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Prologue

Raziel ThaGhoul ran through the Forest of LeMurr, his black fur sparkled in the radiant moonlight. Raz's muscles pumped as he sped through the thicket leaping over deep, dark ravines and dodging trees which looked as black as the black background of night. He crossed the Asthentine River on more than one occasion hoping that if he were being followed, the river would throw off his scent. It was a cold, cold night, and the water of the Asthentine was even colder. Raz hardly felt the desolate chill, the sheer exertion of the dogman and the desire to reach his destination, his beloved, nothing penetrated further than his fur.

As Raziel made his way through the woods, so did another. This person, this beautiful elven maiden from the Moon Elf city of Lunaria, though more delicate than the dogman Raz, made her way much more quietly and many times more quickly, for instead of making her way on foot as Raz did, she made her way on wings, wings of magic. The pale elf maiden gracefully flew through the canopy, her brilliant white hair flowing fluidly behind her slender, sinuous, supple body. Tears of immense sadness fell from her eyes as she fled her beautiful home.

Raz and Celeste are soul mates chosen by their god Luna to bring their nations together. They are born unto a cold war between their people, a war of unending hatred which the once enslaved Dogmen of LeMurr holds for their old masters, the Moon Elves. Raz's tribe, the Dogmen of LeMurr who live in the vast caves which lay under the Forest of LeMurr, have plotted against the Moon Elves for many generations since their revolt against their ungrateful masters, and Celeste's people, the Moon Elves of Lunaria, have merely ignored the hollow threats from the Dogmen. The Moon Elves believe the Dogmen are petty for their inherent lack of respect for their masters, and ever since the revolt, some of the Moon Elves believe they should be destroyed for this.

Chapter 1: Trial of a Cocky Dog

Raziel ThaGhoul, more commonly known as Raz, stood in a spacious room within his tribe's den. The room was fairly bland except for the long black marble table which sat cold and still across the far end of the chamber from where he stood at it's center. Two guards stood at the entrance to this room which was known as the Chamber of the Council of Elders of the Dogmen of LeMurr.

Raz awaited trial for the attempted theft of a guardsman's sword. The day before, Raz had taken a bet with his brother to steal the sword from the night watchman at the main entrance to the tribe's den. Raz managed to remove the sword from the guard's person, but as turned to make his hasty retreat, he slipped on some loose sand and gravel sending him on his back. The guard swept him up immediately.

And here he stood, the day after, bleakly staring at a cold, bland chamber, waiting for the Council of Elders to give him his sentence. Likely, he would be imprisoned within the lower chambers of the den for a few days to stew over, and think about the crime he committed, or so he thought.

The Elders filed into the chamber clothed in their dark brown hooded robes used to conceal the identities of the younger members, the eldest and the head of the council left his hood down as was tradition, for all knew who he was anyhow. The head was a short stout dogman, short compared to the nearly seven-foot-tall Raz, and had a short stubby black muzzle with a reddish pelt.

'Raziel ThaGhoul,' the head of the elders spat Raz's name at him after the rest of the council had taken their positions at the black table. 'You have attempted to steal the sword of one of our guards. What do you have to say for yourself?'

A smile crossed Raz's face as he calmly stated, 'Nothing, really, other than I should not have tripped.'

'Well then,' the head elder spoke now in a more annoyed and angered tone, 'you have broken our laws, and yet you show no signs of shame. I believe we have no further questions, and it is time for us to take a short recess to discuss what exactly we are going to do with you.' At this, the members of the Council of Elders turned and headed back through the door which had entered from.

The Council of Elders stood gathered around a large oak table the Secondary Chamber of the Council of Elders of the Dogmen of LeMurr where they were in deep discussion over what they were to do with the adolescent Raziel ThaGhoul.

'Hang 'em!'

'Oh, shut up. You say 'Hang 'em!' every single time we get some cocky young pup in here. Why don't we just hang you?'

'So, it's what the little buggard deserves.'

'Silence, the both of you,' the head elder called, 'The boy deserves a special punishment, the kind of punishment only a father could give, and since his father recently became member of this council, he shall decide his son's fate. So, what say you Jakub? Let us just hope for him you don't feel he should be hung.' The council, all but the man who felt Raz should be hung laughed at this comment.

