I wake up to the sound of thunder and hundreds of wolves howling in the distance. Something isn't right. The sky flashes a bright luminous energy and lightning strikes. But there are no clouds above me just the moon and stars. What is going on?..... I grab my things and jump on my horse riding on towards the sounds. I come into a clearing that overlooks a valley. There is a small storm off in the distance but it's too far to see anything else on the landscape below. It must another four hours ride from where I am. Damn.

As I gallop down the dirt road through a small forest area it opens into a large field. I come across some unusual markings on the ground. There were charred lumps of coal in different places and small fires still burning is randomly placed areas around the field. An area of earth that was destroyed off to my left with a large crater and burn marks. A massive battle was fought here. I see the same two hoof prints going in the direction towards Gold Bridge. It must be her and looks like she had used another legendary beast. There is no other mage in this realm who can cause this much damage.

I take a walk around the area, the scuffle started further to the left in the middle of the field. This was not a fair fight. I look over to my right to see half chewed black robe with a sigil of a skull on it and a charred wand lying on the ground. There was another strong mage here, not just Brianna. I realize she's is growing stronger every day and who ever she is with might be doing more good for her than I ever did. It pains my heart to think she's progressing so well without me.

I hop back on my horse and make my way to Golden bridge.

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The sun was coming up now, such a long night we had. We ride together side by side a force to reckon with. We fight together side by side to protect each other, I am his shield and he is my lance. I have no other connection like this with anyone else, we stand our ground and move together like Ying and Yang circling each other in perfeche perfect storm. After last night's fight I knew this, my beasts have accepted him as my protector....as my knight and so have I. I have finally come to terms with what the magus pledge is really about. Vance will be the only man I pledge my life to. I want him, I need him, I feel him, his strength, his heart, and his soul are mine and I am his.

I look over to him so noble on his golden steed, sitting tall and proud. He has never looked so handsome. His temperament so calm and collected, so careful and loving. I have released myself from Roan last night, released myself of his force and anger. How could I have been so naive as to letting myself love a man who was bent on forcing me into such a thing as pledging my life to him. I'm glad I resisted l'm glad he stopped me from taking my innocence. I want Vance to be that man. He has to be, he is the man I've been wanting my whole life. He breaks my silence.

"You are really quiet, what's going on in that pretty head of yours?" He asks.

"Nothing I'm fine just replaying the events from last night." She replies.

"Have you thought anymore about the pledge? I'm just wondering." He was so careful with me. Trying his best not to push me into it knowing how I felt about it all.

"Yes, I've been thinking about it. Let's talk about this later." I smile at him.

"Whenever you're ready sweetheart."

He eased my heart with those words as I smile at him.

"We're almost there." He points over to a large castle in the distance. It had golden roof top, with walls made of white stone. Even the city looked like it was apart of the castle, with white buildings nestled into the cliffs overlooking the water and docks with large ships that jut out into the sea. The mountains on the right and the ocean on the left, it was the most stunning landscape I've ever seen.

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Khaleda the city of gold as they say. It houses the tallest castle and the most reputable source for advanced weaponry and armor. Being the hub of every trade source, between all the realms, it has become one of the richest castles there are. There isn't a shop in town that doesn't have the highest quality items. The people here are very high class which meant Brianna might have some trouble fitting in and standing out here is not the best.

"Brianna, we need to change your clothes we can't have you showing up in Emeriss in Lesterose clothing. We won't make it past the docks, I have a ship docked at the Harbor once we are ready, we will head to Emeriss."

"You have a ship?!" I've never seen a ship before!" she says.

"That's right! It's a big one!" I reply.

"Vance I'm so excited!" her voice is getting louder.

I laugh. "We will be safe once we get out to sea. We set sail this evening."

"This evening? I want to go now!" She replies.

"I know, but we have some things to prepare first." I lead us into the city gates that seem to be well guarded with strong men wearing gold armor and white tunics with the sigil of a bow and arrow on the front in gold. Their weapons were interesting, much different than at home. Bows that can be drawn with one hand and double ended scythes.

