The wind blew on Talais's face with s familiar stench. Urgals. What are they doing here? Talias searched the woods until up above he saw smoke. He followed the smoke for hours until he found he found a small camp in a hidden pasrt of the woods. He knew better than to atack them so he hid and listened and waited....

OOC: any one want to join..... anyone?

OOC: since the competitions over (dang!) and i completely forgot about it after seeing it only once, i think i'd like to continue this story, b/c i have a feeling it'll be good if given the right amount of activity. although i wish i would've seen this before the competition ended...

IC:Wil and Lucia sat in the Urgal camp. Kagraign was hiding in the forest just to the east. In this deep, dense glade, the sun rose above the forest in the east and set across the hazy, half-sand, half-forest horizon. Wil had been sitting inside the barrel for over three days, feeling himself being tossed and turned as the Urgals carried him with them. They apparently thought the barrel, which they'd pillaged in Gil'ead, was full of drink. Wil's throat cracked of thirst as he felt his cage being set down on the soft forest floor. He heard trees being chopped for wood. Suddenly, Wil heard a loud crack as a stray branch fell and broke the barrel beside his. His heart raced as he heard a scream much like Lucia's and the yells of many Urgals. He heard Lucia's scream muffled as Kagraign explained the situation to him. Twenty Urgals surround her. They pull the branch off her leg and gag her with a strip of her own skirt. A chieftain walks up to her, deadly black knife in his hand. He puts it to her throat and demands that she tell him her purpose. Kagraign, enough! Wil told him. Wil then popped the lid off his own barrel and yelled to the troops, "Kaz jtierl trazhid!" He knew they would stop. He knew that they respected any human that knew their own private, personal language. "Friends, please, I wish you no harm! Please just return the girl to me and I will be on my way, never to reveal your location to a soul." he tried to reason. "How can we trust you? What were you and the girl doing in barrels that should've had drink in them?" the chieftain growled. Wil's eyes met Lucia's for a split second. "She is my slave. I wished her to do some...strange work. A ritual that would help me physically and mentally. She defied me and ran away. She hid in a barrel. I was in the process of pouring the drink out of that barrel there when I heard your army coming. I tripped and fell into the barrel, pulling the top down on top of it. I couldn't get it off before one of your men discovered the barrels and was forced to hide for the past three days." Wil explained. The chieftain looked pleased with his explanation. Then, one of the Kull in the group piped up, "Wait, young human, how did you come to acquire such a...noble-looking girl? She would cost a powerful Urgal's life to attain. And, how did you happen to know that it was three days time since we left your pitiful village?" Wil was cornered. He tried to explain the situation. "Well, my family was well renowned in Gil'ead. My father was a rich advisor to Gil'ead's governor and he bought this girl to take care of me at the age of seven when my mother died. As for the knowledge of the time...I uh...judged it by...uhm..." Wil racked his brains for ideas of how he could explain knowing the amount of time they'd traveled. Kagraign, now! He yelled within his head. He heard a roar as Kagraign swooped above the razed forest, flames licking the Urgals who dared try and run at the emerald dragon. Wil drew his sword and cut the chieftain's legs from beneath him. "I'll tell you how I knew the time. I'm a dragon rider! My dragon is always with me! And she is no slave, she is my companion!" Wil told him before cutting his throat. Wil sensed another being's presence. He reached a mental link toward the being as he fought Urgals. Please, help us to destroy this army! Wil said. He contiued to fight and waited for the other to send it's reply.

I won't lock this, since you want to keep trying. Just for the record, I think* the two of you won everything, pretty much.

*Just to keep this straight, this is not in any way related to the official results. They don't exist. Then again, neither do any of your posts.