'Actually, I've been thinking this one over ever since I heard of his crime last night, and no, I do not feel he should be hung. We've had some trouble to the east, just across the Asthentine with a small pack of bugbears that has been using large nets to stop up our fishing supply. We need someone with my boy's abilities and talents to sneak in and steal those nets so that we might use them for our own purposes.'

'That sounds like an excellent idea.'

'Most excellent indeed, Jakub.'

'Excellent, yes, but what if he runs astray, or gets killed, or what if he doesn't even make an attempt at stealing the nets?'

'He'll try,' Jakub stated, 'he would much rather die than to not return.'

''Tis true,' the head elder said, 'but just in case, we'll send along Jade, Skye, Zach, and Usazie. That way if get too far in over his head, he'll have some backup watching over him, but of course he will not know of this.

Besides, it's not like he did a horrible, unforgivable deed, and he is right, had he not tripped, he'd've had that sword. Luck may not have been on his side that night, but let us pray that Lady Luna will be with him for this task.'

One by one, the Elders returned to their positions at the black marble table in the Chamber of the Council of Elders. A long silence preceeded the seating of the elders until the all eventually looked to the head elder as if asking him to get on with the task at hand. The head elder was thinking, thinking of how he was going to break the news to Raz, and finally he spoke.

'Raziel ThaGhoul,' he said slowly, 'you have been charged, and have accepted your crime. Your fate has been decided by the Council of Elders of the Dogmen of LeMurr. You shall be exiled until.'

'What?!' Raz spat the word out with more of an aggressively angry bark than a word. Anger, rage tore through Raz's body uncontrollably until he came near to the point of losing consciousness. The black fur on the back of his neck stood on end, and all that he wished was to lose himself and tear apart these old bastards, to rip their flesh from their bodies and feast upon it for them dealing him such a wrongful punishment, too harsh a punishment for his crime, but the more he pushed forward, the more he was pushed back, it was as if Lady Luna herself held him back, and she was, the closer to losing consciousness he came, the clearer the image of a beautiful elven woman became with silver plate mail shining upon her breast, the images of the moon phases set in a circle upon the breast, and a brightly shining necklace from which hung the moon itself shining brightly in Raz's eyes. Raz gave up his fight to tear the old dogs limb from limb, his goddess protected them from him.

'Calm yourself, boy!' the head elder yelled at Raz as Raz stopped struggling against his goddess. 'Now,' he began again, 'as I was saying, you are being exiled, until you can complete a task for us.'

'As I'm sure you know, there is a camp of bugbears just across the Asthentine River. The bugbears are using a system of large nets to capture fish to feed their horde. You will sneak into their camp and steal their nets, and then you shall bring them back to us. Do not engage the bugbears, there are too many for you yourself to bring down, even if you do go into a fit of rage. Here,' the councilman tossed a sword that he had been keeping hidden under his robes, the same sword Raz had tried to steal the night before, 'although I hope you shan't need this, take it with you. You may even recognize it, for it is the sword you failed to steal last night. Should you do a well enough job in completing your task, the sword shall be yours to keep. Now be gone with you, boy, and do not return unless you carry the nets of the bugbears with you. This meeting of the Council of Elders of the Dogmen of LeMurr is finished.' He finished his sentence by pounding his hand upon the black marble table three times, a tradition which signifies the ending of a meeting.

Raz turned on his heel and ran from the chamber. He ran as fast as his long, strong legs would bear him. Through the long corridors of the Den of the Dogmen he sprinted, and out the main entrance past the guards. In long strides, he took to the forest, taking out his anger in his pace. He stopped only when his home was out of sight. He needed time to think of how he was to complete his task.

Chapter 2: The Bugbear encampment

Raz waited for night to fall before continuing on his journey, it would be easier for him to move stealthily in the darkness of night than in the light of day. It didn't take long before he spotted a medium sized fire, but whose fire could it be. The elders told him the bugbears were camped on the opposite side of the Asthentine, and the river was still a good hour's march to the east.

Silently, Raz crept up to the small camp. It was an outpost for the bugbears. There looked to be only four of them, but there was also a tent which could be hiding at the least up to four more. Raz crept around the camp studying the bugbears, the ugly, humanoid, pig-like creatures, the idea of simply killing them tore at Raz's thoughts. There are only four of them awake standing around the fire, he could stroll in and sleigh them before a single one managed to make a sound other than the thump of their dead bodies falling to the ground.

