Silas jumped onto the Vengeance, his green Wizard eyes slitted against the sprays of sloshing seawater that were coming up from the sides of the large boat. He came almost unnoticed, because DomDaniel and his few lackeys were already occupied with Boy 412, Jenna, and Nicko. Thankfully, they didn't seem to notice Marcia, who was the whole reason Silas had come.

When he'd heard from Alther that Marcia had been removed from Dungeon Number One, he'd automatically blamed DomDaniel, and he'd decided to take action.

Sure, he and Marcia weren't the best of friends. They didn't always get along very well. But deep inside, Silas respected her very much, and even cared about her enough to risk his life on DomDaniel's boat.

When Silas rushed to Marcia's side, she was slumped near the entrance to the downstairs level. His heart hurt when he looked at her; the once-powerful ExtraOrdinary Wizard was pale and thin, and it looked like the guards had pushed her around a bit as well. All in all, she looked exhausted, with dark shadows under her green eyes.

"Marcia?" he asked quietly, kneeling next to her.

She looked up at him, and a bit of life came into her dull eyes. "S…Silas?" she asked. "I… I thought you were back with Sarah."

Silas nodded. "I came looking for you. I was really worried, Marcia."

Marcia's green eyes filled with tears; whether they were of relief, fear, or exhaustion, he didn't know. "Silas…"

"It's okay." Silas smiled at her. "Come on, I'll help you." He put one of her arms around his shoulders and slowly helped her stand up.

Silas half-carried Marcia back to the little boat he had rowed there. He lowered her into it, and then hopped in himself.

As he picked up the paddles and began to head back to Aunt Zelda's cottage, a feeble voice piped up from behind him.

"Th…Thank you, Silas."

He stopped for a moment to turn around and look at her. The disdain that usually filled her green eyes when she looked at him was gone, replaced by… was it respect? No. Couldn't be. Marcia Overstrand, ExtraOrdinary Wizard, respecting him, just an Ordinary Wizard?

Anyway. Whatever it was, she seemed pleased with him. So he grinned. "My pleasure, Marcia. You would have done the same for me."

After a very small pause, Marcia replied, "Of course."

"So don't worry about it. Just relax… we'll be at Zelda's soon." Silas paddled away from the Vengeance.

Exhausted and filled with relief, Marcia leaned her head on Silas's shoulder. The latter just smiled and kept rowing.