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Concept of Rym and certian characters copyrighted to Ollie Canal.

The Lutrai never visibly stopped smiling as he put a hand/paw up to his mouth and let out a short, shrill birdcall into the forest. Robinson looked to his sides as noticeable rustling came from the bushes and trees behind the two of them. Like ghosts in the night, several Lutrai slowly and cautiously appeared from the surrounding brush and Robinson could feel his anxiety noticeably kick up a few more notches. In his mind, things were just steadily going downhill, no matter what Kij had said about them being friendly…

Robinson tried to quickly scan the faces of every new Lutrai that came out into the open, just to get any sort of feel for his current situation. Out of the ten or so that had suddenly emerged, he noticed a few of the otter-like creatures had somewhat of a neutral, emotionless look upon them, but the majority were almost smiling just as widely as the original Lutrai before him. While the smiling one worried Robinson, the ones that weren't were really beginning to scare him, even more so with the fact that they were all hanging back in a rough box formation about him, spears in hands/paws. "What I wouldn't give for an M-16 right about now…." Robinson said to himself as he noticed in his peripheral vision that a couple of spears were now pointed right at him.

The group that wasn't aiming nasty pointed things at him quickly gathered together into a tight huddle while chattering away in some rapidly spoken language that seemed to be more clicks and animal-like noises than words. None of the languages that Robinson though of in his head could have matched the speed and fluidity that the Lutrai were speaking with between one and another. He could only half-watched out of curiosity, though, as his attention was mostly kept on the spear wielding guards to his sides. "Just keep the fear in check…" he kept thinking to himself as he nervously fidgeted on the ground, every Basic Training instinct telling him to expect the worse at any possible second.

Every now and again, a random head would pop up out of the huddle and look towards him for a second or two, only to quickly disappear again back into the giant ring of brown fur. Head after head bobbed up and down for what seemed like an eternity to Robinson, but in reality it was only a matter of minutes as the huddle suddenly broke up and every muzzle-tipped face turned towards him.

"This is it… I'm toast…" was all he could think in his mind as a larger, slightly heavyset Lutrai with a light brown fur coloration began to approach him.

As the Lutrai stopped only a few feet away from Robinson, the panicked pilot tensed every muscle in his body into a tightly wound coil of fear… ready to pounce should the need even slightly presented itself to him.

The Lutrai slowly raised his arms outwards from his body, each individual digit on his paws splayed widely apart to show that he carried no weapons. And then with the energy of a schoolyard boy first meeting old friends after summer break, the Lutrai smiled widely and simply said, "If Kij has welcomed you, then we welcome you…"

"~" was Robinson initial reaction as he absently blinked a few times, his coiled muscles suddenly becoming desprung out of half-relief and half-disbelief at the Lutrai's statement. A few incoherent thoughts traveled through his mind, but for the most part, Robinson just plopped onto the ground and stared blankly up at the furry face before him…

"Are you all right?" the heavyset Lutrai asked with a puzzled look on his face after a few moments of dead silence from Robinson. The fact that someone was talking to him somewhat jolted Robinson back to reality, as his thoughts began to reconnect themselves back into something resembling a coherent pattern. It took him a few seconds longer to finally consciously register the question, but eventually Robinson slightly nodded his head 'yes.' The Lutrai smiled again as he leaned forward and offered Robinson a hand/paw. Robinson really didn't know what else to but take the offer and reached up to take the hand/paw with his own hand.

The moment their hands locked, otter-like creature had little problem helping Robinson to his feet with just one strong tug to the arm, catching him off-guard with just enough force to make Robinson loose his balance at a forward angle. With the grace of a drunken yak, Robinson stumbled several steps forward and would have probably fallen flat on his face if the Lutrai hadn't put a paw on his chest to stop his momentum.

"Thanks…" Robinson quietly said as he started to straighten up and felt thoroughly embarrassed. "I'm supposed to help these people win a fight when I can't even stand on my own two damn feet…?" he thought to himself as he felt his face starting to burn slightly.

