This chapter and the first together were both available for download on Oct. 9th at .com

Kalin stroked Rebecca's forehead, feeling the sweat that made her skin sticky and clammy. He wished he could help her, but the only one who seemed to know the answer to this confusing and seemingly unsolvable riddle was the woman lying before him in a coma. She would awake every once in a while but the time she was conscious was very little, and she always spoke in confusing sentences. Sometimes he could make them out and get the gist of what she wanted him to do, other times her words would be slurred and garbled. Those were the times when she would awake with crazed eyes, desperately trying to convey everything that mashed inside her brain.

"I did what you told me to do, love." He whispered to her, sighing heavily. "I gave Fortis the hint about her dreams, and I finally managed to get her traveling. She is still angry over what happened with Elizabeth, but I sent her to Philip and she has seen the test results, you were right, the change is starting to take over." He stroked again, wishing she would open her eyes so that he could speak with her. Without the riddles, without the tasks. She was still connected to the other world, she had told him this, and due to that all of the information was channeling through her. Why she couldn't detach he didn't know, but suspected it was his Goddess trying to use Rebecca to do something.

While he loved his Goddess, he loved his bride more. He was suffering from loss of interaction. Thorian males needed to touch, to taste, to hear their Bride's voices. He didn't know how Philip had lived with his Bride in a coma all these years, but he felt a wealth of new found understanding a pity for the man. He also felt respect for him, for this man had been searching harder than anyone else for a solution to what was going on with Rebecca and Liza. They both held out hope that when Liza woke from her change she would have answers for them.

Closing his eyes he leaned his forehead against hers, feeling his heart hurting. He was on the verge of insanity already, and wished he could force this plot to go along quicker but felt like the helpless by standard that he really was.

"I love you, Rebecca." He whispered. "I love you, don't you dare leave me!"

So help the Thorian race if she did.

Fortis sat in the plane seat, her legs drawn, her feet resting on the back of the seat in front of her. She nibbled on her thumb, looking out the window, wishing that the pilot would hurry up with refueling the plane. The cooler that she had sitting on the floor board in front of her seat was only going to keep the serum she had cooled for several more hours. If the serum became warm it would be ruined and she would be unable to get it unless she went back home.

She was also extremely tired and would be able to sleep until they landed where they were supposed to and she then made the ten mile hike through the deadly jungle that bordered the hot sands of the Sand Walkers. And that was the smallest patch of jungle on the island. She had been to see the Sand Walkers twice in the life, once when she was just a little girl, before her fangs had even come in, and her father had been doing business with their king. And then once again she passed through about a hundred or so years ago, just wanting to stop in and renew their treaty and to see how their people were doing. The same king had been in charge, and he had remembered her, and had asked her to do some research on their people. He wanted to know if she could isolate the gene that allowed their people to have such long lives and see if she could mutate it to allow them to be immortal like the Thorians. She didn't know if she could do it but she had agreed to try.

So far her experiments had been fruitful, but she had been unable to experiment so she didn't really know how well she had done. She knew it wasn't done yet, though, but had decided to bring what she had with her in exchange for them to allow her to use one of their best spirit walkers to help her find out what was happening with Rebecca.

She sighed with relief when she heard the sound of the pilot coming up the steps. She was anxious to be getting this along, and she had no idea why. She hoped the same king was in charge, but the odds of that were slim at this point since he was reaching the pinnacle of his age, where his hair would solidify in color and his eyes would darken to almost black and he would then start to decline in health and stature. While she remembered his eldest son from the time she was small he had not been there when she had stopped by last time and things could be a little difficult if he had already married and taken over the throne. While they had an ongoing treaty the Sand Walkers were a weary bunch since they were usually always cut off from the rest of the world.

She allowed her head to loll against the headrest, letting her eyes slide shut as she head the engines of the plane beginning to start up, a lulling hum. Even while her mind seemed to be abuzz with trying to straighten all of this out her mind slipped into darkness before she knew it.

Fortis paced back and forth in front of the tree line, her backpack on her back and her cooler in hand. She had traveled light, knowing she was going to have to hike in dangerous territory and she might need to run. While she was with her dad none of the creatures in the forest had dared bother them, maybe because he gave off the vibe that said back off to all who dared oppose him. The second time she had come she had been coming from the other side of the island and had been able to bypass the forest all together.

She froze when she heard sound coming from the trees, dropping into a squat, feeling her fangs sharpen in her mouth her eyes sight becoming sharper, her muscles tensing. In a single instant she had transformed into a deadly weapon, as very few knew she could.

"Fortis?" a voice called, and she felt her muscles go slack, a frown etched onto her forehead. Hesitantly, she stood from her squat.

"Fortis?" a voice called again, with more movement from the trees. A woman came into view, her hair a dark brown, her eyes a sandy color, and a wide smile on her lips when she saw Fortis. She was flanked by two men, both whose hair was still a silver color and eyes were the lightest blue, young men. They all held small daggers in their hands and had swords strapped to their backs.

"Violet?" Fortis finally asked, feeling her face go slack with shock.

"You remember me," she said, her voice slightly accented, her skin a beautiful bronze. She was almost as tall as Fortis and moves with that fluid grace that was entrancing. It didn't help she had a curvy body and she was dressed like an amazon, her skirt and tube top made out of brown cloth to match her hair, singling she was unmarried.

"Of course I remember you!" she spouted, rushing forward to hug the woman. This woman was the king's second youngest daughter whom she had met the last time she was here. The woman hugged her back warmly, laughing with delight while the two young men stood idly by, looking like the wanted to be ready for battle but were inexperienced.

"I was worried you would not, it had been over a hundred years."

"Yes, and you were so small then, look at you now! You're a woman!"

"And you have not aged a single day." She said in awe, touching Fortis's cheek.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"We received notice you would be arriving today and so my father sent us here to retrieve you."

"So your father is still in charge?" she frowned through when the woman nodded. "Wait, you received word I would be here? Today? When?"

"About a week or so ago." She seemed to think the news was nothing important, for she kept talking. "My mother is excited to see you again as well, and both of my brothers. You will also be able to meet my baby sister."

"Breck and Kly are home?" normally Breck, the eldest, was out making treaties and checking on his clans investments. Kly usually brought home news about the outside world and made sure their clan was as up to date as they could be. Kly had been here when she had come last time, whereas Breck had been out.

"Yes, they must be."

"Why?" that could only mean someone important had died, a festival was upcoming, or their father needed their aid for something.

"For the wedding, of course."

Ah, one of the royal family was due to be married.

"Who would that be?"

"Breck of course. He must marry and ascend to the throne. Your timing could not have been better." She took the cooler from Fortis, opened it, took out the serum, and transferred it to one of their own that the men had been carrying. Not only had they known when she was coming but they knew that she had it and that her cooler was dying?

What kind of joke was this?

Smiling, though she was feeling an odd sense of forboding, she followed Violet into the forest.