Gordan gripped his forehead with his hand and let out a long sigh.
"She's no one that we need to worry about right now."
Both the General and Drake were extremely confused as to what had happened in front of them, but Gordan waved it off.
"Anyway we have to get ready, he will be arriving soon."
Both of them looked at each other and then toward Gordan.
"And who exactly is about to be here?"
Gordan looked down at the grassy plain that was facing the forest. A cold wind wiped through the grass making it start to freeze until the entire field was filled with ice, and then the blades broke off floating away in the wind leaving behind nothing but dirt. A figure appeared amidst the scene covered in mist with a large scythe over one of its shoulders, as it slowly came closer the air grew colder and colder until they could see their breath clearly.
"I didn't expect you to send such a strange message to me friend."
The creature had come into veiw and both Drake and the General took a step back, but for different reasons. Drake felt like he was about to collapse from fatigue for some reason, but the General was mostly concerned about what the being was.
"Is that one of the Winter March?"
The creature smiled wildly at the General stopped moving.
"Why yes I am."
Orion looked toward Drake and then looked back to Gordan.
"It would seem I should keep my distance from the young one even at this level in my power."
Gordan sighed slightly and snapped his fingers to form a thin film over Drakes throat, it did not affect his breathing, but it did lessen the effect that the Winter March had on those with magic affinity.
Drake emidiatly felt like normal and straightened himself back up feeling rather refreshed even.
"Don't worry about it, more importantly how did your escape go over? I trust you didn't have much trouble?"
Orion set the end of his scythe on the ground and sighed before smiling in a rather content way.
"You should have seen the faces of the guards when the the stones turned black and I walked out of the cell, it was priceless."
He laughed to himself in remembrance of the scene in the prison. Gordan held out a small item to Orion who claimed it back happily.
The two of them had already gone over the plan the night before but Gordan was interested to see what had happened.
"After I got your message last night and you took the shard they emidiatly tried to use the possession on me, but it wasn't able to hold so they gathered the army and started on their way here. Then you set off that insane spell and I went through the castle without any trouble whatsoever. There was almost no one around at all, and those that were nearly scared themselves to death just from seeing me."
He started laughing again, and Gordan smiled at his amusement, he had been trapped for so long, and now he was finally free from that prison.
"So when does the main event start?"
Gordan tilted his head to the side thinking about it for a moment.
"I would say at least another three hours, that is if they want to make it here on time for the show. By the way, I almost forgot, you might want this."
Gordan tossed the heart over to Orion who caught it gingerly.
"Thanks for indulging me on this matter."
Gordan waved it away.
"You're helping me out just as much so don't worry about it. For now don't you think that you should probably try to get some strength back?"
Orion nodded his head and looked to a small patch in the forest, he walked toward it and sat down instantly freezing over everything in the area other than the heart of the king which he was still holding in his hand. His eyes closed and his skin gave off a cold blue glow, his joints started to turn solid until he looked more like a statue than a living being.
Gordan smiled and started working on building a fire so that they could have another meal before the battle since they hadn't eaten in awhile anyway.
The other two were looking between Gordan and Orion like they had just witnessed a nightmare take place. Both of them knew of the Winter March and were, as any normal people would be, terrified of them. But Gordan not only had a normal conversation with one, but also had apparently helped it escape from the kingdom.
This fact bothered the General more than it scared him, the fact that the kingdom had somthing like that hidden away somewhere was a bit insane. The Winter March was considered a horror story that people didn't even use to make there children go to sleep at night. They were in most peoples eyes hallow monsters who killed at random. And now he had talked to one of these creatures which were thought to be a type of beast. The General had to marvel the way that it had spoken to him with a smile on its face, it was even more terrifying than the thought of them being mindless monsters.
Gordan finished up the fire and made a meal which was slightly different then the meat cheese and bread that was usual, instead he made a stew with a pan which he had purchased in the capital before meeting the king. Drake had wondered why he had purchased it but now it kind of made sense, to a degree. Gordan went about his way like everything was completely normal.
"So, how long have you two known each other for?"