We pass through without any hassle. The streets were littered with people everywhere peddling and bartering, it was busy here and hard to move on horse. We stroll through the town looking  for a good clothing shop and I know the best one. We wind around a few streets before coming to a shop called the "Golden Thread." I hop off my horse and help Bri off hers and tie them up in front.

"What is this place." She asks.

"It's a clothing shop. Have you been in one like this before?" I ask.

"Once, but I could never afford anything in there, so I sort of borrowed some things and ...." She stops mid-sentence realizing what she was saying. She puts a hand on her mouth as her face turns red.

"You were a thief?" I burst out laughing. "Of courare you were.... She will steal your heart and your money." I sing the last words and give her a playful nudge.

"You be quiet." She replies scowling.

"Let's get you into something more mage like." We walk into the shop, Brianna protesting the entire time, reassuring me her outfit is perfect for battle and that she can't walk in normal dresses and doesn't like this idea at all.

"You can't walk in a normal dress?" I am laughing again as we wait for someone to serve us.

" Not at all!" She pouts.

The store was large with several fitting pedestals and mirrors all around. The entire room was trimmed in golden arches with finely painted rose vines and massive chandeliers with crystals hanging from them. It was a very glamorous place, even the workers were dressed in expensive shimmering clothing.

"Vance this place looks expensive. I'm not sure if I can afford anything here. I don't really want to start "borrowing" again if I don't have to." She whispers.

I laugh.

"Bri, I have enough money to buy this entire shop, don't worry about that. I wouldn't expect you to pay for anything when I'm around."

"What? How do....", Before she can finish her sentence we are interrupted by a young girl.

"Good morning sir and....mage? My name is Leah how can I help you?" She is looking Bri up and down.

"Good morning miss. We are in dire need of your help. You see this pyou girl here is to be my mage. I know what you're thinking... she is not dressed appropriately to be meeting a king as you can see." Bri is staring daggers at me now I smirk back at her.

"Oh yes I can see that!" Leah giggles. "I can suit her with a very nice dress. Do you have a budget? Just so I know where to look."

"No budget, I want the most expensive gown you have." They both stare at me in shock. She looks her up and down again.

"Are you sure? We do have more affordable gowns for your "taste." She says brows raised.

She's starting to piss me off now.

"Yes miss! I assure you I can afford it! Now please show me your best gowns." I snap.

"Yes sir!" She leads us over to a pedestal with a changing area beside it, Bri stands on it looking very nervous, fiddling with her dress. "I will be back with some gowns. Any particular color?"

"Yes, anything blue and two sets of your Lacey jewel covered under garments...I like those." I reply, she nods and walks away to the back of the shop and Bri gasps at me.

"You look nervous Bri." I come behind her and put my hands on her waist watching her nervously fiddle with her dress.

"Yes, this is not what I'm used to I'm not like these girls here." She says.

"No, you're not you are much more beautiful than any of these ladies here. Come on Bri! This will be fun! I get to undress you multiple times and not just in my mind." I wink at her.

"This is way more fun for you! You've been undressing me in your mind?" She bites her lip.

"From the moment I met you." I give her a slap on the ass before I sit down in my seat to watch. She scowls at me.

"Here we are!" Leah says. Drowning in different shades of blue fabric. She hangs them up one by one for Bri to see.

"Which do you like best?" I watch Bri examine each one. They were beautiful, each one would look dazzling on her.

She looks at me for help.

"Vance, I...."

"You need some help." Leah interrupts. "Here let's try this one." She pulls a shimmery blue number off the hanger and hands it to Bri. "You can change right over here. I'll help you. "She leads her to the changing area just to the left of the pedestal.

"Leah, She needs a lot of help." I laugh. Bri is glaring at me over the change room divider as her face flushes red. I'm finding this quite amusing making her blush. She's really cute when she's nervous. I grab a book sitting beside me and read while I wait. It's a tailoring book for men, displaying different types of tunics and armor.

