loud as the stall-keepers.

Stall-keepers often were yelling as loud as they could to get potential customers. Every stand was competing against another, and every stand seemed to have the loudest person yelling for them. They kept displays up all the time, and were always sweeping the space around their stalls, so they had clean and tidy spaces, but the middle of the walkway was covered in patches and blotches of dirt and mud.

James ran slightly ahead of Jacob. They ran by people wheeling carts full of vegetables, and furs. James jumped and hopped on crates as they tore through the market. They turned down a smaller street to avoid the main street hustle. Jacob then took the lead and ran between houses with clothes hanging between them, and out into an open field. They ran through the field till they could see the brook.

The brook had long been said to be the deepest in the land. Some had drowned because they thought that just because it was narrow that it was shallow. James and Jacob walked around to the bridge, and crossed there. The roads lead them all the way to the farm of farmer Ben.

Farmer Ben was considered a crazy man, and most children stayed away from him. The farmhouse was a small and old place. The wood was so old that it was starting to rot in areas. The fence the surrounded the old place was equally old, and truly unfit to contain the sheep. Jacob could see the chicken coop from where they were, but it was empty.
“I do not see any chickens.” Jacob said disappointedly.
“Dennis said they were here.” said James.
“I do not see them though.” Jacob said.
Jacob ran toward the other edge of the farm, but before the he reached the edge he heard the city’s horn.






Felicia walked down to the market to buy some potatoes. She was almost relived when she saw the two boys had run off. Not that she wanted to be rid of them, but Jacob was always trying to help, and had a tendency to get in her way. She usually sent him out while she was prepping a meal. She was also glad to see he had made friends with the neighbor’s kid. She always worried about his tendencies to be a hermit.

She was preparing a potato soup, but she had run out of potatoes, and that was why she had to go get some. She loved going down to the market, and was usually glad to have an excuse to go down there. Many women had never paid much attention to her because she was an outsider. She never quite fit in to the lifestyle they lived, but she did try her best. She and Jacob had moved to this small village only two years before, but she and Jacob had become friends with their next door neighbors, so in some way it had somehow balanced.

Their neighbors at least had been kind to them from the beginning. They had been the ones to help them get the house they had needed. Felicia was poor compared to her old lifestyle when she first moved to Northpoint, and most of the rental homes had been taken, so her only choice was to buy one outright. She had only half the money needed, so in exchange for some labor help their neighbors agreed to help the buy the next door home. As it turned out the whole line of work had turned out to be something that she knew about, carpentry. Her father had been a carpenter, and before she had married she used to watch him during any free time she got. Her father had even shown her a couple of time how to saw wood and to use a sanded paper to scrape the splinters free. They helped her through all of this, and while others were cold to her, she knew she could depend on them.

She had finally reached the market. When she had moved here she was still recovering from the loss of her husband William. William had gone off into the war against Sulfire, but it was not two months after he’d left her that they brought back his sword saying he’d been killed in a hail of boulders.

“Hello, my lady!” She heard a man call to her. He was trying to sell furs. She sometimes liked looking at such things, but she needed to go get potatoes not furs. She headed down to a vegetable stand and started looking at the potatoes. The stall-keeper was talking to everyone but her. She ignored his rudeness and grabbed ten large potatoes. Suddenly he did notice her.

“Hello, how may I help you, my lady?” He said.
“I would like to buy these potatoes.” She said.
“Just a second here and we’ll see.” He replied.
He grabbed the sack of potatoes from her hand and set them on a scale. He brought them back.
“Five gold coins.” The man said, and she paid him. She took the potatoes and started heading back to her house.

She got near her house and saw that her neighbors had left. She set the potatoes on the counter and grabbed a large iron pot out of the corner. She grabbed a rod and used it to put the pot on a hook above the fire. She had added the water and seasonings earlier, so the pot was almost too heavy. She tossed three potatoes in the pot to boil. He job was almost done; she still had to clean up after the mess she had made earlier.

She heard the city’s horn blast. She dropped everything she had and ran outside. She saw men already scrambling. The horn blasted again.
“Jacob!” She said hoarsely.



The horn was unbelievably loud. Jacob and James charged from the farm back towards the market. Jacob looked around and saw red covered men gathering in the distance near the surrounding woods.
“What is going on!?” Jacob yelled.
“Attackers!” James said. Jacob decided that the horn was about the men gathering then.

The scrambled across the field, and Jacob could hear a bunch of smaller horns being blasted by the red armored people. He ran into the alley and out into the street.

Jacob ran through the panicked streets. James took a turn, and Jacob couldn’t see him. He suddenly realized he was separated from James, and was trying to find him. He was lost in the market, and was nearly run over by stall-keepers who had packed up and were trying to get out. There were spooked horses and other large beasts running through the streets unguarded.
“James!” His yell was drowned out. He hopped onto a crate and yelled again. People were yelling and screaming. He tried to get out of the way of another cart, but his shirt caught on a corner, and tore. He ran quickly for another safe spot.

Suddenly soldiers with their swords drawn ran through the streets. They were in leather armor with light blue metal plating, and each carrying a metal shield with the eight point star of Melendy.

The soldiers were running towards something, but Jacob was just trying not to get trampled. He ran down another street only to see the cavalry heading his way, so ducked back out. He was trying to get home, and still looking for James. He was scared, but he kept trying anyway.

Finally he spotted James, but they were on opposite side of the street. James spotted him through the madness as well.

They both could not get to each other.





Felicia spotted her son trying to get to the other side of the street. She ran through the crazed crowd trying to get to their individual homes. She pushed through stands that had been abandoned in an attempt to escape. Her son spotted her, and ran toward her. Just before they reached each other a policeman riding on a horse rode between them, but after that they embraced each other.