The Lutrai gave him a couple of pats to the chest as he let go of Robinson's hand, "You remind me of one of our greatest fighters, Lairu… As strong and brave as an ox… but, just as graceful as one, too…" The Lutrai let out a short laugh as he patted Robinson's chest one last time and then gestured towards a small group of Lutrai with a paw, "Please, we have much to talk about and not much time to do it in as the caravan will be here soon…"

As the two men approached the group, the entire clearing's mood noticeably changed from a lighthearted atmosphere to one that was extremely somber and quiet. The sound of metal scraping caught Robinson's attention and he looked to his sides just in time to see several Lutrai pulling short swords from sheaths as others also prepared their own various weapons or kept a weary eye on the approaching slave train on the road below. It was kind of a disturbing scene to Robinson, as the general sense of "cuteness" that the Lutrai body form suggested became completely shattered by the brute ugliness of weapons they now brandished.

"God… what have I gotten myself into…?" he said to himself as he took his final steps towards the group of Lutrai that now stared at him with looks of grim determination instead of the smiles many of them wore only a few scant seconds ago.

Robinson just couldn't shake the feelings of awkwardness and lingering fears that he felt as the Lutrai group gathered about him into a lopsided semi-circle. Those feelings really weren't helped out by the fact that he was clearly taller than every Lutrai around him by a good foot to a foot and a half.

It was just an uncomfortable situation to Robinson, having to look down at almost a 90° just to make basic eye contact with the group of 5 furry non-humans. A couple of Lutrai close to him briefly exchanged a few "words" in their strange language before apparently asking what seemed to be a question to the heavyset Lutrai in the same language. Robinson watched out of the corner of his eye with curiosity as the Lutrai just held up a paw and with a bit of a smile on his muzzle, simply shook his head "no." Just as Robinson was about to ask what that was all about, a different Lutrai at the far end of the group spoke up.

The Lutrai seemed somehow very different from the rest of the group to Robinson. He though it might have been the patterns of white paint on the Lutrai's fur or the oddly shaped wooden staff he carried, but something was nagging in the back of Robinson's mind that those few things were only part of the whole picture.

"As Kij welcomes you, so do we, stranger…" the Lutrai said as he then motioned towards the sky with his stall, "She also says that you are here to help us free our brothers and sisters from their chains, is that true?"

Robinson made a motion with his hands that was something between an 'I don't know' and a shoulder shrug. "I guess so… Normally, I don't listen to voices in my head, but this one was a bit persistent…"

That statement got a rise out of the Lutrai's furry eyebrow. "You have heard the words of Kij?! Are you a Solinar?!"

"Considering I don't have any clue as to what that last words means, probably not…"

Robinson's answer made the Lutrai's face droop for a moment in a frown as he let out a short sigh, but it was almost immediately replaced by a smile, "For a moment, I had thought… But, it doesn't matter, as we are all grateful for you willingness to help none the less. I am called Janess, the one to your right is Sky."

Robinson looked over to his right at the heavyset Lutrai, "Sky?"

"As in 'big as the," the Lutrai said with a laugh as he patted his rounded belly.

"Sorry I asked…" Robinson said to himself.

Janess quickly rattled off the names of the other Lutrai in the group and about the clearing in a rapid fire pace that Robinson couldn't register in his mind quite fast enough. He just quickly looked at the various faces as Janess pointed them out, but all the while, noticing little differences between each Lutrai. Some were a dark brown, others light or even tan, while eyes were just about every color under the rainbow: Blues, violet, greens… Robinson even quickly noted with interest a particular Lutrai on his left side that had a steel gray color for his eyes.

The group's little meeting was soon interrupted, though, by a shrill birdcall from a different part of the woods.

Janess quickly answered back with a birdcall of his own before saying to the group, "The caravan's here… everyone into position."

Even over Janess, Robinson could make out several other calls from all around answering the original in almost perfect unison. "Damn, how many guys you got out there?"

"Lots," was the answer given by Sky as the group quickly broke up and began to rush towards the front cover line of scrub. "Stick near me and I know you'll do good," he then said as he smiled widely.

"Yea…" replied Robinson in a not so confident tone of voice, "Let me at least get my stuff really quick so I can at least have half a fighting chance."