It's a few minutes of changing before she comes out. She steps out wearing a deep blue low-cut gown. There were crystals covering the top fitted bust, it pushed her beautiful breasts up making them look even bigger. It was off the shoulder with crystal lace sleeves and the skirt flowed out like flower petals around her. I drop the book I was reafrom and stand.

"Miss you look stunning in this gown." Leah smiles at me. "Looks like your knight likes this one too. What do you think miss? Blue really is your color!"

She's staring at herself. "How can I fight someone in this?" Leah bursts out laughing. I chuckled to myself, practical Brianna being herself.

"Isn't that what your knight is for?" Leah asks.

She sighs. "I can't walk in this."

"What do you mean? Let me see, it's the perfect length you should be able to move just fine." Leah replies.

Bri turns to me and takes one step forward and trips, I catch her before she falls to the ground. I'm just beaming at her, this is too funny.

"Ok, so maybe you can't walk in this." Leah replies.

I help her up onto the pedestal.

"I have a solution." Bri says.

"Can you cut slits for my legs? The higher the better. Just In case I have to kick someone in the face." She glares at me. I raise my hands in surrender laughing hysterically.

"I can do that, is there any other dresses you want to try on?"" She asks.

"No!" Bri snaps at her and Leah backs away.

"Ok...I will go get some "help".." Leah over pronounces the word help causing Bri to glare at her.

"Vance! Why are we doing this? Can't I just wear my battle clothese?" She whines.

"Bri we have to fit in, you're going to a new place, you can't wear clothes from Lesterose. There's already a lot of talk about you so let's try and fit in. I also love watching you get dressed up." I wink at her. She rolls her eyes at me.

I sit back down as Leah and four other tailors round the corner and start to work on Brianna cutting and sewing. It took an hour before she was all sewn back up. She looked stunning, I find myself falling deeper for her as I look at her moving in the gown. She lets her blonde hair out of the braid she had it in and ruffles it then sweeps the side. I watch it cascade in waves down the side of her, over her breasts to her mid waist.

"It's perfect!" She turns to me smiling, the slits sewn into the front came up high exposing part of her hips leaving you wanting to see more.

"It's absolutely stunning Bri! You look like a real mage! I guess I can take you with me." I wink at her. She throws me a cuss sign with her hands which makes the women around her gasp and shake their heads.

"Just need to work on that attitude." I stick my tongue out at her and she crosses her arms shaking her head.

"Alright! Should we get you in a gown now?" Bri gives me a sly look.

"Hey, I could wear that light blue number over there, but I wouldn't want to show you up." She bursts out laughing.

"How about I just take one of those sashes, tie you up and throw you over your horse? Taking extra care to cover that mouth of yours!" She walks over to where I'm sitting and puts her hands on my thighs, leaning in close to me. I can feel my own cheeks start to heat up as I picture her lips on mine.

I clear my throat. "I think I might like that." I pucker my lips at her. She smiles and puts a finger on them.
"You shush." She says and Leah breaks up the moment.

"Excuse me...umm...are you happy with this gown? Can we get you paid up?" Leah asks.

"Yeah, this is the one. How much?" I ask.

"That will be two thousand four hundred and fifty gold." She replies. Bri's hands cover her mouth as she stares at me.

"Sounds good!" I walk over to the counter and hand the lady a bag of gold from under my cloak. "There's three thousand in there keep the change. Thank you for your help."

"Thank you, sir happy travels!," Leah says.

I walk with Bri out into the street. Men are already tripping over themselves staring at her. She looks at me.

"I thought we were supposed to blend in? And how do you have so much money?" She snaps.

"You do blend in Bri look around! Everyone is wearing expensive things. I will explain that later let's get going to the ship."

"The ship?!" She grabs my arm and pulls me close.

"Yeah, we can grab some food on the way." We saddle up and make our way to the docks stopping for some rolls and fish along the way.