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_ Rengar _

The trudge back up to the surface was surprisingly easy, despite the other two. It annoyed the ursari how, despite their weakened state, torn clothing in some spots, and the trails of blood still remaining on all of them, they didn't stand tall. It looked like they had been in a fight and only barely scraped through, leaving them vulnerable to another attack. Rengar however, made sure to appear as threatening as possible, even occasionally growling at someone who stared too long. They couldn't be seen as weak. They'd come too far. He would relax once he was free, and doing his own thing again. It was certainly interesting, working with the small group, and, well, he had to admit they could be useful, but Rengar was a lone wolf, or, well, lone bear at heart, and he was looking forward to being able to run wild again. Unexpectedly, while Val was walking in front, the fox moved to shadow Rengar, whispering quietly, "So... How _did _you know to find that secret passageway? Back in the guildmaster's rooms? I've got a bit more experience than, say, our elated leader up there, and I don't think you'd just happen to get that info from the brawl you got into."...Crud. He'd hoped the others would forget about that. Rengar had been thinking about it himself, but with no easy explanation, he'd pushed it to the side, just trying to ignore it. He almost brushed it off again, but something made him decide to explain it. "Almost. There was... Something. A presence, that took over the guy, that told me what to do, and told me to hurry. They said if we survived, they'd contact us later." He didn't turn to look at the vulpine, but the note of alarm in his voice was obvious. He responded, "Well, I guess we completed our mission partly due to that, so clearly... Hopefully, they want to help us. Maybe it's just out of the good of their hearts." Rengar lightly growled in disbelief, but kept walking.

_ Val _

He actually did it. He completed the task. If wings randomly burst out of his back and he flew away, he wouldn't even be surprised. He did it! Despite everything, despite his parents, his fears, the lack of real training, having to command the two criminals - Who actually weren't even that bad - he did it!! All he had to do was get back to the king, who would already know that the mission was complete, due to the geas ending, and might just be waiting for them to return! He knew the ceremony wasn't big, basically just the king actually appointing him, but hopefully his mentor would be there, and maybe he'd be proud of Val? Oh, they'd arrived! The captain of the guard was standing at the gate, though, usually there were a couple of guards there as well. Strange. The large, armored rhino noted and hailed them, "Val Grenwich, Rengar Fulgrimm, and Tobias Potter?" Val nodded for them all, "The mission is complete, sir." The rhino nodded back, "We received word of it as soon as the geas was complete, the king has been waiting for your return, follow me." he turned and started off, the party following after a slight delay. The castle seemed surprisingly empty, instead of the usual hustle and bustle, there seemed to be mostly higher ranked guards? Was there more of a ceremony than he had heard previously? It wouldn't be entirely unlikely, after all, you wouldn't want your recruits to be focused on fame and fortune, more on how well they could serve! It wasn't like it was a long trek as well, just down one main hallway, then into the great hall! The captain banged on the large double doors once with his halberd, calling out "Captain Wade bringing the Ranger-in-training and his crew back." The strong voice of the king himself responding, "You may enter!" he heard Tobi behind him whispering to the ursari, "Well, we weren't referred to as criminals, so that's not a bad start." the door opened silently, the captain then closing it behind them, staying by the door.

Walking into the hall where it all began felt so different the second time. The majestic tapestries, depicting ancient stories of knights felling dragons and fiends, a stained glass window on either side of the king himself in his younger days, the one on the left showing him thrusting a spear into a chimera, the other showed him in a wizard's robe, crackling with magical might. It truly was marvelous to behold. This was the man he had come to serve. He sat there in his elegant wooden throne, watching the three walk up. As soon as they reached the dais, he knelt down on one knee, gesturing for the others to do the same. "Your majesty." the large human inclined his head in greeting, "You have returned, my Ranger." it took everything the wulf had to not raise his head, to confirm those words came out of his mouth. He confirmed it, Val had become a King's Ranger! The king's gaze pierced through all three of them, before speaking again, "Your mission is complete, which means the two criminals have served their punishment, and are free to go, and, Val Grenwich, you are now in my service as one of my Rangers. However... There is one problem." Val dared to raise his head slightly, to peer just at the feet of the man above him, "Whatever it may be, milord, allow me to handle it, I will do what must be done." There was a smile in the king's voice as he continued, "Good, good, I'm glad you understand. Sometimes we have to do what must be done! And, see, you've messed up some of my arrangements. Tell me, what is one of the biggest problems of being a king?" without even waiting for a response, the older man continued, "Competition of course! Rival kingdoms, sure, but also, townspeople, nobles, anybody who thinks they might do a better job than me. Especially someone from the undercommon, right? Thieves, or assassins, someone who might try to do me in, in the dead of night. But what if I could circumvent that? Heck, circumvent a lot of my problems!" Val listened, confused at where this was going, and on what he could have messed up? He sensed Tobi raise his head up sharply, and start whispering to Rengar, though he couldn't make out what he was saying. "And it wasn't hard to do. Just make... A deal, with the guildmaster himself! I would let him do his thing, as long as they didn't push it too far, and in exchange, he'd help stomp out any insurection! And even occasionally visit nearby cities and... Let's say change the opinions of certain political figures. It was easy! And you killed him!" Wait, he... Wasn't supposed to have...? "Oh Val, Val, Val... How much trouble your father has caused me, with his cries of peace arrangements with Caezu to the northeast, when instead I could just take it all to myself! You would have been a great warning, a pathetic whelp who barely passed the basic training, along with two criminals who didn't even do anything that special to land in jail? It should have been easy! That incompetent.... Urgh!" All he could feel was the blood rushing to head, feeling entirely numb. He could dimly hear Captain Wade approaching, halberd drawn. See the wizard, Beatrice, stepping out from behind the throne. It was all a lie? But... Master Ven seemed so kind, despite everything... He could barely hear the king over the turmoil in his own mind, "Anyways, what must be done? Well, hanging out in the company of criminals clearly didn't suit him, Val Grenwich, the candidate for Ranger that I'd given so much to, tried to assault the king himself! Of course, that wasn't going to fly, and all of them were executed, oh well, stop opposing me, Laurence. Well, everyone?" Beatrice glared at Tobi, eyes literally flaming, "I'm going to enjoy this." And, as she threw the fireball, everything seemed to slow down. The ball of energy sailing towards him. Hearing the clunk of the captains armor as he moved back, trying to avoid the blast. And the roar of Rengar as he jumped to his feet, Tobi hopping on his back, shouting at Val to move. He watched the fireball getting closer, and closer. Did it matter? Everything he had worked for, gone to ash. Fitting that he would be too. Then, suddenly, everything was jolted into motion as the back of his shirt was grabbed, Rengar dragging him as he leaped through one of the stained glass windows to the king's shrieks, and the large explosion behind them, the force of the blast giving them even more momentum as they landed in the grass, shards clinking together all around them.