Robinson quickly ran back to where he had dumped his pack and immediately pulled out the flair gun. He stared at the object in his hand for a few moments before letting out a long sigh. One shot was all he'd get from the thing and if those caravan guards were wearing armor, there was no telling just how effective or ineffective the thing would be against them. "Magic fire…" he jokingly said to himself before adding on, "God… I am _so_ dead…," a second later.

Robinson slowly pulled on the backpack and then loaded a shell into the gun. As he slipped the gun into a side pocket in his flight suit, he couldn't help feeling a tide of dread washing over him. The very idea of him going into a battle without anything he considered to be "real" weapons wasn't a comforting one at all. Yes, he was trained to be a soldier… trained to kill… but that was with _guns_ and _missiles_ and _technology_, all at a distance. Not the face to face slaughter like the battle now before him was going to be with weapons that hadn't been used by modern armies for centuries.

Those thoughts only served to start a flood of second doubts and 'what ifs' in Robinson's mind and it was all he could do to push them aside to let him focus on the task at hand… He had committed himself to helping these otter-people and now it was too late to just turn back like nothing had happened.

The question "Are you ready?" snapped Robinson out of his thoughts just in time to see Sky approaching him. The Lutrai now carried a long spear in his paws and had a sheathed sword strapped to his back, clearly telling Robinson just _how_ serious things were about to get. "Don't you have anything to protect yourself with?" Sky asked as he stopped a few feet away and saw that Robinson carried nothing in his hands.

"Not really…" Robinson replied sheepishly, "Unless you enjoy watching forests burn down by accident… or something like that…"

Sky had an odd expression on his face in response to Robinson's last sentence and looked as if he wanted to ask a question by just didn't know how to say it just right.

"You'd probably be better off just not asking…" Robinson said with a little bit of a frown to his face when he noticed the Lutrai's confusion.

Sky continued to look at Robinson with a slightly confused expression before he quickly shrugged his shoulders, "If you say so…"

Sky and Robinson continued to look at each other in an uncomfortable silence for a few moments, neither really knowing quite what to say.

It was Sky that finally took the initiative as he handed his spear to Robinson. "Here, take this… I can't send another person, Lutrai or human, to face what's awaiting without something to defend himself with…"

Robinson was somewhat taken aback by the sudden offering. "I..I can't take that… Besides, I have absolutely no idea of to even use that thing…," he said as he raised his hands in a gesture of polite refusal and tried to take a step back from the Lutrai.

Sky let out a short barking laugh before he just suddenly tossed the spear at Robinson. Out of just basic reaction, Robinson caught the thing in his hands and looked at the spear with an expression that read "Ok… now what?"

"It's easy… Just point the sharp end at what you want to keep away and poke," Sky said with a laugh as he watched Robinson continue to look at the spear with a mixed look of disbelief and confusion.

"Funny… fine then, let me rephrase that. I have no idea of how to use this thing _effectively_," Robinson said with a bit of sarcasm in response to Sky's instructions.

"Oh… *oh*! Now I get what you're saying!" the Lutrai said as Robinson could almost see the light bulb coming on above the otter-creature's head… and then quickly going out as he then said, "I really don't know anything other than to point and poke, myself. I guess then, _I_ don't know either, then…" Sky said with a short barking laugh. "Oh, well… no time to learn. The others are already on the move and we'll have to hurry to catch up," Sky said as he pivoted about and in one fluid motion, broke into a sprinting run towards the downslope that lead to the road.

Robinson took one last look at the spear before looking upward and saying a little prayer to every saint and deity he could think, even to a few that didn't belong to his faith. Somehow he didn't think they'd mind as he felt he could use all of the blessings he could get before breaking into a run himself to catch up with the Lutrai.

Robinson had no problem catching up to Sky with a few bounding steps, just as they began to break through the scrub line just before the slope. Robinson could see that most of the other Lutrai were already well past three-quarters of the way down, which kind of impressed him with the apparent speed their kind seemed to be capable of moving at with such shorter legs.

The pilot's thoughts were suddenly shattered, though, a horrendous rumbling filled the air. Robinson looked over to his left just in time to see several huge tree trunks come crashing down, completely cutting off the road in front of the caravan. The falling trees were like stones hitting a hornet's nest to the wagon train as men clad in black armor came poring out of the covered wagons at the front and the drivers quickly tried to circle the train about 180°. Their efforts were for nothing, though, as several more trunks fell to the rear, destroying any hopes of a quick retreat that the men may have had, and more groups of Lutrai came streaming out of the woods from both sides of the road.