Raz made up his mind. He skulked up behind the first, and quickly slit his throat. Then, Raz turned to the second, who was still surprised by the assault, and stabbed him, cleanly through the neck. Raz hastily turned to the third which was behind him at the ready to attack, and swung once purposefully missing the bugbear. This threw off the bugbears defense giving Raz enough time to make a swipe at the creature's head slicing it in twain. The last bugbear had come around the fire to Raz's exposed back, and Raz slew the third just in time to turn around and block a blow from the fourth, then grab him by the throat with his clawed paw and rip his throat out in a splatter of blood, and a watery gargling noise.

Quickly and quietly, Raz moved to the tent, and sliced down the door exposing its contents without putting himself in danger. The tent concealed no more bugbears, but inside laid a bed, and a locked chest which looked to be of Dogman make. The lock was a puzzle lock, and a fairly simple one, at least for a dogman. Raz quickly opened the lock to reveal a suit of black leather armor designed for a Dogman of LeMurr.

Speedily, Raziel donned the dogman armor, a descent fit. He would have to jog to the next camp in order to keep them from learning of his slaughter in the outpost. He would also have to move along the river a ways before he could safely cross it without being seen from the bugbears. The wind was coming from the north, so he would cross towards the south to keep the wind in his face, and his scent at his back.

Raziel approached the main bugbear encampment from the south. It was a fair sized camp, there must be at least fifty or so of the dirty creatures. A large bonfire in the center of the camp lit the surroundings quite well. There were six tents, one of which was lit, the others stood dark. Two guards stood at the entrances to each tent, and two guards more patrolled the camp together. Raz knew he could do it, kill all that camped in this place, but it would be difficult, and he would have to do it with the utmost speed and stealth.

Raz snuck in the back of one tent, sliding under the back merely by picking up the edge, and rolling in. Raz could hear the steady breathing of the sleeping bugbears. He counted ten in all in this tent, five cots up one side, and five up the other. One by one, he slit their throats, making sure to cover their mouths so their dying gasps wouldn't be heard.

To each tent he visited, he did the same, until finally he came unto the last tent, the one which was lit. He picked up the edge of the tent ever so slightly so as to peek in under it. The sight alone nearly made him sick, not to mention the decrepit smell of death, dried blood, and burnt and rotting flesh. At least ten elves laid within the tent motionless, covered in blood. A few were deformed, with their limbs lying in odd positions as if their bones had been pulled apart from each other. Two had their bowels lying at their feet. One was burnt on the arms and feet, and the rest wear all either decapitated, or hung with their ears removed from their heads.

One stood in the center of the tent covered in bowels and blood wearing a necklace of elf ears. An elven maiden strapped to a framework designed to hold a person's feet in place on the floor, and their arms above their head, and secure the rest of their body firmly in place. The elven maiden was breathing, although her breaths came shallowly, she was alive still. Raz stared long at the beautiful elf maiden, although in her ragged state, she was still attractive; her slender body, her long, white, bloodstained red hair, her long slender legs. The mere thought of the bugbears ravaging this poor, delicate rose sent anger through Raz's entire being.

Raz scanned the room looking for any signs of bugbears, and seeing none, he rushed in and cut the bonds that held the elf maiden. Then he lifted her up and carried her to the edge of the tent where he gently laid her down on her back. Raz could not stand for this. These bugbears needed to be destroyed, they needed to be ripped apart, limb from limb, and that is what Raz was planning to do.

Anger wrought Raziel's body. Rage tore at his mind. Raz slowly felt consciousness fade away as pure, unadulterated hatred took over his mind. Raz loved giving into the rage, it was relaxing. He didn't feel anything, he didn't hear anything. While he is enraged, the only thing he knew was hatred, destruction, and battle, and that is what he loved most. Raz slew the remaining bugbears, he slew their horses, and he burned their bodies in their bonfire.

The putrid smell of burnt flesh hung in the air as Raz returned to the elf maiden. Jade, Skye, Zack, and Usazie stood poised around the elf maiden talking in low voices, which they quickly hushed as they noticed Raz enter the tent.

