[Ned Flanders]

Pharis acknowledged her carefully, and paused. “It is a long story, and we have far more pressing matters to deal with. Those orcs I mentioned are not far behind and….”

Pharis yawned, and not a brief yawn but rather the type of yawn that seems to last forever stretching every muscle, bone, and joint in the body to the brink of overextension. He felt muscle grow, joints pop, and bones settle. A thoroughly satisfying grin crossed his face followed by the word, “Whoa!” *(Several dimensions over, a man in a computer simulated dreamworld clad in black with matching sunglasses practicing kung fu halted his repetitions and said, “Hey, that’s my line!”)*.

Tashara grinned as well, finding amusement in the fact a simple act could generate such personal gratification. Pharis, having recovered from the euphoric stretch (which incidentally finally completed his transformation from wolf to man), caught Tashara staring as him and exclaimed, “You try spending a year and several tenday on all fours and see how it feels when you’re expected to make it on these!!” pointing at his legs. “As it is, I feel quite…………..complete.” They held one anothers stare for a few moments in silence, aside from the pack, who were getting a little wound up with Pharis’ gestures and raised voice. This proved mildly unsettling to Tashara who chose to break the silence.

“Orcs?” she inquired.

“Orcs?” Pharis paused. “Oh yes, the orcs.” Tashara’s eyes widened giving wonder as to whether or not this man took anything seriously or was still not all ‘quite there’ and having some behavioral adjustment issues with his newly rediscovered biology. She internally debated if she’d fare better against the approaching vermin on her own, though she doubted at this juncture Pharis would ‘choose’ to let her out of his sight.

“Right then” continued Pharis. “Follow me, I’ve an idea.” Pharis marched off, happily, his legs restored, Kael, protectively by his side. Minutes later he stood at the base of a large maple. Pointing eastward, he said, “The orcs will enter the clearing from near that ridgeline of trees, courtesy of myself and the pack. If you would be so kind to wait patiently in this here maple, you can do whatever it is… you can do…” Tashara appeared perturbed while Pharis fumbled for words. “As a spellcaster. You did say spellcaster before right, while pointing out I was naked and unarmed.” He looked down towards his waistline, grinning, as usual.

“I did”, replied Tashara curious if he would ramble on until the orcs overtook their very position.

“Well then, I’m sure you’re full of ideas…Fire, I think would work very nice.” He smiled tapping his black leather armor. “But do try to keep your aim towards their front ranks, away from the pack. Here.” He removed the cloak and handed it to Tashara. “Invisibility, very handy.”

“I can take care of that myself.” She replied.

“Well hold on to it for me then, along with this”, he said, removing his tunic. “I’m not for carryin’ gear unnecessary . Oh yeah, and this.” He removed a ring off his left hand and handed it to her. “This’ll help with climbing the tree.” This rather excessive amount of newfound trust put Tashara back on her guard. Something seemed slightly out of place with what had transpired so far, but she was unable to pinpoint it specifically. “Anything else you have for me?” she questioned Pharis.

A puzzled expression crossed his face, “Did I forget something?”

Closing her eyes in frustration and shaking her head she said nothing, exhaling a loud sigh when she reopened her eyes and found him digging through the various pockets of his black breeches.

“Ha! That’s it.” Pharis barked producing a small leather pouch from one of his pockets. He began dipping darts into the pouch and placing the darts one by one onto the black and gold bracers he wore, until there were three on each bracer. He then checked his kukris and turned to Tashara.

“Kael and a few others will remain here with you”, he said with a wide grin “for your protection, in case the orcs should survive your spellcasting.” She wasn’t really sure if they were left as guards or aides, but had already concluded she would see the battle through. Besides, if Pharis did his part, this would be a quick encounter. She nodded in agreement and Pharis turned to depart to find the orcs.

He hadn’t taken more than two steps before turning back around saying, “I suppose it will be important for you to know when I get to the clearing I will look a bit like…well, an orc.” He tapped his armor again. “It provides a bit of disguise, as it were, but I’ll give you a signal so you know it’s me. Oh, the setting sun behind you will provide great cover and shadows. The orcs will never see you in the tree.”

“I’ll be invisible. Do you recall us covering that!” she retorted.

“Right. Well, you’ve a bit of free time anyway so be sure to admire it. It’s rather beautiful.”

Tashara breathed a sigh of relief as Pharis vanished into the cover of the dense woods curious how the wolves around her would react should he fail to return.

* authors note: Whenever “Whoa!” is used I feel credit to Keanu Reeves is mandatory.