• tab Jordan woke up, his arm still draped over Serenity. Suprisingly, there were still some sounds of music and dancing floating through the thin fabric of thier tent. He moaned and lightly slipped out of bed, regretting what he had to do. Quiet as can be, he pulled on his clothes and weapons before slipping out of the tent. His boots made no noise watsoever, and he remained in the shadows cast by the fires and the late night moon. It couldn't have been past four in the morning. Several times, he thought he would be spied sneaking through his own camp, but he managed to duck behind a crate one time, and throw a rock off to the side the second, distracting the citizen.
    tab After what seemed to be several hours, he was able to slip to where all the village's horses were kept and untie Skye from the picket line. He gently patted the large steed's side, calming the horse as it was taken from it's resting place. Finally, he caught Jordan's scent and calmed down without making much noise. Jordan was able to saddle the horse and climb atop him without being noticed. Just as he was leaving the last of the small huts and tents, Tanis stepped from the bushes in front of his path.
    tab "Where do you think you're going, Jordan."
    tab "No time to explain, Tanis. Step aside." Tanis obeyed, but caught the reins just before Jordan passed.
    tab "What do you want me to tell her?"
    tab "That I love her." Was all Jordan said before removing Tanis' hand from his reins and moving on. The sounds of joy and merrymaking left Jordan's ears as he silently stepped into the dark jungle, leaving all the familiar sights and sounds behind for the warm, enveloping darkness the jungle gave him. He had a very, very long trip ahead of him.
    tab Several long hours later, and well into the hot day, Jordan arrived at the ruins his five had fought at the previous day. Several bodies lay baking in the sun, where Jordan's blade or the rampaging horses had killed them. A brief count yielded twenty-four dead, not to mention the ones that had been killed pursuing the random members of his squad. Without looking back, Jordan left the ruins and headed south, to where Babylon was. His target lived on the very North-Eastern part of the city. Landlord Jeremiah.
    tab Sophos was the leader of The Beasts, but couldn't handle every affair that presented itself. Instead, he remained safely behind the walls of the central city, while appointing several people that he deemed "Landlords" to govern the people outside. Jeremiah was the last spoke in the wheel of cities surrounding the inner ring of Babylon. Jordan and his crew had personally taken care of each of the surrounding Landlords, lying each of them to sleep in thier own coffins. When Jeremiah fell, Jordan could finally begin eliminating the two Lesser Lords within Babylon itself. When those two were gone, the ring of steel protecting Sophos would crumble, leaving the leader of The Beasts himself open for attack. Lesser Lord Chaim and Lesser Lord Sasha controlled all the commerce and goings-on of Babylon between the two of them, leaving military rule in the hands of Sophos. Nevertheless, these two were Sophos' trusted friends and advisors, offering guidance and a firm ruling hand where Sophos needed it. If those two were to fall, nothing but Sophos would stand between The Saved and the obliteration of The Beasts.
    tab Jordan spurred his horse in determination as the first outlying hut of Babylon dotted the horizon. This was where Jordan had to prepare himself mentally for the fight against Jeremiah. In addition to a small private army and a portion of land and people to rule, each Landlord had been endowed with a special power that helped them to govern the people surrounding them. Jeremiah's particular power allowed him to peer into the minds of anyone he made eye contact with. By doing so, he could tell thier ambitions, thier desires, thier wants, needs, dreams, hopes, expectations, and thoughts. This allowed him to judge any and all cases with extreme accuracy, and deliver the just punishment. Were it so nice. Instead, he twisted what he saw in people's minds and used it in the courts to his own advantage. He was the final arbiter of lies, and held up the post with pride. Jordan arrived at the hut and dismounted his horse, walking inside. It was empty, barren of anything even remotely useful, besides a small wicker basket. Jordan pulled each and every weapon he had on him off and set them all in this basket. He repeated the process with Skye, placing them in the same. He left a single knife, tucked deep within his high boots.
    tab "Now, the hard part..." He sat cross-legged on the ground and closed his eyes.
    tab "Help me forget." It was a tactic he had thought of. To get close to Jeremiah, he had to wipe his memory of everything. The Saved. Sophos. Serenity. May, Bale, Aske, his friends and family, everything and anything that could associate him to The Saved, and hence get him killed in front of Jeremiah. Those memories, those feelings, thoughts, and emotions he locked away in a deep part of his mind, and then tucked them deep into the folds of his subconcious. With help from above, he forgot who he even was, or what he was doing. Only one thing remained: get to Jeremiah.
    tab Finally, after many, many long hours, a nameless man emerged from a small hut and mounted a horse nearby. He was clumsy on top, but managed to get the horse to move slowly. Under the dark night sky, the man with no name, and no memory walked into the outer province of Babylon controlled by Landlord Jeremiah. Two guards accosted the man and asked him.
