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~ Northwest ~

The western group had the misfortune to run into a sphinx. She interposed and told them that she

would only let them cross beyond if they solved her conundrum, which consisted in guessing a simple

word, but the description given was too general, interpretations were many.

They all discussed during an aeon and did not reach an agreement since all of them proposed

different ideas. Jakso and Yeran had a word that could be the riposte, Lizaru and Dersaco did not want

them to answer without analysing all the possibilities. The sphinx had given them forty minutes as a

time limit for them to respond, if they did not get it right in that period of time, she would not let them

pass.

As they did not reach an agreement and little time was left; Dersaco, impatient as always, decided to

give his answer. It turned out that the word he had chosen was incorrect. The sphinx created an

immense force field that blocked the entire desert, forbidding them to go ahead. Lizaru and Yeran,

both reflexive and tolerant, accepted the error and did not throw mud at him, however Jakso lashed

into him in an acerbic way. He was not a magnanimous fellow.

'Good job, mongrel! Thanks to you we'll have to search another way. It was very kind of you.

You're a real star!' he spoke with sarcasm.

Dersaco took offense at his comment and confronted him. Sarcastic remarks were something he did

not like to any degree.

'Shut up!' he shouted at him. 'I don't need to hear your stupid comments, shiteater.'

'My comments aren't stupider than the answer you gave.'

'Listen, scavenger wolf... ' he put his left hand on his chest.

'Don't touch me!' --he pushed him away.

'If you don't like my presence, you can fuck off.'

Lizaru encroached on the quarrel and tried to calm her coyote, nothing could she do to soothe him

when he was at odds with the wolf.

'Your presence doesn't bother me. Your existence is what I can't brook.'

'Get the fuck out!' he gushed.

'Dersaco, calm down! We're a harmonious group,' Yeran interposed.

'No, we're not,' he denied. 'This fucking wolf...' --he pointed at him, 'just wants to lead us astray.'

'What are you saying?'

'I'm being sincere.'

Jakso snickered at him for that last remark. It was the perfect moment to undertake his evil plan.

'Do you speak of sincerity, Dersaco?' he asked him with a smirk. 'Why not talking about your affairs

with Grud then? I bet Lizaru doesn't even know about that.'

Grud was a good-looking anthropomorphic grey-furred vixen. She had long auburn hair, emerald

eyes, small muzzle, black whiskers, minuscule ears, thin waist, slender legs and a fluffy tail. She was one

metre and ninety-three tall. Some villagers considered her a dark horse due to her reticent attitude.

'What are you talking about?' the tigress was gobsmacked.

'Why don't you ask him?' the wolf said.

'What is he talking about?' she asked her boyfriend.

'He's talking rubbish! He doesn't know what he's saying,' he answered with a tremulous voice.

'It's not my fault he's an unbridled rake,' Jakso added. 'As any wanton libertine, he just wants to

hump anybody. He doesn't give a jot about anything else.'

'Shut the fuck up!' he snapped angrily at him.

'Grud killed herself cos of him.'

'What?' Yeran asked stunned.

'Please, tell me you're not serious about it. She was one of my closest friends,' Lizaru entreated

Jakso.

Dersaco felt rather nervous. It was impossible to deny what he had done in the past. He had been

hiding the truth all those years to avoid problems.

'I'm serious about it. She committed suicide cos he told her to do so.'

'Dersaco, is that true?' she asked him.

'Of course not! He has no evidence to prove that,' he stammered.

'Well, I'm afraid I do have evidence,' he took a sheet of paper from one of his pockets and showed

it to her.

Lizaru took the sheet and perused the sentences written. She recognised her boyfriend's handwriting

instantly. It stated the following message: 'Dear Grud, I am sick of your letters and your pleas, little do

I care about you now. I was through with you a long time ago so stop irking me. Don't try to convince

me to come back with you because I don't love you anymore. I've met "somebody" better than you.

And if you really want to die, go kill yourself. I won't miss you.'

