Lex walked over to his oaken chest and pulled out black leggings (best for riding), tunic and cloak. He quickly threw them on, grabbed an apple for himself and a bag of oats for Winter then walked outside slamming the door of his stone cottage.

'Te Te! Winter! Time to go boy'

Winter Storm came trotting up to Lex, his black, sleek, body distinguished against the stark whiteness of the snow. Lex pulled the small bag of oats out from his cloak, Winter let off a long snort that clearly said that he was hungry and pushed his nose right into the bag, oats flying everywhere.

Once Winter had finished Lex grabbed a handful of mane and threw himself onto his back, giving him a good kick in the sides that sent him galloping down the invisible track, white snow flying behind.

According to Lex, bareback is the only way you should ride, you have full contact with your horse and his muscle, skin on skin, muscle on muscle, you become one with the him, fight as one, defend as one.

Lex pulled out his black leather whips and gave them both a loud crack as he caught movement in the corner in his eyes.

'You there! Show yourself!' he shouted and poised, ready for battle.

Loyal hated it, he really had a bad sense of direction. At least it wasn't hot weather, or else it would be the worst day in his life. Stuck on a mountain on a hot day...just that thought made Loyal shudder.

The Sorceror had come up to the mountain, hoping to train his magic. But got lost...and stuck. Loyal sighed and continued walking until he heard a galloping noise, quickly hiding behind a small bush he peeked out.

It was a male...hopefully and he was riding a horse. The man called out to him and he panicked, why? He did not know. Loyal jumped out, tripping and falling into the thick snow. Loyal managed to pull his head out of the snow before seeing whips...then he screamed. "Aaah!!! Please don't hurt me!!"

Loyal pulled his arms in front. 'What the heck am I doing?' He shook his head before looking up at the rider. "Hi?" He grinned sheepishly.

Jacqueline flew over the mountains in her raven form, savouring the cool wind. She caught sight of a familiar face. Swooping down, she landed on Loyal's shoulder.

"Hey Loyal." she cawed happily.

Jacqueline then gave him a friendly peck on the side of his head. She looked up at the rider.

"Who's he?" she asked.

Jumping off Loyal's shoulder, she shifted back into her vampiric form. She crossed her arms and waited for a reply.

Lex studied the two travellers, a boy and a vampire. What were they doing out here? He turned Winter around and stared down at them, sizing them up. Deciding that they didn't look like they wanted a battle, he placed both whips on his belt and slid of his horse. He walked a circle around the two and stopped in front of them.

'I have not seen you around, especially not in these parts, my sacred training grounds...' Lex said as he narrowed his eyes.

'What is your buisness here? And why are you in my grounds? What are your names?' he asked, placing one hand on Winter's sweaty flank and the other on his whips that were now fastened on his hip.

Loyal stood up and brushed the snow off of him, he looked at Jacqueline and shrugged.

"I've been up here lots of times." He announced quite casually, this guy...it really was a man judging by his voice, Loyal couldn't believe it.

Loyal blinked. "My business here? Training of course." He gave another casual shrug. "Why else?" He looked away, eyeing a snowflake. He grinned and caught it, looking at its pattern before it melted.

"Your grounds? Everyone's ground, thank you." The Sorceror said with a small laugh, this place belonged to everyone, not just him.

"Me? Who wants to know? ...And besides, she already said my name...or didn't you here?" Loyal said, pointing at Jacqueline. "Your turn. Who are you?" He asked with a smile, warming his hands up a little.

