Chapter 1

Fire P.O.V.

It almost felt as if someone was trying controlling me, but that wasn't possible. I was the only human monster left, right? It has been years since I killed my own father, Cansrel, the only other human monster in my lifetime. He was thirsty for blood and power, and even though he was my father, he took it too far. He controlled the King, and I had to stop him. Still, despite the fact I'm surrounded by guards, I felt open to danger. Maybe the monster animals were learning to control me?

"Lady, LADY!" Musa practically shouted. Suddenly, I was snapped back into reality.

"What?" My mind was wandering, and I hadn't felt myself in forever. "Have you noticed anything unusual about me lately?" I asked Musa.

"No my lady," she replied "You seem normal, or at least for you." Musa wasn't just a guard, she was one of my closest friends, well actually one of my only friends. So we joked around constantly, lightening every one's spirits. I cracked a smile and was about to respond when Brigan walked in. Hanna looked up from her bow, and ran to him.

"Daddy, you're home!" She jumped into his arms. His face was grim but he managed to crack a smile.

"I'm afraid not for long, Hanna dear." Then he looked at me solemnly and said, "Nash has angered Lady Murgda again and I'm to go sooth her temper."

Hanna loosened her grip on him just enough to see his grim face. Her eyes were filling up with tears. Do you really have to leave again?" she whispered, choking back tears. I knew Hanna was tired of being so grown up about Brigan, and that she just wanted to let all of her feelings spill out.

"Yes Hanna," he sighed. I could see the pain in his eyes as he spoke. Hanna couldn't take it anymore. She squirmed out of his arms and ran out of the courtyard. I knew her pain. She was terrified that he wouldn't come back. Then an urgent question popped in my mind.

"How long will you be gone?" I asked.

"I don't know," he replied "The journey is long and it could take up to three months."

"That's too long for Hanna." Then I said a little quieter, "and me."

"I know," he sighed and started to walk away when I shouted, "When do you leave, Brigandell?" He was a little startled at hearing his full name. He look at me sadly and spoke.

"Tomorrow, crack of dawn." How could King Nash do this? I thought he knew how hard it was on all of us when Brigan left. What could make him do such a thing? With a sad glance, Brigan abandon me in the courtyard.

Suddenly, I heard a terrible screeching sound. Raptors. Why were they here? Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my hair. Great, just great. No wonder there were so many. Imagine millions of falcons and raptor monsters with beautiful colored feathers dive bombing you.

"Run inside!" I yelled. We were running in when a raptor caught Mira by the arm.

"NO!" I screamed and ran to go help her when the raptor fell dead at my feet, Musa standing over the broken body with a bloody spear. She was in shock and I had to drag her inside, calling for a medic to bandage Mira's limp arm.

"I must speak to King Nash about this matter."

"What matter?" Mira gasped, clutching her arm stained red with blood.

I didn't want to scare Mira anymore, so I walked away to settle things with Nash. I stormed into the courtroom. "Nashdell!" I yelled sternly, "What is the matter with you?" He looked up, bored. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, you know what you did." I waited for him to catch on, and when he didn't, I yelled at him.

"IDIOT, you know what you did. How could you make Brigan go away when he just got home?" Nash looked truly surprised and worried.

"Brigan is going away already?" Then his worry turned to anger. "What in Dells name did you do? Fire, I can't believe you would try and blame this on me! Get the Dells out of here! I never want to your bothersome face again."

I was stunned, unable to think of something to say. I was hurt, scared, and confused.

Nash saw I hadn't moved so he yelled, "I don't like to repeat myself, but, get out Fire! Just get out." And with that I stormed out, tears streaming down my face. I sprinted through the corridor, up the stairs, and banked a hard left into my room. I slammed the door as hard as I could. Locked in my room, I lied down on my bed and cried into my pillow. King Nash would pay one way or another. He would pay! After what seemed like hours, I finally stopped crying and decided to go down for dinner. I was getting dressed when I heard a blood curdling scream. In panic, I got dressed then sprinted as fast as I could to the source of the scream. I ran through two big doors to find Garan laying on the floor, cringing in sheer pain.

"Help!" I yelled "Garan needs help!" Garan was barely alive. He was twitching, covered in sweat from a fever, and he was moaning. A whole swarm of people came rushing up. The mob included Musa, Brigan, Nash, Clara, and some others. Nash took one look at his brother then glared at me, screaming. "Fire, what did you do?"

"What the Dells, Nash?" I yelled back "You think I would hurt Garan, then scream for help?"

"Give him space," said the medic. "And for Dells sake quiet down." Nash glared at me, but held his tongue. We all watched as the medics lifted Garan from the floor and onto the bed. Garan sat up weakly and managed to say, "If this is it, beware the-" Garan passed out before he could finish. He wasn't dead. We knew he wasn't because he was still breathing. I just stood there, mortified. What had Garan been about to say? Why was Nash suspecting me for everything? So many questions like these ran through my head. Musa tapped my arm, signaling me to go. I nodded, we walked out of the room. I glanced back to see the doors slowly closing. We all went down to the dinning room for dinner, but no one was very hungry. I had only two thoughts running through my brain, Why would Nash blame me for trying to help Garan? and, Could things get any worse?

