The morning sunlight slowly moves over the small trade town of Barter. A few early risers walk around the paved streets as they get their stands ready for another business day. Salem wakes up between Vivien and Christina not knowing where she is. Am I inside the Bill’s Miller she thinks to herself. How long have I been working in the stable says another voice, Salem feels so disconnected and not sure who she is now. “Four thousand years of this, and I still cannot get use to it.” said Salem to herself. Suddenly there is a loud banging at the door that wakes Christina and Vivien. Vivien gives another horrific hiss taking Christina by surprise causing her to fall off the bed. A voice at the other side of the door could be heard, “Wake-up sleepyheads, its breakfast time! Don’t bother getting dressed!” said Jarody. “Damn, should he be having a major hangover now?” said Christina. “Not our Jarody,” said Salem as she gets up and starts getting dressed. Jarody pounds on the door again, “Didn’t you hear what I said? Get up and get out here now!” Zealot comes up behind him, “Fuck, Jarody. Leave the girls alone. Everyone else is still in bed.” “But I have to eat now, I want to talk to people, and more important I want to see sleepy naked girls!” yelled Jarody as loudly at he could. “What is your problem this morning?” asked Zealot. “You’re not the boss of me!” said Jarody as he turned and started to pound on the girls’ door again, “I know you’re in there!” Zealot just gives a shrug and walks to the stairs to head down into the Bill’s Miller Tavern. Salem opens the door, “What do you want?!” Jarody violently moves Salem aside and looks into the room. “SHIT! You all got dressed! No love for Jarody,” he said as he turns and starts to head down to the tavern as well. “What is the matter with him?” asked Christina. “I stopped questioning his actions a long, long, LONG time ago,” said Salem as she left the room.

Downstairs in the Bill’s Miller Tavern, Emhril was helping make breakfast as Haiku was busy getting the utensils on every table. Wayne Marcus was already downstairs waving his TsunamiBlade back and fourth like a clock’s pendulum. “What does a guy have to do to get laid around here?!” yelled Jarody as he made his way to the bar where Wayne and Zealot were sitting. “Nothing against you two but I was hoping that the last two would be more hot chicks,” said Jarody as he took a seat between the two new Blade Masters. “So what’s the deal with you and the Blades? You waited so long and trained at the temple but didn’t get a Blade until now, I mean MAN you must have stunk up the place,” continued Jarody. “I left the Temple of the Blades with top honors and was told by the twins that I was the best fighter to ever leave the Temple,” said Zealot. “OH! To LEAVE the temple. You see stubby, all the better fighters usually stay at the temple,” concluded Jarody. “Excuse me, but may I ask what you are finding intolerable?” asked Wayne. “Excuse me? Wow, the Queen must be real proud of you for staying so proper and polite this far away from the Island Kingdoms,” said Jarody turning his attention onto Wayne. “You must forgive, Jarody. He turns into a jerk after a long night of heavy drinking,” said Salem. “Stop lying, Salem! I’m always a jerk!” said Jarody as he takes a butter knife from the table and grabs Wayne’s hand, “Now keep your fingers apart but don’t move your hand.” Wayne wrenches his hand free from Jarody’s grip.

Christina and Vivien make their way down to the tavern now getting full of people. They sit at a table near the bar where Jarody, Zealot, and Wayne were already having breakfast as Salem was leaving out the door with a basket. “Where is she going?” asked Christina. “She’s bringing food to Selene who’s doing something out in the stables,” said Zealot. “I know what she is doing, you know what she is doing and Zealot here really knows what she is doing. Selene took a good look at one of the horses and is riding it from underneath,” said Jarody. “No, she is not!” yelled Christina. “By the way, Salem said to have your stuff ready out front so she can have Pawn put it in the ThievesBlade’s void,” said Wayne. “You better stop looking at your Blade that way or else it will think twice about you and choose someone else,” said Zealot to Wayne. “I am not sure, going out there where we will be in danger. Haiku is not a fighter,” said Emhril. “I understand why you want to make sure your little girl’s safe, after all, she is living proof that you got some, and more so that you were in the woman long enough to get her knocked up!’ said Jarody. “Kidding aside, we all will make sure Haiku is safe,” said Christina. “I wasn’t kidding,” said Jarody. “After all, I think Haiku will be the one to fix us up after a fight,” said Zealot. “I never needed a doctor,” said Jarody. “Perhaps you could use the services of a head doctor,” said Wayne.