“What is going on?” He yelled in her ear. Despite being loud she could barely tell what he’d said.
“We will be safe.” She assured him, but wasn’t so sure herself.
The policemen were out directing people to their homes. Felicia was trying to find her way. Normally she could figure out how to get somewhere, but with everything and everyone in a state of terror she was a bit turned around.

“Hey!” she yelled at an officer. He stopped and turned to her.
“I need to find the stable; can you help me?” She yelled.
“Ma’am please we advise you to head home.” He replied
“I have a horse, a fast horse; please point me to the stable.” She pleaded.
He started to argue, but then he pointed of toward the heart of the chaos. “Better hurry that side of town is pretty much destroyed Ma’am.” She barely caught that last part as she was tearing through the streets with her son. He was weaving better than she was so they only held hands.

They were running down a street when the started hearing rumbles. At first she could not figure out where it was coming from, but then a giant fireball flew overhead and landed off to her left somewhere rumbling as it hit the ground. The city was being bombarded, and she was still with Jacob trying to get to the stables.

They got to a clearing, and what they saw wasn’t pretty. It appeared that the enemy was attacking the city plaza. Jacob pointed, and she almost cried in relief, the stables were still standing. She however noted that the gate keeper was no longer there. She and Jacob ran to the gate, with a little caution she lifted and dropped Jacob over the tall gate, and he promptly opened it for her. She ran in and saw all the horses bucking and kicking, but she was looking for her horse.

She found her horse which was strangely calm compared to the others, but she still seemed anxious. The horse was a perfect white, and was a small horse. Her name was Swift. Felicia’s husband had bought the horse long ago, but it had taken a long time to tame her. She was a wild horse of the north, and as such she had roamed the plains. Northern horses were highly sought after.

She entered, and Swift nearly raised onto her hind legs before Felicia calmed her.
After reassuring her everything was fine she put the blanket on and then the saddle. After fastening the saddle she proceeded to put on the bridle. A small chunk of rock tore the roof open. Jacob screamed, and clung to her leg.

She put Jacob up first, and then rose upon the horse herself with Jacob behind her. After unfastening the horse she made a noise in her ear and they rode the horse out. The city was still being bombarded, but now there was little left, rocky mud homes had been demolished by the flaming boulders, and the hay roofs had been burned down.

In one direction she saw the Melendian army fighting the soldiers in black and red. She gasped at how few there were left. The black and red army she knew very well. It was the Sulfirians, and they were already riding the red banner in. She quickly turned the horse around, and took off in the other direction. There was little left of the Melendians anywhere; only a house or two stood standing. The site horrified her, and yet didn’t surprise her either. The Sulfirian’s king, Lord Devioun, had burned down cities before, so there was little to be surprised about.

She rode down from the village hill to a little bridge, and quickly crossed it. She saw that the fields ahead were not clear, but filled with siege weapons and cavalry of Sulfire. She knew there was little she could do, but either wait them out, or charge them and hope she made it through alive.

She charged at them.

Her horse ran over the rolling field, but for her speed Felicia wondered how she was going to slip out of the wall of horses ahead. The catapults still launching their flaming boulders above her head; she rode down at the wall, and that was when the charged at her. She turned her horse to the right, and some of the men jumped out of line; exactly what she wanted. She turned around and some of the men went around her, and turned around in pursuit. She took a sharp right again and found herself out of the ring of soldiers. She charged her horse toward the war machines.

She thought she was in the home stretch until she saw a man standing in front of her. He was not any man though; he was Lord Devioun. She stopped her horse, but the other men were not pursuing anymore. She was in a trap.

“Enough men!" She is mine!” He yelled. She was close enough to see his young face. He looked no older than 18, but anyone who knew anything about him knew he was very much older. His long fine blond hair was lashing around in the wind, and he had terribly dark eyes. His armor was a simple and rounded in shape, but not many gaps in it, and it was painted in black with red design much like the rest of his army.
“Do you surrender?” He yelled.
“Never!” She roared back, but she did not waist time she charged her horse forward, and tried to go way around. He then pulled out a sword; A red glowing sword. He held it high above his head, and then he stuck the ground beneath him.

At first nothing happened, but then she realized the earth beneath her was rumbling. She urged her now extremely frightened horse, but her horse reared and tried to buck her off. Devioun drew his sword out, and from the hole left the earth started cracking everywhere. She saw the land quaking and shaking beneath them, and the land tore it is self apart before her very eyes. She urged her horse once more, and this time the horse bolted forward so quickly that she nearly fell off. The horse in its terrified state jumped over loose rocks, and dodged the ever changing landscape. Jacob clung to her back tighter than ever. Felicia reached her arm around to hold Jacob, and pulled him around in front of her. The rumbling was quieting, but she now heard arrows whizzing by her head as she now was headed for the forest, but worse she turned to see Devon’s War dogs perusing them. They were small grey and white beasts, but they were as fast as any horse and as ferocious as lions.

She was nearing the forest, but the dogs were gaining on them. She looked for anything on her saddle that she could hit them with, but could not find anything. Finally she reached the forest edge, but the dogs did not break pursuit. What did happen though was she realized they were going to get out of there. She knew these lands, and so she carefully guided the horse down to lower ground. The dogs were still pursuing, but they had lost ground. She headed lower still down near the river.

As she neared the waters edge she looked for the perfect place to cross. Suddenly the dogs popped out of the trees very close, so she just pulled her horse out into the water. The horse resisted for a second, but then charged into the water and made her way for the other side. It was not a difficult task for them, but the water was rushing fast enough that the dogs were being carried away. She got out on the other side with her ankles damp, but she saw the dogs break pursuit and run back to their master. Jacob was still safely in front. She turned the horse, and headed south.