    tab "Hold on, where are you going this late at night?" He looked at them with a blank stare.
    tab "To Jeremiah." he said simply. The guards grasped thier weapons and pulled the man off of his horse, pinning him on the ground as he struggled.
    tab "Crazy fool... Trying to get in to see the Landlord..." one of the guards said, picking the bound and gagged man off of the floor. "Y'know what?" he said, laughing. "Let's grant your wish. I'd like to see what Jeremiah would have us do with a fool like you..." The man pushed his new prisoner ahead of him, guffawing. Slowly, they made thier way thorugh the dusty town, passing adobe brick buildings and other huts constructed out of straw or a stange sort of brown bamboo. Finally, the buildings began to grow in size as the three men made thier way through the darkness. Ahead of them loomed a large building, apparently larger and more well-appointed than any of the others around it. It was here that they took the strange, nameless man with no memory. The front gates opened to allow the two guards in, who were obviously escorting a helpless prisoner. Two more guards stopped the first two.
    tab "Oi! Let us by, we're takin' this one to the Landlord."
    tab "Oh, we don't doubt that. We just have to check him for weapons..." The first guard laughed and pushed his prisoner directly past the two of them.
    tab "Weapons! Haw! This poor b*****d don't got a thing on him. Come on, I wanna see what Jeremiah's got to say about this whackjob..." The prisoner shuffled down the hallway, staring in awe at the lavish tapestries and expansive shag carpeting. He was pushed down the halls, and smacked soundly whenever he dawdled too much. After a good hour or so of nothing but pure walking, they finally arrived in front of two ornately appointed doors, carved with pictures of dragons, harpies, and various other fairytale creatures and regal figures. The second guard pushed the door open, ushering the prisoner and the first guard in as if they were royal guests. They came to a halt before a raised dias, upon which sat a regal figure in robes. The nameless man was forced to his knees on the floor before the figure, who glared down at him behind an ornate golden mask that hid his true face.
    tab "Lift his eyes to me..." the strange figure said. One of the guards lifted the nameless man's eyes to Jeremiahs. Upon looking into them, time seemed to stop. Nothing but the two of them existed. The nameless one didn't feel the hand on his face, nor the shackles on his hands. The lavish red carpet disappeared, leaving nothing but him and this strange man dressed in golden robes sitting before him. Voices echoed through the strange silence, repeating and coming back to the two of them. The figure seemed to grunt and twist in his chair as the darkness turned to chaos. The thoughts of this strange man were the definition of chaos itself... Twisting and coming back upon themselves, the golden figure of Jeremiah couldn't make any of it out. The toll was too much on his brain. Jeremiah slumped in his chair as all of reality snapped back. Like getting hit with a ton of bricks, Jordan's thoughts and memories came back. The Saved, Serenity, Bale, May, Skye, the time he skinned his knee at age five, Aske, the fight in the dunes the other day, the night with Serenity, ALL of his thoughts and memories returned. Namely, the one about the knife hidden in his boot.
    tab "What?" The guard who had first taken Jordan managed to say before finding himself staring down at a knife buried hilt-deep in his chest. The second guard managed to turn and look at the first before his throat opened, spilling blood and mucous all over the floor. Four more guards charged in on where Jordan was standing, but he had alerady moved. Jeremiah was right there, sitting dazed in his regal throne of lies and deception. The only thing in his eyes, in his mind. Nothing else existed as Jordan rushed straight for him. He ducked under one swing from an axe, jumped over another, and landed deftly on the raised dias next to Jeremiah. No hesitation, no pondering, and not a single wasted movement as Jordan shoved the knife straight under the golden mask and into Jeremiah's throat. Time stopped as Jordan's goal was achieved. Blood and bone fragments sprayed into the air as the guards stopped. In a matter of fiteen seconds, two guards and a Landlord were dead.
    tab Covered in Jeremiah's blood, Jordan turned and stared at the four elite guards looking between him and Jeremiah's ravaged corpse.
    tab "Let me pass, and you will live. Simple and clean." Jordan said. One of the guards closest to him screamed in defiance and shoved his spear at Jordan. With a quick movement, he jumped into the air and flipped, turning 180 degrees and landing just behind the guard. In the blink of an eye, blood splattered to the floor and the guard fell, dead.
    tab "Anyone ELSE want to pointlessly lose thier lives?" He asked, looking around. Each guard stood down and allowed Jordan ample room to leave, which he did. He stopped by the first two guards and pulled a sword and a bigger knife from thier belts. These, he strapped on and walked out. No one else was awake in the palace, besides the guards at the gate and the two who stopped him on the way in.