Salem and Selene enter the tavern to find the others at the bar as all the other guests started to make their way out after breakfast. “Here you go, Emhril. That was a great ham and cheese,” said Selene. “Thanks, Selene,” replied Emhril. “I think you all have forgotten who I am,” said Jarody. “I just got here, are you suppose to be someone famous?” asked Wayne. Everyone ducked under a table as Wayne and Vivien stayed standing not expecting what was about to happen. Jarody pulls out a small dagger with an extremely curved blade. Jarody takes the dagger in both hands and extends the handle until it was a long staff and then he started to wave the staff around as a green fire ignites on the small curved blade now glowing red. As Jarody continued to spin the green fire tipped staff around him, the green fire started to surround him and consume him until he was inside a large fireball of green. Only the small red glowing curved blade could be seen as Jarody continued to wave the staff around from inside. The red glowing curved blade started to grow in size until it was a 4 foot long blade, then the green fire ball exploded revealing Death in his long black hooded cloak and 8 foot tall fleshless skeletal body holding the all powerful ScytheBlade. “I AM DEATH!!” said the Grim Reaper as he brought the large fiery curved blade close to the wooden floor. A wet spot started to form on Wayne’s pants. Vivien fell to her knees and was now groveling at Death’s feet signing something. In a flash of green flame, Jarody had returned to his human form and looked down at Vivien who look to be begging. “What is she doing?” asked Jarody. Selene took a look at Vivien who was hard to see from over the tables. “She is saying that she is not worthy,” said Selene, “Vampires worship Death. You are like Gin to her.” “I am?!” said Jarody. “Thought you knew,’ said Salem. Jarody looks down at the groveling Vivien. “Will you do everything I ask you to do?” asked Jarody. “Vivien nodded her head yes. “Well in that case, take all of your clothes off and never put anything on ever again!” ordered Jarody as Vivien starts to take her clothes off. “Jarody, tell her to stop!” yelled Selene. “I did tell her to stop, stop wearing clothes,” replied Jarody. “Jarody!!” yelled Selene. “OK, ok! Vivien, put your clothes back on, Selene is being a sourpuss,” said Jarody. “Let her have her dignity, there is no reason for ordering the poor thing to walk around naked,” said Salem. “But I’m her god, I know what’s good for her,” said Jarody. “We promised not to take her freedom, remember?” asked Christina. “Fine, she can do what she wants,” said Jarody as he turned and said to himself, “I guess I’ll have to wait until the next town to see her naked,”

“Well if we are ready, it is time to get packed up and get going,” said Selene. Vivien and Wayne did not have much but the clothes they had on their back. Zealot had a small backpack that had a few belongings as well as Jarody and his bag full of advanced technology from other worlds. Emhril and Haiku outdid everybody with ten or twelve bags of clothes and junk as well as food piled outside the front. Salem was tying a letter on Knight’s leg as she held a letter from the temple in her mouth. “Take this to Pixie Dust,” she instructed Knight. With a great flap, Knight was off and he vanished from sight as soon as he left Salem’s arm. “Ok Pawn, as you see, you have your work cut out for you. ThievesBlade’s void!” ordered Salem. Pawn jumps down onto the ground and starts to examine the large pile. Salem opens up the letter. “Anything new?” asked Christina. “Only that Bishop had been at our door waiting for our return,” said Salem. Pawn continues to look around the pile. “I wish I was able to stay longer to find who was taking the jewelry and utensils from the Bill’s Miller guests and kitchen,” said Emhril. “You are missing stuff?” asked Salem. “Yes,” replied Emhril. “Pawn,” said Salem looking down at her pet on the ground, “Return the stuff you took.” Pawn gave a disappointing squeak and opened the ThievesBlade’s void. Rings, necklaces, forks, knives, and even shiny pieces of metal came flying out. “Now you know why it is called the ThievesBlade,” said Salem.

