Beetrax formed the point of the wedge, as he always had in the past, as he always would in the future. It was a pride thing, it was a warrior thing, it was a man thing; nobody objected. It kept him from moaning. Second came Dake and Jonti, at ease atop their mounts; Lillith came next, at the centre of the party, the safest place – in theory – for one who abhorred violence of any kind. To the rear came Talon, the most talented archer in Vagandrak, alongside Sakora, who preferred silence to talk and thus made her a questionable companion for Talon, who liked to regularly verbally express the concept of his own physical perfection. Over the next few days they skirted the Rokroth Marshes, unwilling to get dragged into the misty, stinking realm; many better men and women had died in that unloved place. Beetrax knew the paths, as did they all, for they were Vagandrak ex-military and the army liked to train its soldiers hard. They rode over undulating grasslands, littered with huge rocks, and saw the towers of the abandoned Skell Fortress in the distance to the west.
