[b][center]Meanwhile, occurring elsewhere to the above happenings (Although perhaps it really wasn't that far away after all)[/center][/b]
[hr]

To his irritation, Zack was started awake from his slumber by a sudden screaming. He jolted to his feet and glanced around. When he heard the shriek again, he was able to pinpoint the direction and distance it was coming from. He scrambled off to investigate, leaving behind his small campsite, which consisted of only a bedroll and fire.

As he brushed through the hedgerow, the source of the disturbance came into view.  Upon the dirt path ahead a small neth female was surrounded by a five-strong group of bandits, who were shouting threats and slurs at her. A horse that presumably belonged to her lay on the roadside, blood seeping profusely from an arrow wound in its neck.

"Well, what'll it be? Yer money or your life?!" Demanded the booming voice of an orius.
"I'm just as poor as you! Can't you leave me alone?!" The neth cried.

Zack drew in a sharp breath, exhaled, then stepped through the bushes onto the road. As a branch caught onto his ankle and he nearly stumbled over, this almost undid the dramatic entry he was hoping for. As the thugs turned to him, their attention drawn by the racket he had made through his tumbling, he managed to salvage his balance. To silence their snickering he bashed the rear of his staff against the ground, which ushered forth the crackling of unreality.

"Gentlemen," he said, then turned to the neth, "Madam."

As four of the bandits started backing off cautiously, the orius relented, then charged forward, with sword out before him, aiming for Zack's flank.

Zack shot him a sidelong glance, grinned toothily and outstretched his gloved hand towards his would-be assailant.

"Stamp a merry dance to a drum's dumb beat, you've now got slippery feet." said Zack in a sing-song voice.

The orius, with his eyes wide, found himself tumbling over. As he tried to pick himself back up, his feet would just as quickly slip out from under him again and again.

"W-what?!" cried the orius, "Don't just stand there! Help me, you jerks!!"

Zack disregarded him and stepped over to the rest of the bandits, who were still in the process of distancing themselves from the warlock.
Zack scrubbed his chin in thought, and then gesticulated to them one by one,

"Well how about that, you've got legs of a cat." The first bandit fell over, his legs transformed into the tiny legs of a housecat, quite ungainly in proportion to the rest of his body.

 "Luck of the dog, you're trapped in a fog. " The second, a nin'tah highwayman, sure enough found himself shrouded in impenetrable, thick fog. He swept his arms to try and dissipate it, but it was futile.

"Awww, dang and shoot! You're now a newt!" The third desperately tried to scramble away, but it was too late. In a poof, he disappeared, his clothes and equipment falling into a pile on the ground. A moment later, a small newt emerged from this bundle, its head wiggling about with thorough confusion.

Zack paused on the fourth and final one, who was by now on his knees, his head low, his hands clasped together pleadingly. Zack wandered up to him, his grin broad. Zack gently gripped the lah'na's chin, forcing him to meet his gaze. 

"Now, promise me you will leave this girl be, and I shall free your friends of all my curses."  Zack said to him pleasantly.

The bandit tried to utter a response, but it came out as incomprehensible mewling. He instead opted to nod his head briskly. Zack spun away from him, and in a snap of his fingers, the hexes were undone. The bandits looked to each other, exchanged horrified and then relieved expressions, then bolted off. The one who had been a newt made his retreat holding his bundle of clothing in front of his now naked body.

Zack turned to the bandit he had negotiated with, who was still low to the ground.

"Go on, then. Run along. Your friends will be wondering where you've gone off to." Zack said.

Once Zack had shooed them all away, he approached the neth girl, who was curled up by her slain steed, weeping. Zack pouted for a moment, then knelt by her side, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"They shan't be bothering you now." He said.

As she turned to him, he rummaged through a satchel and produced a small orb. He gave it a small playful toss into the air, caught it, then handed it to her.

"T-thank you, sir... but... w-what is this?" She questioned.

"In a single word? Expensive. You should be able to sell it for fair amount once you get back to the city. It is yours now." said Zack, with a smile and a nod.

The neth gently rolled the orb between her palms, her eyes enthralled by its dazzling, shimmering surface. As she went to give it a curious a rap with an outstretched finger, Zack hastily reached for her wrist and held it in place.

"I would not recommend hitting it," said Zack as he gently let go of her, "It is sensitive."

Zack rose to his feet and began to wander back in the direction he came from.

"But wait! I must know your name!" The neth girl called out after him.

With a rustle of leaves, Zack's head emerged from behind the hedgerow and gazed at her, "I am Zack. Cackling Zack." He grinned and gave a small wave. "Good day to you."

As Zack disappeared from sight, the neth girl slumped, suddenly shocked and winded. [i]"-The- Cackling Zack?"[/i] she thought to herself. She had heard many tales of Zack. He was spoken of as a trickster, a menace, a loner, a wandering eccentric, but she had never heard of him in the light of being a hero. In fact, she had recalled that Cackling Zack was often incorporated into the cautionary tales, used to scare children, that were spread among the cluster of villages she lived in. And yet here she was, owing her life to him.