The archmage looked at me and said "If that truly is your desire, I will allow you to contest the dungeon of initiation. Apostacy is very frowned upon. That is why we allow converts to join only after they have suffered and proven their worth to all. Go to Estlor in Klaka Kingdom. That is where the God of the Sky made his intentions known to us in Ether. Once you enter the dungeon you are to find the holy lake and purify yourself. Bring back a holy stone on your return to any chapel church or cathedral, and they will accept that you have been blessed and can be initiated into our Faith." The monk and cleric remaining looked at him in horror. "You can't possibly mean that this is a proper thank you, Your Beatitude!" the monk said. "This is much too precious of a boon to give a 'taur! Please reconsider." a cleric chimed in. The archpriest held firm with his decision and I nodded. I had to check the map to see where I needed to go. Klaka Kingdom was two countries away. I had to travel the Chegow Republic. It would be a really long distance, but I could get there fast due to my very increased speed.
Just traveling there and back seemed a bit much. I decided to go look for the bandits and see if they wanted to go. When I asked them, they were not interested. They all had things to steal and stuff to do in Ablinas City and the surrounding area. It made sense. I told them that I would be back when I had finished my quest. They wished me luck and I decided to go right away. As I passed the gates, they gave me the usual spiel. I decided to run along the road until I met three teens on the road. I stopped and looked at them. I could see two boys and a girl. They also stopped and looked at me. The boys pushed the girl behind them and one on the boys with a blue shirt drew a shortsword from his sheathe attached to a belt. He had a shield strapped to his arm. "What do you want, 'taur!?" he demanded. I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't want any problems with you. I just saw you three on the road and wanted to see what you three were up to." I said. The boy in a green shirt said "None of your damn business." I was being nosy, so I nodded and began to walk. "Get back here!" the blue shirt cried out.
I stopped and just looked over my shoulder at them. They were all drawing their weapons. The green shirt had a bow and a quiver of 20 arrows. The girl had a wooden staff. "What do you want? I haven't done anything to you have I?" I said. It made them pause as they looked at each other. "No? But your not from here and your a 'taur. I heard stories about you. Aren't you supposed to attack people?" the girl asked. I shook my head. "I am a copper mercenary. I fight those who people that pay me tell me to. If you attack me, you guys are dead." I said. "There's no way we're letting you go now! Get ready to be taken to the nearest dungeon." the blue shirt said. They then all turned hostile. I turned around and dodged the blast of magic and arrows while the blue shirt charged with his sword and shield. I just knocked him out with my front hooves and put one on his chest. "That's enough. Stop or he dies. I don't have time to play with you." I said. They stopped right away. I lifted the hoof and backed away. I put the ball in their court. They rushed to blue shirt and tried to rouse him. He was out cold.
Green shirt said "We're going to get our revenge for this!" I just chuckled and said "How about no? You can't beat me. My name is Brianne Terri. You can tell everyone he meets you how you lost your first duel." I then continued walking. Both of them yelled and screamed after me. It was kind of fun to leave the victor like that. I continued down the road and killed all the bandits that spawned in my way. I already had three waiting for me back in the city. I had to cross over a bridge to get past the river that served as the border between Chegow and Arkton. There was a small detachment of soldiers on both sides of the bridge. The border guards on the Arkton side gave me a hard time. They wanted to know who I was, where I was from, where I was going and when I would be back. I answered all their questions. I lived in Arkton, so I needed to behave. The guards on the Chegow side of the border gave me the same treatment. It was pretty annoying, but they let me move on. I was now in another country. The Chegow Republic had an elective monarchy with the cities being led by elected officials.
