1- The City of Karia


     Crimson  raised himself alone in the forest around Karia. Sometimes he met
nice  humans  so  he  could learn how to speak their language. He liked to be a
red wolf, and did not use his half-human shape often. 
     But  something was happening within that great city called KAria. Some new
movement  going  on  inside  it.  Travelers  from  all lands and mountains kept
coming  and  going.  Crimson did not care much...until one of his human friends
came  to  visit  him.  That  was rather common. They liked to feed him and play
with  him as a pet. Sometimes he would take human form to speak and learn human
manners,  and  he  decided  to  do  that this time. The friend had brought some
clothes  along.  Crimson's  friend  was a teenage trader...brown eyes and hair,
wearing trader clothes.
     "Red one, it's me...Icarius!"
     The  wolf had noticed his friend coming minutes ago and was expecting that
call, so he waited behind a tree and then padded out.
     Icarius  held  out  the  clothes. "Here...I have some clothes for you, and
alot of news from Karia."
     Icarius  turned  around  and  waited  for  Crimson  to  shift  and  clothe
himself.
      Crimson  dressed,  and  then  poke  Icarious  in  the ribs. "I'm
done...What is new in Karia?"
     Icarius  turned to face Crimson. "The archmages are calling adventurers to
extinguish  some  evil  thing  they feel coming over the city. Something wierd.
I've  never  heard  of anything like it before. Maybe you would like to come to
Karia and try your hand at the job?"
     Crimson  answered,  "Perhaps...but doing it alone would be useless for me.
I want to have experiences with humans."
     Icarius  smiled.  "Well, you can group with some humans and take a look at
the job."
     Crimson nodded. "What else? How is the business for your family?"
     "Oh,  well  with all this movement of people going on, we're doing great!"
Icarius answered, opening up his satchel, "I've also brought you some food."
     Crimson sniffed, and smiled, "Smells good!"
     "Well,  I asked Mom to make something up for a friend of mine, and she got
kinda curious, but not too much."
     Icarius  closed  up  his  stachel and threw it back over his shoulder. "If
you come to the city, find me. I'll take you to the archmages."
     Crimson nodded. "Fine."
     Icarius  waved  and  headed  back  towards  the city. Crimson sat down and
enjoyed  some  of the food Icarius had brought along, and then took the rest to
a tree and stored it safely in a large hole.
     Crimson  shifted  back  to his wolf shape, and observed the movement along
the  road  to  Karia.  Smells and images filled his mind, and he began deciding
which humans he would join on the way into the city.
     Then he saw his candidate.
     She  was  female,  he  could  tell,  and  smelled  of  roses. She wore the
equipment  of a well-trained warrior, and walked with confidence. Her blue eyes
seemed  to move towards the woods, as if she could feel his observation of her.
But she did not stop, and continued towards the city.
     Crimson  decided  to  watch  the  woman  more closely, so he followed her,
always staying just within the shade and safety of the trees and bushes.
     They  walked  a  fair  distance,  and  Crimson was startled when the woman
suddenly stopped and spun around, her sword aimed at the trees.
     "Whoever   you  are,  you  had  better  quit  following  me  or  face  the
consequences."
     Crimson  was  surprised  to  the  utmost, and stood stark still. The woman
stood  a  moment  longer,  and then continued on her way, glancing periodically
back  over her shoulder. Crimson did not move for awhile, wanting to be certain
the  woman  was further away from him. But he was puzzled by what had happened.
How  did  she  know he was there? No other person along the road seemed to have
noticed his presence. Crimson thought about the woman all night long.
     