The Gereral was extremely uncomfortable with Orion, as was Drake, but if it was someone that Gordan knew well they could probably get out of this situation alive. Both of them looked to Gordan for a response, but he seemed to be focusing on the air directly in front of him in deep thought. After a moment he looked up and saw that they had been talking to him.
"Orion? I just met him yesterday, but don't worry he wouldn't just up and kill someone for no reason, probably."
The last part was said almost under his breath but the two of them heard it quite clearly.
=Sigh=
"You have some of the weirdest aquantince's, you know that right?"
Gordan smiled and handed them each a bowl of stew.
"I wouldn't say weird, I prefer, interesting. Anyway, you had better get some food, things are going to get a bit dicey when the other players finally decide to show up."
After eating his own food Gordan took a small stick of the ground and began to scratch somthing into the ground. Both the General and Drake watched the process wondering what the point of it was, until they realised that he was drawing a map of the area for some reason. After he finished with the basic design he began to draw out a plan of attack that would solve the situation for him in the most efficient way possible. When he had finished he told the plan to the others and then they started the preparations for the battle.
As the sun was just starting to set the first of the soilders came into veiw riding on war horses. Gordan stood up and walked over to where Orion was still sleeping. He had been attempting to regain some of his strength, but Gordan doubted that he could have regained that much yet, he had been constantly sapping his energy away for a hundred years so there was no hope that he would be able to preform at his full power, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't be a force to fear.
When he was about two yards away from Orion the ice began to melt and his eyes came into focase again.
"Is it time already?"
He stretched out his limbs and got to his feet. He looked around and sighed shallowly.
"I hope we can deal with this soon, I really want to get back to the hunt."
Gordan smiled and took the heart back from Orion who was offering it to him.
"I suppose that you extracted what you needed?"
Orion opened his palm to reveal a small flame which was bright blue.
"Who would have thought that they would hide such a valuable thing in the heart of this brat?"
Orion seemed to be slightly disappointed by the way that they had so carelessly treated the precious item, but his expression quickly changed back to a neutral state. He held out the flame toward Gordan who raised an eyebrow.
"I know it's a lot to ask since you're already helping me out quite a bit, but would you mind lending me some blood, it would seem that he seems to be a bit hungry and I don't have any fresh blood on me right now."
Both the General and Drake looked back and forth between the each other and Gordan wondering how he would respond to that kind of question. To there surprise he pulled out a broken knife which he had been using to make small cuts in his fingers and sliced his hand open holding it over the flickering flame without a hint of hesitation.
"Happy to help."
He smiled slightly as the flame began to grow until it enveloped his hand, but still he did not move until Orion lowered the flame to the ground.
Thanks, for that, he can get a bit temperamental when it comes to starvation."
Neither of the onlookers had any idea why a flame needed blood until it started to grow even larger and change shape, until a large horse was standing before them. It was a monster, there was no doubt about that, its partially skeletal frame and the glowing flame at its core, were bad enough but its face was the thing that sent chills up their spines. Its teeth unlike normal horses were sharp and jagged, while its soulless eyes seemed to stare into their very souls.
Gordan couldn't help but smile at there reactions, the horse was indeed quite the sight to behold, and if they had grown up in this area they undoubtedly had heard about the nightmare creatures all of there lives, and had been taught to fear them. But for Gordan the horses were extremely fascinating. Having a closer look at one he realised that they were much more complex then they had seemed before, and he wasn't aware that they could be stored in such a manner. He decided to stop thinking about that for now and bandage his hand, but before he could he felt a cold chill and the wound suddenly healed over like it had never been there in the first place.
"I wish I could do more but your internal injuries are no joke, it would take a bit more out of me than I have in me at the moment."
He smiled apologetically and absently stroked his horses mane, he hadn't seen it in one hundred years, and now that he was reunited with it, he was feeling a bit nostalgic for some reason. Suddenly an idea came to him and his smile widened.
"Hey Gordan, mind of I change the plan a bit?"
Gordan turned his head to the side slightly in curiosity. Orion snapped his fingers and his appearance changed as did the appearance of his horse. Gordan smiled and let out a bit of a laugh.
"Don't see why not, after all it should make things more interesting."