The castle had started to look a lot cheerier and homely, the birds sang and the Fae had come to help clean and tidy. Jaculus dragons from the mountains came to greet Conn and people from the local village came with food. Alma paced back and forth in the rose garden by the castle, anxious about her task.

A distant voice called out, muffled and unclear. Alma looked around confused. Cupping her hand around her ear she heard a man's voice. She followed the sound which led her to the dried out moat at the back of the castle. The moat must have been only eight feet in height and as she got closer the calls became louder. Alma noticed a man sitting on floor of the muddy moat, his legs crossed, hands shielding his eyes from the sun.

"Hello?" He called up noticing Alma.

"Hello! What are you doing down there?" Alma asked half smiling.

"I fell." He bluntly replied standing up now. He was a shorter than average man with a plumbed body. He smiled showing his stained teeth.
"How long have you been down there?" Alma smiled back.

"Hours probably." He replied as if irritated. "I'd like to get out if you could give me a hand?" 

"I'll help you up, hang on." Alma walked away trying to find something she could use to reach him. 

She walked into the meadows next to the rose garden where a number of horses were kept. She noticed tied to a wooden beam was rope. She pulled the rope free and ran back. She threw the rope down and it just reached the ground. He grabbed on and Alma lifted him up and out of the moat with a struggle, pulling herself backwards with force as the young man climbed up. The man dusted the dirt off his blue top and looked at Alma. Alma reached her hand out, the man shook it loosely. "Dante, my name is Dante."

Alma smiled back and nodded her head. "I'm Alma, nice to meet you Dante."

"Thank you, I didn't think anyone would actually find me." Dante spoke nervously rushing his words.

"Well you were lucky I was near by then." Alma chuckled. 

"Yes are you from the village? I have never seen you around before. Do you have purple eyes?" 

"No I am from Fraadi. I arrived yesterday. and yes, I do" 

"Oh right, well Fraadi, that's quite a distance, I have never been before, but I know of people who moved from there." She shook his feet and patted his ragged brown hair down.

"So, do you work in the Village?" Alma asked curiously. 

"Yes, I am just a farmers son, I help out now and then, sometimes." Dante laughed, Alma laughed too. 

"Me too!" Alma replied grinning. "My father owned some farm land too. I helped out sometimes."  They laughed again. "How long have you lived in Quzenth? I've never been here before. Its beautiful." 

"Oh yes, all my life. Its beautiful alright. Run down though. Since we don't have a ruler here. I heard Fraadi are ruled by King Tyrone? Must be weird having a ruler who doesn't really care."

"I guess so, must be weirder not having one at all." 

"Sure, we're all pleasant enough people here, but we do live by the elemental guardians so I suppose they protect us." 

"Oh so do you know Conn?" Alma asked. 

"Yes!"

"Would you like to come with me to the castle? Conn is there" Alma grinned.

"That would be lovely." He smiled.

They headed back to the castle, and made their way to the Dining hall. There Estefan, Marium and Conn were engaged in conversation. Conn noticed Alma and Dante and greeted them both with a smile. Shaking Dante's hand with a firm grip.

"I just helped him out of the moat." Alma smiled.

"Ah yes, I think I may do something about the moat as it would look a lot more pleasing if it actually was flowing with water, would you agree?" Conn said. "Take a seat Dante and have something to eat."

Dante sat down beside Conn and reached for an apple. "It is very nice to know Quzenth is coming back to life. Our village felt very isolated. We aren't part of Fraadi and we aren't part of the Dwarfs land of course." Conn nodded in agreement delicately placing green grapes in his mouth.

"Alma is going to visit the elemental guardians to collect the pieces." Conn said. "I think the mountain first would be best as it is getting rather later now in the day." Alma nodded. Dante looked at them both. 

"Oh the mountain, I used to go there as a child with my father, used to collect blackberries from an old bush that was huge may i say. Full of blackberries." Dante added.

"I think you should go with Alma." Conn spoke to Dante. "You know the mountain better than she does, and company would do her good." Conn winked at Alma.

"Yes of course I will, It's the least I can do after you saved me from the moat." Dante looked at Alma and sheepishly smiled.

"Oh that's very kind of you sir, but I wouldn't want to burden you." Alma replied. "Thank you so much!"

"First you need to head to the South to the mountain, this is where the walkway will be which will lead you up and there you will find the Air Witch." Conn spoke to the pair.

"And her name?" Alma asked.

"Aurea and she is a wonderful being, I promise you now, she is incredibly kind." Conn replied. "I suggest you head off now, it will take you at least a few hours and It would be wise to travel in the light of day. I believe you will be able to reach the top with time to spare if you leave now."

