Mike replied, "Her name is Shira, she was sent by they guys in the Paladin's guild to help us." Brian looked at her and said, "What can she do that's so special?" Shira(Dustin) replied, "For starters, I can show you how to get there... And second..." In a flash, she was out of Brian's vision, suddenly he felt a elbow in his back and a blade resting gently against his neck. He gave a muffled laugh and said, "Okay, I was just kidding." Shira released Brian and quickly appeared where she was before. Christine crossed her arms and said, "You sexist men, always underestimate the abilities of a talented woman." Shira nodded to her and said, "Well then, if we are done wasting daylight, we best get started." Joe leaned his huge dragon body next to the ground and said, "Christine and Shira, if you ladies would prefer not to walk, I could give you a ride." Christine climbed up and said, "Thank's Joe." Shira however shook her head and said, "I'm better on my own feet." Brian said, "Hey, what about me?" Joe shook his head and said, "You should have been nicer." Brian eyed Mike's horse back and Mike quickly said, "No fuckin way!" He looked a little crestfallen but shrugged and said, "Let's go then." The adventurers made their trek out of town on a road to the north. Mike saw the sun going down and said, "Why dont we wait till tomorrow, there isnt much light left." Shira said, "Why waste time? The longer we wait the more farmers die. Besides, the elves and the dragon can see in the dark, and I know this path so well I dont need to see. Mike whined, "But what about me? I wont be able to see shit!" Christine said, "Shutup." She cast an infravision spell on him. He noticed his vision shift and his friends changed from dimly lit people into brightly glowing red outlines. "Thanks alot," he said sarcastically. They continued on down the road, arguing alot, for hours on end. Finally, Brian said, "My legs are done, it's time to sack out." Mike nodded and said, "I agree." Christine, Joe, and Shira glared at them, but Joe said, "My back is starting to hurt a little, I could probably use a couple hours rest." Shira nodded and said, "Alright, I'll keep watch guys." They quickly made camp off the side of the road and after a quick snack most of them made their way to their sleeping bags, except Joe, who just curled up on the ground. Brian whispered to Christine, "Is it wierd to let an assassin that we dont know guard us while we sleep?" She nodded and said, "Maybe, dont worry though, I dont think Joe really sleeps, he will watch her." Brian nodded and quickly fell off to sleep. Along with everyone else in his party except the assassin played by dustin. She sat watch over the small camp, the moonlight more than enough for her to see hundreds of yards in all directions... Several hours later, Brian woke up with a shriek, the first thing he saw as he opened his eyes was the assassin leaping at him daggers in hand. From his point of view, she barely missed his head with a downward stab of the blades, which struck the ground where he couldn't see. The next thing he saw was the huge form of Joe leaping over him tackling the assassin off him with a bone-snapping crunch. He stood up and felt his head, making sure he was alright. The crumpled form of the assassin groaned a little as Joe dusted himself off. Christine and Mike got up a few seconds later, and came over to investigate the ruckus. "What happened?" Christine asked. Brian said, "I dont know, she just leaped at me and attacked me, Joe stopped her." Mike shook his head in awe as a muffled voice came from the crumpled assassin through obvious effort, "If... I(groan) had attacked you(sharp breath). You would be (groan) dead." Brian said, "Then what did you attack...." His voice trailed off as he looked to the daggers which were pierced through a very large scorpion, it's tail raised in striking position. He looked back at the crumpled form of the woman who saved him as she released a sharp breath and collapsed, unmoving. Joe said, "Oh dammit, she saved you and I frickin killed her for it!" Brian started crying and Mike went to examine the body, she spoke up, "She's not dead guys, but she will be soon if we dont do something." Christine quickly recited her Mend-Bones spell, the crumpled figure seemed to straighten out, but was still greatly bruised and bleeding. A quick mend-wounds spell cleared it all up except for the pool of blood on the ground she had already lost. Brian asked, "Will she be alright?" Christine nodded and said, "She will live, but she might not be concious for awhile." Mike said, "But she's the only one who knows where we are going, or for that matter, where we are." Joe was still several hundred feet away, facing away from his friend and shaking his head in shame. Brian turned once more to look at the injured woman and saw that she was no longer there. Joe was still really mad at himself, he had acted on instinct without assessing the situation, and it had nearly cost the life of their new friend. Suddenly, he sensed someone next to him and was about to yell, "Go Away!" when he opened his eyes and saw Shira(Dustin) standing there, she said, "Dont worry buddy, your friends fixed me up, just try not to jump to conclusions so fast next time, and for that matter, (sarcastically)dont jump on me so fast either." Her good spirits were contagious and Joe was already feeling better, he said, "I'm.." But she cut him off and said, "No apologies, just dont do it again." She slowly walked back to the others, followed in turn by the dragon Joe. He noticed from the way she walked that she was obviously still in pain and he still felt bad about it. Brian said, "I, uh, uhm.... Thanks." She shrugged and picked up her daggers, pocketing them in whatever secret orafice of her armor they went in, the others were not sure because she handled the knives so fast. She smiled to the group and said, "Lets go, we've got a couple days trek ahead of us still." The others nodded and began to follow her down the path in the dim light of early sunrise.