     The  next  morning, Crimson shifted into back into human form and wore the
clothes  Icarius  had brought him. He wandered back to the road and headed down
it  into the city of Karia. He reached the gates in a short period of time, but
when  he tried to pass through, the guards blocked his way. "Halt! Who requires
entrance to the great city of Karia?"
     Crimson  blinked,  and  replied calmly, "I am Crimson Wolf. I come to seek
the position said by the archmages."
     "Outlander?"
     "Well, yes."
     "Stay out of trouble. The tavern is far north of here. The Blue Horse."
     Crimson nodded. "And where is the market square?"
     The  guard  pointed  over  his shoulder down a winding street. "Two blocks
that a way, then make a left at the Apothecary."
     Crimson  thanked  the  guards  and  headed  in the direction the guard had
indicated.  The  smells of the city were almost overwhelming and he felt dizzy,
but  he  could  still  just  barely  smell  the woman above the calamity of his
senses.  Without  thinking,  he  began  tracking  her, and ended up in the Blue
Horse Tavern.
He  pushed open the door cautiously, and was greeted by a large amount of noise
and  the  smells  of  breakfast.  Quite  a  busy place early in the morning, he
thought to himself.
     Crimson  stood at the door, and didn't realize that the people had stopped
eating  and  were gazing at him suspiciosly. He only had eyes for the lady, who
was sitting on the balcony, eating something that smelled of eggs and fat.
     The  woman  also  stopped  eating,  and  turned  her  eyes to the doorway.
Crimson  froze.  She  was  wearing lighter clothing now, like his, and her hair
was  no longer tied back, but fell around her shoulders. He just stared at her,
and then realized she was smiling at him.
     The  people  began  the  make the connection, and many had begun to laugh.
Crimson  heard  the  laughter,  and broke his gaze. He blinked, and then turned
away  from  the  door. His memory came back to him suddenly, and he realized he
was  supposed  to  be  meeting  his friend at the market square. So he left the
tavern  behind  and  backtracked  down  the street. He found the apothecary and
took a right, which led him to the market square.
     Icarius caught sight of Crimson almost immediately. "Hey Crimson!"
     Crimson  meandered  through  the  people  over to Icarius' booth. He shook
hands  with  his friend, and then turned toward Icarius' parents. He introduced
himself  politely  and  shook  hands  accordingly.  He  had  a certain way with
people, and quickly earned the mother and father's approval.
     Icarius  turned  to  his  father.  "Crimson  is  going to be an archmage's
adventurer."
     The  father  raised  an  eyebrow.  "Indeed?  Well, I certainly do not envy
you."
     Crimson looked a bit puzzled. "Why not, sir?"
     Icarius'  father laughed. "You are no warrior for certain. Leave the tough
jobs to the tough men is what I say. And this is certainly a difficult job."
     Crimson  resisted  the  urge  to make a comment about the father's current
position selling grapefruits. "You think so? What is bothering the citizens?"
     The  father  sighed.  "I don't know, really. And I don't want to know. But
there are certainly some strange things being mentioned around the city."
     Icarius  decided  to  interrupt. "Father, when will the archmages call the
travellers to see who shall be chosen?"
     "Today at midday, in the town square."
     Crimson  looked up at the sun and saw that midday was already nearly here,
so he and Icarius headed off to the square for the proceeding.
     
     The  square  was  packed  with  people. There was no hope for an ant if it
happened  to  wander  into  the  melee. People were shouting, wandering around,
arguing  over  who deserved the position, several not even clearly knowing what
it  was  for.  The  archmages  had  set up a stage in the center of the square,
where one now stood trying to calm the people.
     The  archmage  explained that citizens of the great city were disappearing
without  a cause. Even in broad daylight. They simply vanished without a trace,
and  as  far  as they could tell, the problem was coming from the sewer system.
Needless  to  say,  the  archmages  could  not go into the sewers, and needed a
volunteer to rid the city of the anomaly.
     Some  of  the  canditates  left  before  even getting up on stage, back to
their  respective  lands,  hoping for some quest a little more adventurous than
the  local  sewers.  When  the  archmages called volunteers up one by one, some
were  dismissed  immediately,  having  the wrong attributes or attitude. Others
were  asked  to  perform  some feats of their ability, such as archery or knife
throwing.
     The  archmages  pondered  each candidate carefully, and selected 20 out of
the  tens  of  dozens  that came up on stage. Crimson was one of the twenty, as
was the woman he'd been admiring.
     The  candidates could not understand why Crimson was chosen, for as far as
they  could  tell,  he was not special. The archmages had not even asked him to
throw  a  knife  or lift a bow. And all of them were sure they were much better
for  the  job  of  ridding  the  sewers of the unseen monstrocity. Crimson just
stood with  the group, when suddenly the woman came up beside him.
     "So," she said, "you're going for the position also, are you?"
     Crimson almost couldn't speak, but managed to mumble, "Yes."
     She  laughed.  "But  why?  You  don't  look  like  one  to do this sort of
thing."
      Crimson  collected  himself  and shrugged. "Perhaps I just feel a
need to help hu...I mean, people."
     The woman smiled at him, took his arm, and turned to the archmages.
     "Sirs, I am Laura of Lillesand. Me and my friend..." She nudged Crimson.
     "Crimson," he adlibbed.
     "Me and my friend Crimson would like to take you up on this quest."
     The  archmages  looked  at one another, and then back at the couple before
them.  "Well, young lady," replied one, "you and your friend here have not been
chosen. Do you feel you are both worthy?"
     The woman thought a moment, and then replied. "Together we are worthy."
     Crimson's heart was beating hard within his chest.  
     The  archmage  squinted  his  eyes  and stared at the woman, and the woman
stared right back. The archmage nodded.
     There  was  almost  an immediate uproar from the remaining candidates, but
Crimson  ignored  their  shouts.  He  could  still  not  believe  what had just
happened.  He  and  this  woman  were  bound to the quest, and he had only just
learned her name minutes before.