"Run!" he said to Meliara as he threw a smoke bomb in an attempt to hide them from view. But the smoke was cleared by a man who waved his hand and the room was miraculously cleared of smoke. Broadway's eyes narrowed in anger as his eyes shot around the room, trying to figure out a way to escape. Broadway quickly pushed Meliara to the window as he put his soaring stone that he had taken from Cloudrunner City in her pocket. He pushed her out the window as the magic of the stone took effect, and two wings appeared on her back. Two men then grabbed Broadway as he struggled in their grip. One man approached from the side as he quickly injected a clear liquid into Broadways arm. The red glow that had been present moments before faded as Broadway stopped his struggling, it was pointless now, they had him. Meliara flew to the window as Broadway mouthed to her to get away. She shook her head violently as one of the men holding Broadway saw her.

"Hey, she's getting away! After her!" he yelled as three other men gave a whistle. Meliara looked behind her as three huge birds appeared from behind the castle and positioned themselves under the broken window. The men jumped on the birds back and flew after Meliara as she flew as fast as she could. Broadway watched as they disappeared out of sight.

'Now she at least has a chance to escape.' He thought as he was roughly propelled to the door. Out in the hall was a man wearing all black as he looked at his prisoner.

"Broadway." He said in greeting.

"Vince." Broadway replied coolly.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Meliara flew fast and hard as she tried valiantly to out distance the three men behind her. She saw a forest and quickly dove into the trees for cover, but the men were right behind her. She zigzagged in and out of the trees, dodging branches left and right. She glanced backward as she saw the three huge birds behind her. Meliara increased her speed as she continued to weave in and out. She soon began to tire and her speed dropped. She tired valiantly to keep up the pace as a hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, yanking her into a clump of leaves. A hand covered her mouth, muffling her scream as the three birds and their riders flew past. She struggled in her captors grip as a familiar voice whispered in her ear.

"Stop struggling, you want them to find us?"

Meliara stopped her squirming as the grip on her loosened.

"Joren?" she said surprised. He nodded as he peeked out between the branches at the retreating backs of the giant birds.

"Looks like they are gone." He said turning to her.

"Thank goodness." She said in relief as she leaned against the tree trunk.

"So you want to fill me in on what is going on?" He asked looking at her.

Meliara sighed. "It's a long story." She said. "But to put it in a nutshell, Broadway failed, and now he is after him because of it."

Joren looked at her puzzled. "Failed? Failed at what? And who is he?" he asked.

Meliara shook her head as she sat up. "We don't have time to talk about it now. We have to save my brother." She then jumped from the tree, landing lightly in the forest floor. Joren landed next to her as Meliara put the soaring stone away, her wings and the blue E fading.

"Well how to you suggest we save him?" Joren asked looking at her. "We have no idea where he is being taken, or what they intend to do with him, or anything like that."

"You right, I don't know where they took him, but I do know that if we don't get him back soon, he'll be killed." Meliara started walking back in the direction of the castle.

"So what you're going to do, try to save him all by yourself?" Joren asked watching her walk away.

"If I have to." She said determinedly.

"Be realistic, Mel." Joren said. "There is no way you can get him back all by yourself, even if I do help you." Meliara stopped in her tracks and hung her head.

"So am I just supposed to do let him die?" she asked quietly.

"Well…." Joren said. "I do have one suggestion."