    tab "Hey, isn't that the guy who was being brought in ear..." His words were cut off as Jordan dashed up to him and stabbed the man cleanly through the heart. The other guard only had time to jerk in suprise before his head departed from his shoulders. Jordan walked on, oblivious to the shower of blood pouring down on him. The front gate posed little problem, leaving five guards dead in his wake. Now he was in Babylon proper, walking among dusty roads and buildings. Every peasant he passed gave him a wide berth, and each guard who tried to stop him met a swift end. He was merciless. A blood-covered banshee on a mission to live. None stood in his way. None could. At the edge of the city, where the hut stood, Jordan found four horsemen waiting for him. One of them dismounted and strode purposefully towards him. Just as he opened his mouth, the feminine rider whipped her hand about and slapped him square on the face.
    tab "Don't you ever... EVER leave on a STUPID F&%KING SUICIDE MISSION WITHOUT TELLING ME GOODBYE!" She knelt and lifted Jordan's eyes to meet her own.
    tab "And don't even remotely think you're leaving my sight again." Serenity said, a little softer this time. She leaned in and kissed him full on the lips, clutching his face like her life depended on it.
    tab "I'd hate to cut this short..." Bale interjected. "But there's a whole detatchment of Sophos' guards headed this way..." Jordan looked behind him and spotted no less than two hundred guards charging straight for them on horses. He pulled Serenity with him and hopped up on Skye, turning the horse's reins north.
    tab "Ride! Now! Don't stop for anything until we reach home!" He ordered. Despite his tireness and the scorching sun, his body felt filled with energy. They rode hard and fast, kicking up five plumes of dust as thier horses panted with fear.
    tab A good six or seven hours later, the large group of soldiers following the five of them shrank behind them, and just as the forest came into sight. They disappeared into the thick trees, lining up in a row as they followed the familiar trails, skipping all the false leads intended to fool outsiders. They were relying heavily on the stupidity of the enemy and the cunning of thier own trail-making to lose all of thier persuers. Jordan stopped, after what seemed to be forever, next to a stick with a red piece of cloth tied to the top. He didn't even have to whistle as Tanis appeared with a group of fifty men, ushering them further into the forest. Taking the cue, he lurched forward and ran straight for the village. Serenity ushered her horse ahead of him, leading the way as they burst back into home territory. She dismounted and started yelling instructions to varous villagers and passersby, who dropped whatever it was that they were doing and ran to do her bidding. In fifteen minutes, every one of The Saved was working at taking down tents, tearing down huts, packing personal belongings, and dousing fires. Still dazed and confused, it finally hit Jordan. They had to move before the enemy found out where they were hiding. He dismounted as well and began to help a nearby family who was struggling with a stubborn tent pole. A paniced hush fell over each of The Saved as they rushed about doing thier work in a precise, calm matter. Instead of panicing. The villagers at the edge finally began to move, carrying thier things through the dense jungle surrounding them.
    tab "Let's go! Move to the fifth spot!" Jordan yelled, ushering those nearby in the right direction.
    tab "You think they'll find us?" Serenity asked, appearing out of the crowd to stand next to Jordan.
    tab "I doubt it. Tanis and his men can slow them down enough. We can easily make it to the next campsite before any of them even show up here. I think we did fine." He pulled her close. "Hey," she looked him in the eyes. "Thank you."
    tab "For what?
    tab "For coming to get me. I'm a lucky man." He kissed her quickly and went about urging people on. Looking back at the now-desolate camp, he found everything satisfactory. The ground was hard, and it would be hard to follow thier track through the jungle. Each of The Saved knew how to move silently, without being detected. They were safe.
    tab Hours later, they arrived at a wide clearing next to a meandering river. It stood about a half a mile from a large, thundering waterfall, and would provide an excellent place to live. The jungle around them always provided ample food, and a fresh water supply was nearby.
    tab "No fires tonight. Post a double watch." Jordan directed a high-ranking official of The Saved. The man nodded and went off to spread the message as night descended on the forest. It was hard to think that seventy-two hours ago he had left to go kill a man, expecting to never return. Serenity walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
    tab "Hey, everyone's here. Head count is accurate. We did it perfectly." She said, wrapping her arms around him. "Let's get some sleep. Someone will wake us if Tanis returns, or if something wrong happens. Besides," She whispered into his ear. "You'll need someone to keep you warm." Jordan smiled and pulled a single, large bedroll off of Skye and spread it out as Serenity shed most of her clothes. She still wore a loose-fitting shirt and a pair of tight britches. Jordan stripped down to his pants and fell crawled under the heavy blankets, holding Serenity close. After what seemed to be ages, he finally fell asleep feeling safe and secure. Nothing went wrong for a long time.