'After a ten months' relationship, he broke up with her,' Jakso told her. 'She kept sending him letters

to explain her why he had chosen to split up without any justification. What actually happened was that

he had met you so he couldn't stay with her any longer. The more she insisted to talk, the more he

ignored her. Everybody knew she was a sensitive female, whose tragic infancy had left her many

traumas, specially her father's suicide. In a desperate attempt to persuade him at once, she sworn she

would kill herself if he didn't go to talk to her. I guess you know what happened next. He did tell her,

in a very impolite way, to do that and she proceeded. That same night she took a knife and cut her

throat to finish with her misery. Her delicate heart was broken and so were her hopes,' he stopped for a

moment. 'I was walking with Kravel by her home when I suddenly smelt blood. When I went in, I saw

her cold body lying on a bloodstained carpet along with this letter. I've been having bad dreams with

that scene from that night. That tragedy wouldn't have happened if he had talked to her in person, but

he didn't want you to know about his secret relationship with her.'

Kravel was a strong two-metre thirty-six tall light grey bear with great resistance who had locks of

hair that covered his brow, dark blue eyes and short thick whiskers. His only weapon was a huge steel

hammer. He was one of the youngest fighters in the village, he had not reached adulthood yet. He

always dressed in black and wore leather boots.

Lizaru could not believe what Dersaco had done. She thought the vixen had committed suicide for

another reason. Besides Casoile and Yeran, she was one of her dearest friends. Lose her was like losing

a member of her own family, something tremendously painful.

Casoile was a punctilious nice-looking two-metre eight tall lioness with yellow eyes, small ears, short

tail and layered blonde hair. She, a specialist in personal defence and cooking, had participated in the

last training session master Shakur had offered to his fighters, but she abandoned the last week owing

to her lack of stamina. As a meek cubsitter, she always dressed in white and kept hygienic measures all

the time. Several females in the village disliked her owing to her lecherous attitude, resembling a male in

rut.

'That happened shortly after I met Lizaru. I broke up with her cos I didn't love her anymore,' he

declared, trying to cast the onus off.

'I certainly know,' Jakso admitted. 'You were afraid of telling Lizaru the truth so you got rid of

Grud. You knew she would kill herself. That's why you told her to do so. That was the only way to

stop receiving letters from her.'

'He didn't even go to her funeral,' Yeran added and remembered the day the vixen had been buried.

'Of course he didn't. He disliked her.'

'What's the point of worrying about that now? She's dead,' he had no desire to wash his dirty

laundry. 'That's water under the bridge.'

'She's dead cos of you, mongrel,' Jakso told him.

'I didn't kill her.'

'You took her life in an indirect way, which is the same.'

'Why didn't you tell me anything about that?' Lizaru asked him with tears in her eyes. 'She was a

friend of mine.'

Dersaco never felt so ashamed in his life. He knew, deep in his heart, she would not condone him

for having hidden the truth.

'I was shocked.'

'You could've averted that. What you've done has no solution.'

'Lizaru, don't hate me for this. It was a gaffe I regret having made,' he said, trying to appease her.

'Liar,' Jakso told him.

'You shut up!'

'Dersaco, you're a bastard. You don't know how much I suffered for her,' Lizaru told him.

'Please, don't let me,' he pleaded her, bewailing for the facts.

'I don't want to see you,' she said and went running.

'Lizaru, come back here,' he asked her and got no answer. He had to go after her.

Jakso was happy to see his plan had worked. He and Yeran went to the west and halted before

entering a wood near Yomibia.

'It was correct you told the truth, but I don't like seeing my best friend suffering for a bastard.'

'Getting rid of stupid bastards is my specialty,' Jakso said with a happy smile. 'We're finally free, my

dear.'

'Free of what? We still have to go to Aosositrenia and then to Femerty.'

'That's not necessary.'

'It's our mission. That's why we came here.'

'You said you were frazzled of this never-ending journey and that you wanted to send everything to

hell. Well, this is our opportunity to do that.'

'What do you mean?'

'It doesn't make any sense to go on with this farce. Go to the north, for what? We could never

defeat Daikron.'

'What are you trying to say?'