'Excellent work, young one,' Usazie stated, 'but it seems you haven't yet finished what you started.' The four backed away from the elf maiden.

Zach held out a dagger to Raz. 'Finish this,' he said, 'you will return home a hero.'

'No,' Raz stated defiantly.

'Finish it,' Jade said, 'or by Luna, we will.'

'Never,' Raz yelled, 'I will not take her life. She is defenseless, and she is nearly dead as it is. I could never harm such a delicate creature, it is wrong.'

'Yes,' Skye said, 'she is nearly dead, and that is why you must kill her. End her suffering, she would undoubtedly want it.'

'No,' Raz cried out, 'I will not.'

Usazie unsheathed his sword, and Raz did so as well. 'Then I shall kill her,' Usazie stated. Raz rushed forth and attacked Usazie, who deftly blocked the downward strike with his sword, but Raz's swing held too much force for him, and his blade gave, breaking in the strike. Raz's blade continued downward into Usazie's skull, where it lodged permanently.

Immediately, Zack, Jade, and Skye went into action. The three attacked Raz at once. Raz bashed Jade in the face with his shield shattering both the shield and Jade's face. Zack punched Raz in the stomach knocking the wind out of him, and Skye punched him in the face. The world went red as Raz took to his second rage, and all forms of thought, feeling, and remorse left him.

The last thing Raz remembered was crawling over to the elf maiden, who was awake gazing unto Raz with a look of sheer horror across her face which left her as Raz said, 'We are safe, my lady, at least for now.' Then darkness took him.

Chapter 3: A Dogman in Lunaria

Raz awoke to the wonderfully sweet aroma f flowers. Pain wreaked his battered body so much that he was afraid to open his eyes. The memories of what had happened slowly poured into his mind, and the pain moved from his body to his heart. Tears began to well in his eyes when heard the softest most melodious voice.

'Sleep my friend. Forget about your woes for now, and sleep. You need to finish healing yourself before you can move.'

'Who are you?' Raz managed to say, although the pain in his head didn't want to allow him.

'I am Celeste, the elf maiden whom you saved. You are in my home, so do not be afraid. Now sleep.'

Raz thought of the elf maiden, Celeste, and peace came to him. The pain managed to recede as sleep again overcame him.

A tear fell from Celeste's eye as she sat wondering how her people had come to hate these majestically strong and agile dogmen.

History told that six elven generations ago, during the Great Orken Kin Uprising, the elves born into the servant caste in Lunaria were given a choice by the Goddess Luna. They could either remain as magical elves weaving the winds of magic, or they could become her dogmen, the warrior protectors of Lunaria. All had chosen to become her warrior protectors. The dogmen turned the tides of the war in the favor of the Moon Elves, and a Dogman by the name of Elder Muhamonius Tiamus destroyed the Elder Orc ending the war. Muhamonius died soon after from his many injuries.

After the war, the dogmen returned to their places as servants to the Moon Elves, but during three generations of elves, the dogmen realized they had lost their expansive life spans, and the Moon Elves began to look down upon the dogmen and treat them badly. The dogmen resented their masters for this and brought a civil uprising to the city of Lunaria. Since then, the dogmen have lived in the caves of LeMurr plotting against the Moon Elves as they believed the Moon Elves plotted against them.

Over the years, some of the Moon Elves had turned to defending the dogmen, but some still hated them, and wished them dead. Celeste's father, the King of Lunaria, wished the dogmen to return to Lunaria and be at peace. His father, and his father's father, wished the opposite.

'He should be destroyed. He is our enemy, and he should not be allowed to live.' Gelemeiah, the king's regent, spoke strongly, a few of his colleges shaking their heads vigorously in agreement.

'And why should a savior of our Princess be destroyed? This dogman has put his life on the line against even his own people, and for what? It's doubtful that he even knew she was our princess.' Salavarius, an elder elf, spoke strongly.

'And no doubt had he known,' Gelemeiah said, 'he would have slain her on the spot. No doubt he was looking for a slave to take home as his prize.'

'Then why, might I ask,' spoke Salavarius, 'did The Dogman slay his own kind in order to rescue an Elf?'