All throughout the noise, Sky turned his head towards Robinson and yelled above the commotion, "The fun's already begun without us! Say… you never told us your name, you know."

Robinson couldn't help but to thing it was kinda the wrong time to be doing first introductions, but just to humor the Lutrai he quickly yelled back just as they hit the road, "Lt. Frank Robinson!"

Sky let out a short laugh as he pulled his sword from the sheath on his back, "You humans…. Why is it that your kind has this unnatural need to give each other such long names?"

"Well, then, would just 'Frank' be more suited to you?" Robinson replied in a somewhat annoyed tone as he began to engage a mounted soldier that was trying to skewer a second Lutrai in the back with a huge sword. Coming up from the soldier's blindside, Robinson hauled back and swung the spear in a great baseball swing that connected squarely with the guy's chest. The sudden unexpected blow sent the soldier tumbling off of the back of the horse, but the hit also shattered the spear into two. Robinson looked at the remains of the spear in his hands with an "Oh *SHIT*" expression before also noticing the soldier looking right at him with a _very_ pissed off face.

"Well, then 'Frank,' you better take a step right this instant!" Sky answered back as he began to make short work of a second's soldier's shield with inhumanly quick sword slashes.

Robinson turned his head over his shoulder to see a third guard charging towards him with a large pike. His eyes quickly grew as big as dinner plates as he twisted his body about and narrowly dodged the point and then used a downward strike of his hand to try and drive the pike tip into the ground. Unfortunately for the first soldier, though, the angle that Robinson redirected the pike to was on a direct line to his throat. Before the soldier controlling the pike could stop his forward motion, the point slammed home, killing the other guard almost instantly.

The pike soldier knew he just made a serious mistake and hesitated a brief instant out of shock. By the time the thought that Robinson was still alive and still a threat ran through his head, it was already way too late to react to what was coming his direction. The guard looked up only just in time to see the fist that sent him to the blackness of unconsciousness.

As Robinson held his hand in pain from punching the guard's lights out, Sky sidestepped his way over towards the pilot as he still clashed swords with the soldier he had first engaged with during the beginning of the fight. Sky was showing definite signs of wearing down as each strike of the two swords began to drive the Lutrai back. Of course it probably didn't help the situation any that the soldier was a monster of a man, easily 4 times the size of the otter creature, that effortlessly parried every motion Sky made with his sword.

Robinson made a split second decision as he grabbed onto the pike handle and yanked with all his might. The point made a sick slurping noise as it ripped out of the dead soldier's throat and Robinson said a silent apology about it in the back of his mind to the man. Just as he pulled the pike clear, a loud metallic ring echoed from his side and Robinson turned his head to see Sky laid out on his back, sword nowhere to be seen. The soldier was looming over him with a wicked smile, slowly raising his sword for the final strike on the now defenseless Lutrai. Robinson didn't have a second to spare as he swung the pike around and caught the soldier squarely in the back, sending the sword flying out of the soldier's hands and burying itself into the ground about half a foot past the Lutrai's head.

Sky slowly looked upward towards the buried blade with a mixed emotion of fear and shock. Through a frown of gritted teeth and his eyes as wide as plates, the heavyset Lutrai let out a soft "eeeeeee…." as he tried to scoot himself downward away from the sword. That was proving harder than he thought it would be, though, as Robinson's blow had not only knocked out the sword from the soldier's hands, it had also sent him down onto one knee. And as fate would have it, that one knee was right smack in between Sky's lets and not letting him move a single inch.

Robinson softly let out a short "oops…" as took a step backwards to re-aim the pike at the huge man's chest for the next shot.

It only took a second or two for the soldier to recover from the blow Robinson had dealt him, but once he did, the almost inhuman growl that rumbled from the man's throat could have frozen jello. The soldier locked eyes with Robinson and the pilot could almost feel the daggers coming from the deep burning rage that had just awaken.

