Ok, i've been thinking about the plot here for a while but please try not to kill me over punctuation or anything i can't spell properly, some criticism would be much appreciated. Also this is my first attempt at a fic.

Chapter 1: Epic's Attendance.

Ray spat again, for all the seven years i'd know Ray he had spat at least twenty times when he was conversing with people he didn't enjoy the company of, infact i would go so far as to say he hated them. I wonder if anyone else in the world would want to work with him, well more like work for him while he sat in the back of a carriage with various members of nobility (the one time he didn't spit every 20 seconds).

To put Ray in a nutshell, he was a dictator who knew how to make his actions seem to benefit everyone and anyone, he hated talking to anyone he wasn't escorting through the countryside and believe me he never even spoke to his own business partner if he could avoid it, his business partner being me.

I leant back again listening to the monotonous chipping of horses hooves along the beaten track, being a mercenary had it's moments and sitting on a wagon with a spoilt prince in the back and a bad tempered horsemaster at the front was not one of them, "bored again are we Garet?" came a call from Ray, a rare and unusual occurence - Ray not insulting me while asking a question, an immediate reply was "as usual Ray, but i don't think it can be much better for you eh" which was followed by a soft sigh from me and a bout of laughter that shook the carriage from Ray, one thing you could count on with Ray - bad taste in times to laugh.

As i turned back to watching the horses, -lovely willow grey horses- walking up the track to the twin cities of Dunedos and Gordalos which were just coming into view as we began our descent down the mountain, only a short while until we got to the tavern, finally a place where i can drink until i can see horses running over the moon.

The sunset i was watching appear similar to the seaside sunsets you get in spring, orange and pink contrasted and dropped onto the blue lake that the cities were built around, suddenly i noticed we were entering the last dangerous, or potentially dangerous part of our seven week journey which had so far involved a flood, fire holding us up, at least one possibly two earthquakes and various stays which went longer than planned due to the spoilt prince wanting to meet and greet the local royalty.

A sudden crash brought me out of my thoughts, i looked down and noticed the front wheel on the carriage had snapped like a twig, thinking no more of it i put a hand to my trusty axe while hearing a background yell of "Someone light a bloody ****ing torch" from the horsemaster who was as i mentioned, not a good tempered fellow and not well mannered either to say the least, Ray had a torch lit in the carriage instantly knowing full well that any moment now we might be in for a fight, he and the prince came down to meet me and the horsemaster while glowering around, the horsemaster began to see what the potential problems with the wheel were, while i saw Ray handing his sword to the prince -I wouldn't have thought the brat would be able to bear arms- but Ray seemed to think otherwise, and even if he could not he might give us an extra second or two.

"Bah bloody 'ell, the ****in spoke is snapped right out and i'm not off to fetch a new one" came the voice of our "friend" the horsemaster, i hadn't even bothered asking his name because I assumed the reply would be something to the effect of "Mind your bloody business". Ray spoke up, the first words He, I, or the Prince had spoken since the spoke snapped "I'm going to get my spear from the back, maybe we can use that to hold in place until we reach the twin cities.

When Ray returned a few moments later he had his spear and some liquid which he used for either covering wounds, fixing shirts, repairing swords or any other general use, it was never any good at much but it was quite sticky, "Raymond hand me your axe a moment", i handed him my axe, knowing he was far superior to me when it came to precision, with a swift downward stroke he hacked the spear handle at the opposite end to the point giving himself a small stake like piece of wood, suddenly he hurled the stake into the bushes at the roadside which appeared to be quite fearsome to say the least, a muffled voice said in what would have been a roar but for the muffling "**** they spotted us, get 'um boys".

With that a group of around 5 surrounding us and me without an axe, i didn't feel entirely comfortable, Ray lifted his spear and stabbed one of them but was assaulted from either side by another two, i grabbed one in a wrestlers grip and without any armour it was easy enough to lift him over my head, an enormous crash behind me signified his neck snapping, i noticed one of them catch the prince a huge open fisted blow to the head which caused blood to spring from his nose and mouth, the horsemaster used the torch to fend the remaining one off, with a sudden crash i saw Ray hit the ground, i lept across the ground putting a hand to my axe in the process and kicking the man who had felled him and using my foot to put him in a rather less comfortable place than Ray, i scouted around and saw the prince fighting like a madman while the horsemaster had used his torch to take his man down, i made a dive on the combination of the prince and the bandit, however he was too strong for me and threw me to the ground then suddenly as he reached for his sword i heard a sickening crunch above me.

A dead weight flopped down on me and I rolled to the side to see who had just saved me from an untimely fate, it was Ray who with his usual dry wit remarked "I'm assuming you'd rather not have him lying on you all night" and lifted the body off me, the carnage was tremendous, blood was everywhere and none of the four of us stood without a wound of some sort, i felt blood trickle like treacle down my back while Ray's face had a large open wound on the left hand side from my point of view. The horsemaster was standing alone and panting a little while acting like he was interested in the whole wheel problem which had been forced to the backs of our minds for a moment, it was then that I decided to speak up, but before i got a word in the prince said "Good work all of you, might i ask your counsel on whether we should set a camp of sorts up here or press on while the shadows lengthen."

Ray, in his usual way glowered and stared at the wheel for a while, he went towards the bush and, before checking for the stake he had previously cut, jabbed his spear in six times, he then leant his hand in and removed the stake from the bush and began the painful task of fixing the cart wheel "looks as though he has decided for us eh?" said the horsemaster, for the first time showing a mild sense of humour and a little more courtesy.