'Don't tell me you haven't noticed,' he was bemused to see she had not got the idea yet. 'This

journey is nothing more than a plan to get rid of the bastards.'

'Who?'

'All the ones who ever made me feel bad. The first ones to fall were Kam and Raffen. I remember,

on several occasions, they treated me like a fathead, that's why I got rid of them right away. My exteammates went to Miedaviev, they must've died in the endless labyrinth. As for the young ones, they

went straight to the gallows, the guardian of Parphalia must've eaten them. Dersaco was the last bastard

left so I've just managed to get rid of him.'

'I have no idea what you're talking about.'

'I planned everything from the beginning. I needed to find a way to get away from that filthy village.

I used Rino as bait for Daikron to send that warning letter so I could leave Arkadia. I knew who the

pupils Master Shakur would choose were so I took charge of studying the state of each fighter. At first,

I had some problems with my calculations, but then everything went as expected. I had my job done.'

'Are you saying you're an accomplice of Daikron?'

'Not at all,' he denied with frankness. 'It took a lot of time to design each trap for the idiots. The

basilisk failed me so I had to rule it out. This sword was left for me... ' --he showed it to her, 'as Kam's

memory. One of the minotaurs had taken it.'

'This is so confusing for me.'

'I've just told you the truth. Now you know it, we can get along. I have a secret lair in Disistem, on

the island of Gashenk. I have a decent home, mountains of jewellery and gold coins. I have a worthy

castle for a worthy princess like you,' in a proud way he announced that he was rich enough to keep her

in clover. 'If we leave today, we'll arrive in less than ten days.'

'Have you gone nuts? Why would I go with you?'

'It's your destiny,' he declared. 'You and I were born to be together. We'll get married and be happy

for life. I'll be your loyal husband and you'll be my loyal wife.'

'Say what?' she ejaculated.

'You heard me.'

'You're talking nonsense.'

'I'm not.'

'What about the others?'

'Who cares? This continent will be under Daikron's dominion very soon. Let them manage on their

own,' he put his hands on her shoulders, thinking that he could induce her to go with him. She stepped

back, taking his hands off her in a livid way.

'I don't know what happened to you, but I don't like what you're saying. I can't leave this place. I

still have a mission to fulfil.'

'If you stay here, you'll get killed. If you come with me, you'll have nothing to worry about.'

'I'd never leave my friends,' she asserted in a heartfelt way. 'Not only do I worry about Lizaru, all my

friends from Arkadia and the inhabitants from the other villages are part of my life too.'

With those candid words, the wolfess proved her concern for others was worth much more than a

mere dishonest offer. There was no way to make her change her mind.

'Don't you really want to come with me?'

'Never would I go with you.'

'Don't you see I did all this for you?'

'I didn't ask you anything. You're selfish, arrogant and imbecile. You care nobody but yourself.'

'That's not true. I also think of you and all the things we could do together,' he tried to touch her,

but she rejected him.

'Go to hell!'

'Don't be rude to me,' he tried to grab her fondly.

He embraced her in an affectionate way. She seized the blue-bladed sword, which was inside the

sheath, took it off, pushed him to release her, and told him she would nail him if he touched her again.

'Please, don't do this...'

'Don't dare to touch me!'

'What's wrong with you?'

'Gimme the sheath.'

Jakso did as she said. He knew she was capable of hurting him if he did not bestow the sword upon

her.

'Why are you doing this to me?'

'Don't meddle in my life again!' she asked him and went.

Jakso saddened a lot and left. His greatest dream had been shattered. He wasted valuable time

planning something that could have given him total happiness, but fate did not allow him to get away

with it. That was an appropriate punishment for all the bad things he had done in his life.

Yeran returned to the desert in search of her companions. She had to make them reconcile before it

was too late. Once she met them, she approached and saw what she could do. Lizaru preferred to stay

away from Dersaco, she was very upset with him. He was sad to see his girlfriend was suffering for his

cock-ups. He had to justify his insensibility in the best possible way so that she did not hate him for

life.