Standing now, Alma hugged her parents and Dante shook Conn's hand. They headed out of the grand hall together. An friendship had started to flourish.

They headed out of the castle grounds, through the meadows and onto the stone path and after a ten minute walk they came by small village huts. The Village though small, with only around twenty homes, an Inn and a bakery, homed a number of different species of being, living together peacefully. Small children ran around the village bonfire, a dwarf boy and an elf girl chasing each other playfully. The Mountain had a path which led through the middle and twisted and turned around large rocks and boulders.

"So I said to Egar that I wasn't cowardly. He laughed at me of course." Dante spoke laughing. "So I said I could definitely climb back up the moat, and well..." A branch snapped in the distance in front of Alma and Dante. They paused suddenly. 

Three men appeared from the shadows, grinning in a sinister manner, their sharp swords raised. 

"Give us ya items." One man grunted, his skin dirty with mud, the other two walked around Alma and Dante, circling them. 

"Come on, pretty lady, you got any coins?" Another taller man snarled. Back to back now, Alma and Dante were trapped. The men stepped closer, swords pointing closer to their necks. 

"I have no items, no coins. None at all." Alma replied nervously. Dante nodded in agreement. He was mute in fear. 

"Lies, they always lie. Until we kill them and find possession in their pockets." The tall man said again, pointing the tip of his shiny sword to Alma's neck, twisting it slowly. The third man laughed.

"I don't think you should do that." A low voice spoke. The three men looked around, as did Alma and Dante. "Put the swords down." 

"Or what, we can't even see ya. Coward." The muddy faced man laughed. Suddenly a large goblin fell down from a tree branch above them. Landing on the muddy faced man, causing him to collapse to the ground. His sword flung out of his hand and landed by Alma's feet. Dante's eyes widened in shock at what he saw. A large pot bellied man with snot green skin, stood in front of them. 

"Pick up the sword." He said to Alma. She stared at him and then to the sword. "Do it." 

The other thieves were still standing, but they had stepped back in nervousness, unsure what to do next whilst their fellow thief and friend was still lying under the goblins large feet. There was silence for a short moment.

The goblin picked up the man's sword instead and stepped off the thief. He grasped the back of his shirt and raised him up into the air. The man's legs dangled from the ground. 

"This here, a human, without a sword. Fear in his eyes. Is what I call a coward." The goblin laughed. He blew into the man's face, his breath made the man retch and gag.  "Yous act tough when yous have a sword in yours hands. But without it you are very different indeed."

"Go on now both of you, before I call for my troop." The goblin said now looking at the other two thieves who were frozen in fear and disbelief. "And take your little friend with you." He threw the man towards the others. He scrambled on the floor, looking back, his face somewhat even more muddy than before. The two men helped him up and they ran back into the trees from which they had came.

"Ere, you should be careful out here in the forest. It ain't always safe." The Goblin laughed. "I'm Thunder, I be the goblin King." He reached out his fat green hands, offering a hand shake. Alma and Dante shook it in turns anxiously. 

"Hello your highness, I am Alma. I was just heading to the mountain. And this is Dante." Alma replied. "King of where?" 

"Nice to meet you both. My kingdom is far below the ground, near the mountains in fact." He smiled. "But unless you're a goblin, you ain't allowed to know where be the entrance." He lifted out a small silver dagger, shining brightly in the sunlight which had broken through the tree canopy, reaching the forest floor where they stood. 

"Take this dagger, you need some sort of protection, from the no good ones that linger around here." He handed the dagger out towards Alma and Dante. "Don't matter who. Just take it."

Dante took the dagger from the Goblin king's hand. "Thank you your highness." He placed it on his trousers, through a belt buckle. "That is very kind."

"I have no use for it, now do I? But you two on the other hand, very curious indeed. You, young man has courage inside you, just be a little bit less stubborn towards ye self. And you Miss Alma. Well, you'll see in fine time. I must go now, but be safe." Thunder spoke and turned away. "Was nice to meet you both."

Alma and Dante watched the large goblin walk away, back through the forest.

They carried on walking along the path. Dante looked around as he walked, trying to spot the blackberry bush he remembered from his childhood with no luck. Eventually it had became apparent that they had started to walk up hill and were now several feet above the ground, heading further up and further inside the mountain. 

Before long they had reached the top and they saw a beautiful sight. The mountain walls rose high to the sky, so soft clouds formed above it. the ground was flat and smooth like marble and the area was large enough to put the castle in. But instead perfectly placed in the middle was a little hut, with brown walls and a yellow straw roof.
Attached to the outside porch by string were colourful feathers of all different types and smoke rose out from the chimney. Dante and Alma looked at each other raising their eyebrows and showing a mutual curiosity for who this person was.