"POINT AND POKE!!! POINT AND POKE!!!" Robinson's instincts suddenly screamed in his mind as Sky's simple instructions about the spear suddenly flashed through his panicked thoughts. His brain didn't seem to even have time to send the correct electrical impulses to his arms and legs before they moved on their own and rammed the pike's point with all his might into the soldier's chest armor. The metallic clang of metal striking metal could be clearly heard above the roar of the fighting as the impact sent the soldier reeling backwards onto one arm for support, but appeared to do little damage to the armor or the soft flesh beneath that it protected. In fact, it only served to anger the soldier even more as he tried to rise upward from his kneeling position a second time.

Robinson wasted no time between strikes as he linearly swung his arms back and then forward for the second hit. Again came the clang of metal on metal, only this time it was followed by the sound of metal snapping and shearing. The pike's point had partially penetrated the armor, but because of its thinness and the force of the blow, the entire section buckled into a slight wave before shearing off just above the ax-like blade portion of the pike. The pilot took a step backwards out of shock and complete confusion of just what he was going to do next.

Apparently, though, he wasn't going to have to worry about a next move as an oversized blade suddenly appeared in the soldier's skull, cleanly parting it into halves about a third of the way down the face. Robinson jumped back a step out of surprise as the soldier slowly slumped over to the side and died. On the tip of the blade was a chunk of dirt that appeared to have been freshly ripped from the earth and Robinson followed the edge of the sword down to two brown furred hands tightly gripping the handle.

"No bloody way…" ran through the pilot's mind as he dropped the damaged pike and stared at Sky breathing slight heavy, as if the Lutrai had just tried to move the world. Sure enough, right above Sky's head was a ragged plod of missing ground with a slightly clean slice that traveled a few more inches up from it before disappearing.

"Remind me not to get on you bad side," Robinson said as he helped to pull the heavyset Lutrai out from underneath the dead soldier.

"I wouldn't recommend it…" Sky laughed out between huffs of air. "You did well… if you hadn't distracted him for that one instant I would have probably been on my way to meet Kij," the Lutrai said as he pulled the heavy blade back out from the soldier's skull and handed it to Robinson. "Take this. It will probably last you a bit longer than that poor thing," Sky said as he motioned down towards the damaged pike.

Robinson couldn't help the queasy feeling that came over him from looking at the red and gray stains on the blade's edge.

"He had to have been one of the high guards from Zeskoi, that style of blade and armor are too high of a quality for normal caravan troops…" Sky said to everyone and no one in particular as he quickly picked up his own blade from the road.

"Funny you would mention that…" Robinson said under his breath as he remembered Kij's warning about the men guarding this particular caravan.

An ear-piercing screech caused Sky and Robinson's head to snap to their left just in time to see a slight that Robinson wished that he had never seen in his life.

Right before their eyes, a young Lutrai sliced in half gave out his final death scream as his body shriveled and grayed like a piece of rotting fruit. Standing over him was a fully armored soldier that weiled a huge black sword that seemed to glow a dark and cold light about the blade. The soldier looked upward towards Sky and Robinson and even though there was a face behind the facepiece, it was like staring into nothingness itself. A gray fog slowly began to emanate from the sickly remains of the poor Lutrai's body and enveloped his killer's sword before actually becoming absorbed into it.

"Wastrel…." Sky hissed out with a very obvious tone of fear to his voice.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!?" Robinson screamed with and expression of shock and disgust at Sky after seeing something that just completely defied known logic.

"It's a wastrel knight! Don't get anywhere near it and for Kij's sake don't let that sword so as much touch you!!!!" Sky screamed back as ran around to the far side of the knight in a circular path.

The knight seemed to pay no attention to Sky as it stared at Robinson with eyes that just emanated the pure evil within the sickly pail body.

"Oh man… why is it staring at me…????" Robinson said to himself as he began to slowly backpedal.

