The road to Litchford hills was equally perilous to the actual mountain range itself. Most of the road passed through narrow gorges, the perfect place for ambushes. The craggy surfaces made Zinjo nervous. His nose never left the air once as he sniffed for possible enemies.    "I do not like this place, dark princess. There are too many places for people to hide, and hyenas enjoy themselves a good ambush. We are taking an enormous risk," Zinjo pushed her behind him.        "I thought a group of armed men would attract more attention than a pair of travelers," remember our goal is to gather information and speak to Mshindi." Zinjo was a good man, but his determination to protect her from every little thing irritated her.     Zinjo stood in front of her, "You are the future pride mother of Shadowfen, your safety has to take some priority." He growled and tried to carry her.

     Everything in the wild stopped as Zinjo entered the camp filled with nervous silence. Zinjo walked until ten feet separated him from Aurelia. His stare still brought out Aurelia's girlish side, and it still made her feel like the only woman on earth. Broken trust does not mend easily. Aurelia approached Zinjo. She walked with the grace and dignity of a regal lioness, as she came within arms reach. She drew her paw back and struck Zinjo with all of her might.     "If you ever do something that stupid again, you and I will have problems, understood?" She glared at him and drew herself up to her full height. Aurelia expected resentment and anger to be in the fierce yellow eyes. Instead, she found undying devotion and affection. "Perhaps I was too harsh," her voice softened against the affectionate gaze of Zinjo.     "No, dark princess, you were not. I expected worse," Zinjo rose from his knees, and held out his h

     The mountains of Litchford hills kept the small band of travelers on their toes. The endless walls of rock, and tufts of thick green moss on stones, banked by pine trees tall enough to touch the sky. Aurelia discovered how much one bite had changed her. For instance, her endurance dramatically increased. They had traveled most of the day without stopping, except for food.     They made camp about a day's journey from the Cherish Empire.  Redford and Mshindi went off to find some supper. Zinjo looked over at Aurelia and pointed at her swords, "It is time to get familiar with your blade?" The firelight attractively illuminated his fur, Aurelia pulled the scroll from her rucksack. Zinjo shook his head, "You are not there yet,"    Aurelia shot him a dirty look, "I'll be the judge of that," She stared at the scar where Zinjo bit her.   &nb

     Things can change in a few short months. Nobody knows that better than Aurelia and her companions. The mix-matched a group of royalty and vagabonds trudged across the mountains of Litchford Hills, in search of the evil creature known as Kivuli. Their search brought them to the doorstep of the Cherish Empire, the most powerful nation on the continent.     They crossed the border into Cherish without much difficulty. Redford, a brigand and former guard to royalty, grew more and more paranoid the further into Cherish they went. His eyes darted left to right, and he jumped at every person who saw him.     "Redford, don't worry," Aurelia hissed, "These people don't know you from a hole in the ground. If you keep acting like a crazy person, you'll bring the guards down on us." She tried to keep a modicum of kindness to ease the frazzled brigands' nerves.     Zinjo took a stance next to the

     The forest grew more twisted as Aurelia traveled deeper into the forest. Trees went from upright to gnarled and sickly. The pleasant smell of the pine needles shifted to rotten eggs and decay. Creepiness aside, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She kept her nose on Zinjo's scent, she didn't care much for Mshindi's. The werehyena smelled like sour berries and something she hadn't encountered before. Her ears caught the stillness of the area. Not a bird sang, and she swore the bugs crawled quieter here     Thick cocoons hung in the treetops. Aurelia figured it was from caterpillars, a plague of them ran through Shadowfen one year. The streets were filled with disgusting things, and they left a horrid stink in their wake. Again unusual but not too far out of the wheelhouse of believable.     The mystery lay in the music. Each of the men heard music before they crashed through the green foliage and saplings in search