‘I don’t answer to you’ Lex said simply.
He took a cloth out from the inside of his long cloak, wet it with his flask and started wiping Winter’s back, cleaning of the sweat and cooling him down. He smiled.
‘Excuse me for my curtness earlier, you’re right these are not my grounds, but I have lived here for years… alone and undisturbed’ he shot a look at the visitors. ‘I have grown attached to this land. It has been a while since I have been around other people; after the accident I cut all my connections for fear that…’ Lex sighed and stopped wiping Winter ‘As I said it has been a long time, you two look pretty tough and I haven’t had much man on man combat lately.’ Lex looked up at the two and put the cloth back in his cloak.
‘How would you fancy coming to my preferred training spot and doing some combat training? Your shape shifter friend can fly and you Loyal, can ride behind me on Winter, he is big and extremely strong. The place is about an hours gallop from here. So, what do you say?’ Lex threw himself up on to Winter and proffered his hand to Loyal. He didn’t really care if they obliged or not, he was strong enough anyway, but what he said was true.

Loyal blinked and shrugged. "Fine don't answer."

The Sorceror listened, combat was the word that stood out. This man wanted to fight him, both of them. Loyal smiled. "Alright. Better than training alone I guess." He shrugged and grinned at the man. "Firstly, could I have your name?" He placed his hands on his hips and waited.

Loyal caught the word 'gallop'. His head jerked up and he was quite shocked. He never ridden a horse before...he rides the wind. A new experience couldn't hurt and besides, if it did Loyal could always jump onto the wind. He grabbed the man's hand. "I wouldn't mind riding the horse. Winter is it?" Loyal smiled.

'Yes, Winter storm. And I am Lex, Lex Crystalice.' replied Lex as he hoisted Loyal up on to Winter's back.

Lex removed a leather piece from his cloak and tied his ankle-length white hair in a loose side pony tail to keep it from wrapping itself around the man. He was older than himself he guessed, judging by the man's looks and physique. Removing a long, padded leather band with a buckle at the end, Lex threw it under Winter, catching it on the other side and buckled it up, supplying Loyal with a means to hold on and keep from falling off.

Lex, completely defying his personality, was actually looking forward to training with these new strangers. It had certainly been a long time, and hopefully if something with his magic went wrong, they would be able to protect themselves due to the fact that they were so strong. Lex isn't really in to the friend thing, be he thinks that it could do some good to build some new connections and friendships now that he had finally let his past go to rest.

lex kicked Winter into a fast walk and looked for a topic of conversation.

'So, what do you specialise in Loyal? I certainly am looking forward to our friendly training session. You seem awkward. There is no reason to be afraid of winter, he is most definitely the strongest and most steady, sure-footed horse you will come across. Have you every ridden a horse before?' Queried Lex in a friendly manner.

"Lex? That has a nice ring to it." Loyal said with a grin, he looked at the horse and used his ability and neighed at the horse. "Nice to meet you, Winter."

Loyal felt a bit afraid when Winter started moving, his arms shot forward and grabbed Lex's shoulders. Now he was a bit less afraid of falling off.

"What do I specialize in?" Loyal repeated, thinking, not that he really needed to. "Well, magic." He laughed. "I can do almost all of the elements in magic, ranging from earth to wind, illusional to astral, darkness to light." He answered, he was happy, not that he never was.

Loyal shook his head a little bit. "No, never. I ride the wind." He said, gathering the wind around them, Loyal didn't even need to move. Friendly breezes brushed alongside them, picking up Lex's hair and dropping it back down. Loyal laughed, he really couldn't wait to practice with this man, he seemed friendly enough.

Lex flinched as the older man's hands grabbed his shoulders, contact is something Lex has never been really accustomed to, he has always been very independant.

Oh well, it is his first time riding before and I suppose some human contact wouldn't do me any harm.

Lex felt the wind pick up around them sending his hair and Winter's mane flying.

'I must say, I have never tried riding the wind before, you'll have to teach me' Lex said.

'I have a certain although un-trained strength in all the elements except for fire, I fight with, as you already know, leather whips, and my horse. I think it would be interesting to see how my un-schooled and your schooled magic differs. I believe that we could learn a lot from each other' Lex said with unfeigned honesty.

"Wolves" said Winter sending the message into both the men's heads, "Hundreds, to the right of us"

Lex spun winter around, kicking white snow up.

'Are you ready to fight? A real battle, man verses beast' asked Lex, a glint of challenge and determination in his eye.