With the same ear-piercing scream Robinson had heard only moments before, the knight began to charge right at him with the giant two-handed sword it held poised for an instant deathblow. The pilot reached over with his free hand and instantly undid a shoulder strap to his pack and used the twisting momentum of his body to swing the pack around like and oversized cloth shield. Holding onto one of the straps, Robinson swung the pack away from his body as he dove to the side just as the knight began its own swing of its sword. The sword instantly bit right through the cloth exterior and into the packs of rations and first aid supplies within, sending a shower of canned water in every direction. The sudden explosion of clear liquid surprised the knight and sent it stumbling backwards several step, killing the blade's momentum just enough that it hit the inner metal framework and became lodged in it.

The knight let out a scream of rage and defiance as it ripped the sword upward, pulling the pack right out from Robinson's grip and sending it flying across the road. It took every bit of agility in the pilot's body to climb to his feet and dodge the next swing of the blade meant for him and swung his own sword to try and block it. The knight's blade cleanly sliced Robinson's blade right in two and the vibrations from the impact caused the pilot to hesitate a brief moment as every pain receptor in his arm fired at exactly the same millisecond.

The knight sensed the opportunity to strike and tried to turn the blade's momentum about for the killing blow, only to be interrupted by a brown and tan blur that wrapped around its head. The knight scream as it almost effortlessly reached up with one hand and manhandled the Lutrai that was trying to remove its helmet and threw him right into Robinson. Both man and Lutrai let out a loud "oof" as the two of them rolled backwards on the ground in one big ball of legs, arms, and a tail. Sky and a second Lutrai were instantly on top of the situation as they leaped onto the knight's arms and tried to restrain it. The knight wasn't going to have any part of that as it easily threw the heavyset Lutrai a good ten feet down the road and grabbed the second Lutrai by the throat and crushed it with one motion of it's gloved hand. The knight dropped the Lutrai to the ground, which then began gasping for air through his destroyed windpipe and convulsing from the intense pain.

Robinson was still trying to get his wits back together when a familiar female voice called out in the back of his mind. "Only light can destroy dark… The light is within, I can help you find it…"

Even though his vision was still blurred, the pilot reached for the flair gun in his pocket and quickly drew the weapon out. In one fluid motion, the gun was drawn, cocked and aimed at the blurred mass that was quickly growing larger in Robinson' field of vision.

Sky looked over at Robinson and tried to scream a warning at the human, only to watch in vain as the knight began its charged at the living knot of man and Lutrai. Suddenly, though, Robinson's body began to take on a slight glow and Sky blinked several time to make sure he was seeing things correctly. To the Lutrai, it almost looked like a faint out line of a human female's head was whispering into the human's ear as a faint hand and arm guided Robinson's own hand from a pocket on his clothes to pointing towards the knight. In the human's hand was a strange roundish object that the glow from his body suddenly seemed to gather about as a boom louder than the loudest clap of thunder the Lutrai ever heard in his life filled the forest.

"Kij…" was all Sky wispered in shock and surprise as he was suddenly blinded by a light brighter than lots of Rym suns.

Robinson's vision had just cleared up enough to see a sudden golden glow surround the flair gun for a split second before firing. The flash from the flair was like the light flash from a exploding hydrogen bomb and the recoil sent his arms flying upward like he had just fired a M203 grenade tube with bracing it first. A scream of pure terror brought Robinson's attention back to the world about him as he watched in awe as the knight was surrounded by a sphere of light that was the purest white he has every seen in his life. The knight continued to scream as it seemed to crack and spiderweb like a pane of glass breaking in slow-motion from a baseball hitting it, rays of the white light beaming outward from each and every one of the cracks. And just as suddenly as it began, the knight just exploded into oblivion as ring of light similar to a shock wave expanded outward across the road.

Robinson didn't have the time to get out of the way of the ring as it washed over him, but instead of pain, a feeling of pure warmth and happiness spread through out him. The pilot still watched in awe as the ring continued to spread out over Lutrai and guard alike. Every Lutrai the ring touched brought about a smile of pure joy, but to every guard it hit, the ring was pure pain as the men dropped to the ground in cries of agony. Somehow Robinson just _knew_ they had just won the fight as the remaining guards fled in terror from the light ring.

Even though he felt on top of the world, a sudden feeling of exhaustion overcame his body that was too strong to resist. "I feel like a na~…." was all that came out of the pilot's mouth as he slowly sank down and rested his head on top of the dazed Lutrai's shoulder and enter the world of unconsciousness.