'Then it is a conspiracy,' Gelemeiah retorted, 'He likely did know that the princess is who she is, and the whole encounter was set up by the Dogmen to get one of their Assassins into our great kingdom to slay you, my lord. It is no doubt a conspiracy on your life.'

'That's enough!!!' the king arose from his throne, 'this Dogman is a hero. He has saved my daughter, and he will be given a hero's celebration. Any elf who wishes otherwise will be no more than a traitor. Is there any who wish to speak against me?'

Gelemeiah stepped backwards into his chair and quickly sat. He was dreadfully angry that his original plan to have the princess destroyed had failed because of this lone despicable dogman. The fact that the king was defending the dogman made him furious with hatred. He would see to it that all of the dogmen of LeMurr would be destroyed, even if he had to sacrifice a few elves to do so.

Again Raziel awoke to that same fragrant smell of flowers. His head no longer spun nor hurt like it had before. His thoughts came clearly as he again remembered what it was he had done to find himself in this predicament of his, but he had made his choices, and his choices were the right ones for him. Whether his people felt they were the wrong ones or not were up to them to decide, but Raziel had come to terms with the fact that his choices were morally right, and nothing would change that, ever.

Raz slowly and steadily sat up to observe the room which he occupied. It was covered in vines from which the flowers he had smelt grew. He sat upon a large canopy bed, large enough for him to stretch out in either direction without hanging off the bed at either end. Across the room from his bed was a couch with a small crescent moon shaped window above it. The beautiful elf maid occupied the couch, sleeping soundly. The elf maiden's beautiful, long white hair flowed across her slowly rising and falling chest, down over her gracious glute, and spread out around her long luscious legs. Raz began to drool as he noticed her nightgown was not fully covering her buttocks, exposing her soft subtle skin in her more tender regions. The maiden began to stir, and Raziel covered up the fact that he had been staring.

'It's good to see you awake,' she said when she opened her eyes to see the Dogman staring out the window above her.

'It's good to be awake without that pounding in my head,' he replied as he stood to address her more properly. 'May I ask of you your name lady elf?'

'Well of course you may,' she said as she too stood, 'My name is Celestia Moonguardium Lunarius, daughter of King Lunarius, Princess of the Moon,' she curtsied low as she had been taught to do as she introduced herself.

'Princess Celeste,' Raziel spoke the name softly then bowed low as he introduced himself, 'I am Raziel ThaGhoul, and I am glad to finally meet a woman who can best me at my own game.'

'Game?' Celeste asked, 'I'm not sure that I quite understand you.'

Raz laughed heartily at this and said, 'Why, thievery of course.'

'I assure you,' Celeste said defensively, 'I have stolen nothing from you.'

'Oh, but you have, Princess,' Raz said smoothly, lightly taking her hand in his and kissing it gently, 'for you have stolen both my clothes, and my heart, but I'm not quite sure I would like either back at this point.'

'Raziel ThaGhoul, is it?' Celeste asked, and Raz nodded in turn, 'I would like to remind you that for the last two-hundred year our lands have been at war, and for a Moon Elf to join with a LeMurrian would be unspeakable.'

'But,' Raz retorted quickly, 'you cannot deny the truth which lies within your heart, and most certainly will not deny that I have fallen in love with you since the moment I found you.'

'Please, Raziel ThaGhoul,' Celeste said softly, 'speak not of such things, for my people would never accept our union. It would...' a knock at the door cut her off in mid-sentence. She quickly walked over to answer it. She was glad their conversation was interrupted, for although she longed to love Raziel, her princessly duty would never allow it.

'Good evening Princess Celeste,' Gelemeiah said as she opened the door. 'Aww, I see the Dogman has awakened. Good evening to you, sir. It's a real pleasure to see our hero has awakened.

'Um, Princess, your father would like to see you and the Dogman in the North Gardens in an hour. He wishes to see the both of you before he has a feast and celebration in honor of the hero.'

'Okay,' Celeste said, a little confused at why her father was meeting her in the North Gardens, 'Thank you Gelemeiah, we shall be there.'

Celeste turned to Raz and looked upon him intently. 'You will be meeting my father soon,' she said, 'and although I know he would understand, I'm sure the rest of our people would not. So, I have to ask you to put on your armor. At least so you can cover up you manliness, you wouldn't want to make my people jealous, now would you?'