Laine laid in a tent, lost in his own thoughts. Being a blacksmith, Laine was never short of work so being left alone with his mind was something he had come to cherish, yet hate. For whilst it gave him some comfort, the memories of his darkest times always kept creeping back to haunt his mind time and time again.

Tonight was no different. Thoughts of all the carnage and death he had witnessed slowly started flooding his thoughts as he tried to sleep. Unfortunately, sleep did not come. With a muttered curse Laine slowly got up and walked out of the tent. As he did he was met with the warmth of a fire, and a chorus of hearty laughs.

“O great one, how you humble us with your presence. Why have you awoken from your slumber? We did not awaken thee from thy ever so needed beauty sleep did we?” one of the men chuckled. [color=#ED8702]“No my oh so incompetent subject, I have awoken to bestow a gift upon thee, cherish it for only you shall receive it for you are indeed, very special. Now excuse me for I require a walk among the greenery.”[/color] Laine grinned slyly as he slowly stuck his middle finger up at the man, which then prompted yet another chorus of laughter.

As Laine walked he forced his mind to reflect on the past few days, which were the busiest. Laine personally had not seen as much battle as the others did, but most of his day was spent tempering blades, maintaining weapons and armor and making a steady supply of arrowheads. By the time nightfall arrived, Laine practically fell unconscious, accepting the sweet embrace of sleep and rest until the morning dawned yet again and his duty to the order beckoned once more. If he was being honest with himself, this expedition was one of the more tougher ones for him. 

However he refused to show any form of weakness or tiredness, especially during an expedition as huge as this one. [i][color=#ED8702]"You got this Eldor, Just a few more days then we would have taken that blasted fortress from them. And besides, you probably wont see much battle until the final showdown at least seeing as though you'll be helping around the forge and all that. Its practically smooth sailing from here on."[/color][/i]  Laine thought as he gave a slight smile at the night sky before walking back towards the camp.  



A few hours had passed and now Laine sat at the campfire, as most of the others talked amongst themselves. The man that had teased him earlier took a seat next to him as he stared into the flames. “So got any stories worth mentioning yer highness?” The man snorted as he Laine a hard smack on the back. [color=#ED8702]“Well there are a few, there was this one time wher…”[/color] Laine replied before being cut off by the messenger informing him that General Kaldor wishes for him to go to the command tent.

“Ah, stories for another time then friend?” The man said as Laine gave a quick smile and nod before walking off towards the command tent…

After the briefing , Laine stood in silence. Having rarely taken any delight in the act of killing, Laine was shocked and perplexed at the way he was feeling. He felt...excited. His body started pulsing with adrenaline as though his body was telling him this was what it wanted to do ever since they started off on their journey.  [color=#ED8702]“So much for smooth bloody sailing eh Eldor?.”[/color] Laine murmured with a smile before realizing he did so abit too loudly. 

[color=#ED8702]“U-uh I- mean if what they say is correct, the archers should be nothing more than a small nuisance at best, what worries me is the shaman. I really doubt he will be up there alone with a bunch of measly archers. Assassinating the bloody sod might prove difficult. Do we have any info on the Shaman himself? Do we know of any guard detail he might have with him? if so how many of them are there and so on and so forth anything that might give us an edge on the bastard?”[/color] Laine said with a weird cough as he awaited an answer.