_ Tobi _

It was all a setup... Of course! The vulpine quickly understood where the king's rant was leading to, so he quickly leaned over to Rengar and told him to run towards the stained glass window on his signal, things were bad. The big guy understood quickly, so it was just a matter of waiting for the right... Time... Now! He leaped onto the bigger male's back, holding on for dear life as they ran for the window, breaking through, shards raking across his back before they made it. "Go that way!" he pointed, yelling to Rengar, who was dragging Val along with him. Poor kid. His entire world was turned upside down, but man, he wished he'd actually run so they could set a better pace. The king may have tried to keep things quiet, with only two skilled fighters attacking beaten and tired adventurers, but there were going to be so many people on them if they didn't escape the castle grounds, and fast. Lucky the great hall was so close to the front. The window led to the king's gardens, an open space so the sunlight would shine through. Run over the pathway, ignore the gardeners, diving to the side as the trio charged through, making it to the moat that surrounded the castle, and then - oh, gods. There were so many guards. It would take a miracle, a crazy feat of strength to jump over - woah. The ursari jumped like no other had jumped before, a gust of wind with... Rose petals? Boosting them just far enough to barely hit the other side, though Val, even basically tucked under the bear's arm as he was, definitely scraped the ground a little bit. Oops, oh well. They made it out! They managed to make it to the outer city, finding an empty hut, and, after getting in and boarding the door, Rengar tossed the wulf onto the cot, and sat down heavily on the floor, Tobi choosing to sit in the ramshackle chair, brushing off the dust first. "Well then. That escape is most likely temporary, we now know the king's goals, so the guards will probably be out in full force searching for us. I wish I could say that was unexpected. I guess, we rest to regain out strength, and see what happens next. We could take shifts for watch?" Rengar growled affirmatively in response, and Val didn't respond at all, still stuck in his own head, it seemed. Well, the two of them could manage just fine on their own. Nodding to Rengar, he leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes. Maybe he could make his way to Caezu tomorrow, find a nice little place, and scam a noble or two to get rich. He and Rengar took turns with very happily uneventful watches, before everyone was awake, set up in as close to a half circle as they could get. Tobi spoke up first, "Well, I don't know if you guys have any plans, but I think the most obvious thing is to just leave. I can't see any reason to wait, so, I guess, good luck to the two of you. Thanks for the travels, was fun." The ursari grunted, then relenting a bit, saying "While fun wasn't a word I'd have chosen, you were a good companion. Be safe, and may the winds travel with you." He nodded, before turning with an impressive *flumph* of his robe, before walking to the door, reaching out to the handle, and - "Wait." he turned to Val, the wulf having gestured with his hand towards him. He croaked out, "Y-You think the best thing to do is leave? We just learned the king is corrupt, and plans to try and take over the closest kingdom. And you just want to run?" Man, this kid's sense of chivalry, of "duty" was going to get him killed. He explained it slowly, like he would to a child, "Listen, I get that you're upset, and things went terribly wrong, but there's only 3 of us. Against a king. With a kingdom. And guards, and wizards. What do you expect us to do against that? I don't know about you, but me? I want to live! I'm going to make my way somewhere else, and settle down happily." There, with that settled, he turned again, and - "You think he's only going to stop with Caezu?" Gosh dangit. He didn't want the wulf to try and actually make a good argument. "The thieves' guildmaster was practicing dark magic, and trying to tame many monstrosities, and beasts of all kinds. Why would he stop at one city? And besides, someone out there foresaw this coming - I heard you two talking earlier. Besides, you said it yourselves, we make a pretty good team. If we went and warned Caezu, and maybe even sabotage the king with the aid of the mysterious voice, maybe we could actually deal with this. Prevent the attempted conquest." Suddenly, his voice, which had been building up, softened again, almost to a murmur, "P-Please... I can't do it without you two. I could try to make the travel easier on you guys if it'd help, I could carry the packs or something..." Tobi sighed, looking over at Rengar, who'd stayed silent thus far, "Do you have an opinion?" The ursari, who had been casually rewrapping cloth around his battle ax to form a grip, looked over at Tobi, meeting his eyes with a steady gaze, "I've never liked running anyways. I'll fight. Against the king, against Vilgo, against anything or anyone that gets in the way. It'll be fun." Welp, that settled the matter in Tobi's mind. He dumped his backpack in Val's lap, grinning. "Well then, here's my pack! Lead on, oh glorious leader!" Val stared at him, tears brimming in his eyes. He nodded his appreciation to the both of them, speechless, before standing up, and making his way to the door, turning his head for just long enough to say "Well then... Let our real journey begin!" and forward they went.