'Lizaru, please don't hate me for that,' he implored her.

'You should've told me. I could've helped her to find someone else. She killed herself cos of you,'

she said while weeping like a child.

'It really hurts me to see you suffer.'

'There's nothing you can do now. Leave me alone!'

'Lizaru, please listen to me...'

'Go away!'

'Lizaru...'

'Go away!'

When Yeran saw Dersaco sobbing, she realised he really loved her. He was stiff like a rock and

never showed his feelings. For some reason, the affection he felt for the tigress was profound and

transcendental. He loved her more than anyone else in the world.

'Lizaru, don't cry! Everything's okay,' Yeran embraced her so that she did not feel cheerless.

Nothing made her feel better. She had to step back.

'She's too angry to listen,' Dersaco murmured.

She tried to convince them to live down their problems as it had started to darken. They had to seek

a safe place to spend the night. Lizaru did not want to continue the journey, what she wanted was to be

alone. Dersaco felt blameworthy, though he had his reasons to justify his unkindness with her exfriend.

'Where's Jakso?'

'He went away.'

'I hope he doesn't come back.'

'He won't.'

Yeran left them and returned to the same place to check the wolf had gone. A group of five sakles

riding on golden pegasi had just arrived. The pegasi from Suprasepia were bigger than unicorns and had

an excellent nocturnal vision. The five riders had been visiting different places, seeking survivors and

exterminating the invaders they found. They were wearing black overcoats, besides gloves and boots,

which covered most of their bodies. All of them carried bows and quivers with arrows. Each one of

them had a spear and a sword to defend in case of a surprising ambush.

'Are you villagers from the south?' the leader of the group asked.

'We're warriors from Arkadia,' Yeran answered.

'Where are you going?'

'To Aosositrenia. We want to notify chameleons of commander Yarmoc's request to meet up in

Miadicia. He wants to lay on an attack plan among all his allies.'

'An attack plan? What for?'

'They're planning to go to Korozina and attack the invaders before Daikron sends his bakuras to

destroy our continent.'

'Why would he do that?'

'He sent a letter stating he wanted us on his kingdom in ten months' time or he would destroy all

our villages.'

'That scoundrel makes me sick.'

'We need to tell the chameleons about this.'

'My subordinates will go to their village to give notice,' he asked the two riders who were on his left

to do so. They departed on their pegasi immediately. 'They'll be there in a few days.'

'Since you're here, could you do us a favour?

'Certainly.'

'Can you take us to Femerty?'

'We can take you to Mieresia, and from there you can take an underground shortcut to Ankoleria.

Once you arrive in the yetis' village, you'll see mountain Femerty yonder. As you know, extreme low

temperature is deadly for our pegasi.'

'Is it too cold over there?' she remembered her homeland was cold, but the north-western region

was much colder.

'It's terrifically cold.'

'I'll bring my companion.'

She was glad to know it was possible to shorten the long journey by air. She asked Dersaco to

accompany her inasmuch as both had promised the yolumpas to recover their precious jewel. Lizaru

was too poignant to go so she preferred to stay there. The coyote knew she needed time to recompose

herself. He followed the wolfess and, together with the sakles, rode the pegasi. They all left in a matter

of seconds.

After several days in the air, the pegasi landed on an area thick with grey earth and dead trees.

Dersaco and Yeran got off and explored the surroundings in search of peril. The sakles told them

which road they should take and where they should go. If they followed the correct pathway, they

would soon be in Mieresia. The riders left in a flash as they had many important things to do.

'Do you think it was correct to have left Lizaru alone?' Yeran asked him with concern on her visage.

'No, but nothing could we do to make her change her mind,' he said truthfully. 'It's not the first

time she gets mad at me. It's just a passing infatuation.'

'I had never seen her so gloomy.'

'She loved Grud more than you think.'

'Poor vixen! She condemned herself.'

'She thinks it was my entire fault,' he felt miserable.

'What you did was wrong. I fully understand her.'

'Let's forget the incident in the desert and look for the underground entrance,' he walked forwards,

setting aside his deep sorrowfulness.