Hermy P.O.V.

"Look at them!" he muttered to no one. "Eating dinner by the warm firelight while I'm stuck out here in the cold rain." But that's how things had been, and it's the way they would always be. So once again, Hermy was forced to watch others live their life in comfort while he suffered.

Hermy hadn't known comfort until Scarlet and her father, Sherril, had found him and adopted him. That night seemed like a life time ago. It was a cold, rainy night, and Hermy had just woken up in the middle of a dirt road. He wandered for hours until he saw a silhouette of a horse coming down the road. He stopped, too tired to travel any farther. Hermy watched as the horse stopped in front of him. There were two riders. A girl, about his age, and a grown man. The man grabbed Hermy's collar and pulled him onto the horse. They rode until a small hut's outline came over the horizon. As they rode closer the hut became something like a small castle. The girl hopped off and ran towards the house. She got to the front door beckoning Hermy to fallow. Slowly, Hermy dismounted and followed the girl inside. Inside, it was warm and comfortable. He wander up, down, and through every door he could find until he came to the dinning hall. There were three bowls of soup on a long wooden table.

"Hi," said a high, squeaky voice from behind that startled him. He spun around to see the girl.

"I'm Scarlet," she continued, "this is my house. Who are you?" Before he could answer, the man came in.

"This is my dad, Sherril," Scarlet said cheerfully. Sherril extended out his hand for Hermy to take. He reached out and shook Sherril's hand.

"I'm Hermet, but I go by Hermy," he finally managed. They sat down at the table to eat, when Scarlet gave him a strange look. "Is something bothering you, Hermy?" she asked inquisitively.

"Well..." he started. "It's just, I mean... I can't remember the last time I felt happy or lo-loved." He stammered, bursting into tears. After a couple of minutes with Sherril comforting Hermy, he finally stopped bawling.

"I've just never really had a family, and I can't stand the idea of having to go back out there." Sherril and Scarlet looked at each other for a long moment.

"Well you don't have to any more." Sherril said abruptly, "You can live with us from now on." Hermy's face lit up, and Scarlet ran up to him and hugged him tight. Finally, Hermy had a home. Then the armies came and destroyed their home three days later. The trio barely escaped with their lives, Scarlet was devastated when she had to leave her favorite stuffed bear behind in the fire. Scarlet, Hermy, and Sherril were then forced to live their life on the road, swearing vengeance on the ones who took their home away. Hermy now had the chance to even things out. Once he captured Princess Hanna, they would feel his pain, but that was six years ago. Hermy had always wondered why Scarlet and Sherril tortured others when they were the nicest people he knew, or so it seemed. But that was six years ago.

Hanna P.O.V.

The next morning, Hanna woke up earlier than anyone else. She was excited today because Fire was going to take her out in the woods to watch monsters, and talk about Brigan. She sprinted out the door into Fire's room, but Fire was no where to be seen. Hours past and still no sign of Fire. Around noon, she decided to go see if Uncle Nash wanted to go shoot arrows with her. She skipped into the court room with her dog. Nash looked bored. He'll be happy to go shoot with me then, Hanna thought to herself.

"Uncle Nash," Hanna said in a sing-song voice. "Want to go shoot arrows with me? It will be fun and then you won't be so bored." Nash's face turned from solemn into an evil grin.

"Hanna," he said with all the sarcasm he could muster. "I would love to come shooting with you, but first I have to go to a meeting."

Hanna smart enough to know there was no meeting scheduled replied, "There is no meeting today Nash." Then he turned angry.

"You incompetent little brat!" he yelled. "Of course there isn't, but I would never go play your stupid games. Leave now, or I will have kill your father, and you can visit my dungeons. I never liked either of you, now you can die together like I've been planning for so long!" Frightened, Hanna ran crying out of the room. She sprinted out into the court yard and sobbed.

Hanna finally stopped crying and in anger she screamed, "I hate everyone! I'm running away!" She was tired of always having a burden bigger than her. Hanna had gone through so much from bullies to her Dad's possible death, she had to let it out. Hanna was still in the court yard when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Just a wisp of black, moving fast. She was not alone.

"Hello, Hanna," a voice said behind her that frightened her. Hanna spun around and saw a boy. He looked to be about Fire's age. The boy was tall, thin, and... he had blue hair. "Don't be afraid," the boy said a little too quickly. "I'm Hermy, I heard that you want to escape. That's true, right?" Hanna was still mesmerized by his blue hair, but she managed to reply.

"Ya, I di-did." Hanna didn't see where he was going, so she kept listening.

"Now, don't worry. Uncle Hermy is here to help. I can take you away from all this chaos to a nice home where everyone treats you like an actually human, not dirt." In blind fury, Hanna could think of nothing in the world that sounded better.

"Let's go." Hanna stood up and walked out of the court yard with Hermy.