Selene who had went around to the back of the Bill’s Miller was now riding in the driver’s seat with Malodor Regis holding the reigns. The horses were in three rows of two with Need A Smoke and Brother In-law taking the lead. Darkwind and Skyclap were behind the lead horses leaving Raptor and Syntax taking the last two places. The carriage was not like anything else on the road. It had like a small bridge from the front two horses leading all the way to a small door going into the cab. The driver’s seat looked to have many switches and levers on the left side and there were six wheels on it. The two front steering wheels and four back wheels, only the last two were not touching the ground. There was even a seat facing backwards just above the back of the carriage. “What is this suppose to be?” asked Jarody. “This is the MobilBlade. It will be our transportation from now on,” said Selene, “It has plenty of room for all of us as well as a few luxuries.” At this time, Pawn was done examining the pile and opened the ThievesBlade’s void to start storing them.

Selene gets up and leaves Mal at the driver’s seat as she lands on the ground and opens the door causing a small stepladder to extend out and drop to the ground. Inside looked to be a small stateroom with eight seats in a circle and a few doors leading to the other side, or to the small bridge that ran between the horses, and a ladder that let to a door up on top to the driver’s seat and the rear facing seats. There were doors everywhere on the out side of the carriage as well, but they were not very easy to see with a wood grain pattern placed all over and painted brown making the carriage looks like it was made of wood. Wayne knocked on the outer part of the carriage, “What is it made of?” “Thought I was clear about that,” said Selene, “I rebuilt this using Blade metal.” “You mean this carriage is a BLADE?!” asked Christina. “Yes it is and it has chosen its master,” said Selene, “Mr. Malodor Regis will be our driver.” “Yes mah friends, but I’ve been meaning to ask you Selene, what is with the wheel between Need A Smoke and Brother In-law there?” “You told me that they are not carriage horses, so that is to keep the weight off of their backs. You see, this carriage can actually move on its own but we need the horses to help steer it and to give it the appearance of a normal carriage,” said Selene, “and this door here leads to the walkway to our horses. If we need to get to them while on the move, we need only go through this door.” Selene demonstrates by climbing through the small door and walking down the walkway to Darkwind. “We then mount our horse and pull this lever to release them from the carriage,” said Selene as she does so. Selene and Darkwind gallop around a few times before returning to Darkwind’s spot on the carriage. “Then with a simple click, Darkwind is secure again on the carriage. If he have an injured horse, then we pull this small switch here,” said Selene as she taps Darkwind on the side to get him to pick up his legs and a small platform moves under Darkwind keeping his feet off the ground. “I thought of everything,” concluded Selene, “All the horses except Need A Smoke and Brother In-law can detach in this way. We do need them to stay attached to steer.”  “Damn!” yelled Jarody from inside the carriage, “the seats recline!”

“What are the seats facing backwards for?” asked Salem. “That is so at least one of us can stay up there to watch our back as we travel,” answered Selene. “And the extra two wheels?” asked Christina. “Those wheels do many things. To name a few, they drop down to become spare wheels if any of the others break for some reason. Let us say one of the front wheels. The extra two would drop down and stay at the back as these two wheels move up to the front allowing the broken wheels to leave the ground to repair itself and take back its place. The extra wheels are also part of the chariot that detaches from the back, or they can move around to become fins to move us through deep water crossings. “I have a feeling that we will be here all day just going over what this carriage can do,” said Zealot. “Selene,” interrupted Salem, “Perhaps we should get going?” “You are right, sis,” replied Selene. Pawn finished storing the last bag in the ThievesBlade’s void and returned to his master’s shoulders. Everyone enters the MobilBlade with Zealot volunteering to take the first watch on the rear facing seat. As he gets to the top, he sees there is a place to put his tail once it has grown back. Haiku retracts the platform from under Darkwind and climbs up to sit next to Mal as the others take a seat inside the MobilBlade. Just like that, Mal gives the horses the command to go and the MobilBlade was on its way down the paved road to Boneham. Emhril looks out the rear window watching the Bill’s Miller, his home for many years, slip away slowly into the distance. “I promise, Emhril, You will return home and have a great story to tell Haiku’s children,” said Selene. “That place holds so many memories of happier times. My wife and Haiku and all the fun things we did together. I can’t believe I am doing this,” said Emhril. “It is all for a greater good, Emhril,” said Salem. “You need adventure, Emhril. That is why I travel so far over the sea. Nothing like adventure to make you feel alive,” said Wayne. Emhril continues to look at the Bill’s Miller until he could no longer see it.