Well, here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy, and please review.

Serenade of Light- Thanks for the review.

Atreyu the Slayer- Hm, I don't know, this story could be able to snap back. I mean, it doesn't have to be exactly based off the movie and it could be a love triangle. You just don't know. (Has suspicious smile.)


Equal Trade

Meiru waited in her small home, well cabin actually, but it was home to her and Laika. She had waited for at least nine hours for her brother to come home with food, or at least come back safe.

She always worried that her brother would not come back and she would be all alone. This was why she didn't want Laika to go out hunting, she always told him that she could pay with the money she made by making figurines.

"Uh! I can't take it anymore. I'm going to buy some food. Besides, even if he does get food, I can store it for later." Meiru said while getting her purse.

Then she left her cabin and headed toward town. Her cabin was in the forest, but not very deep in it. Most of the forest animals here were gone, due to her brother, he had over hunted.

So Meiru walked along the path to town, it was deathly quiet. None of the animals were here. Meiru sighed, it was quite lonely out here, but the townsfolk were very kind and friendly.

Soon, Meiru reached the town and then she walked towards her favorite food stall.

"Hey Meiru." The keeper said.

Yes, Meiru was very well known in town. She was the nicest they had every seen. This made it easy to get a job.

"Hi Adrian." Meiru said. (1)

"Hey Meiru. You here because your brother couldn't get a catch again.?" Adrian said.

"No, I'm just fed up with waiting for my brother. He's been gone for nine hours." Meiru said as she picked up a cucumber.

"Oh, I hope he's okay. I heard there was some sort of monster in the woods now. Actually, I think it's true because dead bodies were found in the forest. They were mauled badly." Adrian said.

At that point, Meiru dropped what she was holding and excused herself. Then after she was out of town, she ran all the way home.

After she got home, she dropped her purse and got a back pack. Then she filled it up with a few pieces of dried meat, a extra pair of clothing, and a carving knife.

Then she left the cabin and headed in the direction Laika had gone.

A couple minutes later, Meiru was lost. She had never been this deep into the forest before. So she had no idea which way she had gone, and which way she didn't.

Then Meiru heard a rustle from a bush. She turned around and saw a white wolf. It walked past her and then stopped, almost as if it was beckoning her to follow. So Meiru did follow.

After about twenty minutes, Meiru saw a castle starting to climb over the tree tops. When they exited the forest, Meiru gasped at the sight of the castle. It was extremely huge and quite beautiful, but Meiru's sight seeing was halted when the white wolf stopped suddenly. Meiru almost tripped over it.

Meiru looked down and the wolf stepped aside. As if wanting her to walk toward the castle. Meiru took the hint and began to walk toward the castle. On the way there, Meiru remembered to thank the wolf, but when she turned around, it was gone.

"Strange. There was a wolf here and it's not snowing or hadn't snowed. Also, it seemed quite tame." Meiru said.

Meiru shrugged and continued to walk. Then she reached the doors and was going to knock on the door when it opened suddenly. Meiru pushed the door opened and spoke into the darkness of the hall.

"Um, is anyone here?" Meiru said.

Meiru finally got past the door and began to walk. She felt a tugging at her heart, telling her to walk in the direction of the tugging. After a couple minutes of walking, she reach a stairway leading down. The tugging was stronger now, so she followed it.

After she made it down the stairs, she found out that there was a dungeon down here. Then she called out.

"Laika, are you here?" Meiru said.

At first, there was nothing. Then she heard groaning. Meiru immediately walked toward the direction it came from. When she got to the cell, she was horrified. Her brother was locked in a cage and he was badly wounded, but there were bandages over his wounds.

"Brother." Meiru said as she grabbed the bars of the cell.

Then Laika immediately became alert. "Meiru, get out of here!" Laika yelled.

"Why?" Meiru said.

"Because he's afraid I might kill you." A voice said.

Meiru turned around and saw a man, no, teenager. She couldn't tell, he was hidden well in the shadows.

"Don't hurt her!" Laika yelled as he grabbed the bars suddenly.

"Why, there's no reason to." The figure said as he walked out of the shadows.

It was a brunette, around the age of fifteen. He seemed very handsome, wait, did she just think handsome, oh well. Anyways, what was strange was that the boy had ears, and a tail!

This surprised Meiru, but Laika knew better. He had seen this form before.

"Let her go home, and I'll stay here." Laika said suddenly.

Meiru turned to her brother. "What, you can't. I'll be lonely." Meiru said.

"Doesn't matter, I just want your safety." Laika said.

Meiru seemed shocked, then she turned to the figure. "Please let my brother go." Meiru pleaded.

"Why should I!" The figure yelled.

"Because!" Meiru yelled back.

"You don't have the right to order me around!" The figure yelled as his form changed to his beastly form. He was about to attack when he stopped and looked toward the shadows.

He kicked a stone in that direction and then everyone heard a thump, and a cry of pain. After, a girl looking the same age and height walked out of the shadows.

"Why did you do that?" Spirit said as she rubbed her head. She was a brunette also and she had the same ears and tail as the figure.

"You know I don't like that." The figure mumbled.

Spirit either ignored him, or didn't care. She walked towards Meiru, but stopped after she saw Laika grip the bars.

"Miss, what would you do to give your brother freedom?" Spirit asked.

Meiru thought about it for a second, but the person could not wait and was about to yell when Spirit suddenly got a loaf of bread from no where and shoved it into his mouth. Finally, Meiru figured out what to do, but she had a sad face.

"I would trade positions with him." Meiru said.

"What, no!" Laika protested.

"What do you think?" Spirit asked the person.

"Humph, whatever. Do what you want, its your problem." The person said.

"Then it's decided then." Spirit said as she walked to a wall near a cell. Then she pulled a hook near the cell down, and the wall slid away, letting a boy fall through.

The boy looked to be twelve or thirteen. He had blackish, blue hair and green eyes. He was wearing a old hat over his head and his shirt was very large.

"Oh, Saito, how nice of you to volunteer to escort Laika-san back to familiar land." Spirit said. (2)

"Hmm." Saito began.

"You will escort him, right?" Spirit more so commanded then asked.

"Uh, yeah, sure." Saito said as he went to unlock Laika's cell.

"Oh, and Laika-san, I'll be buying your weapons off of you. Don't worry, it's for everyone's safety. Also, I checked the value of them all, I've made no mistake, I'm a expert swordsman." Spirit said.

"Swords woman" The person said.

"Swords woman." Spirit said.

So Laika was given a bag of money that came out of no where. It was also very heavy, despite its size. After, Laika was lead back home, possibly this was the last time he would see his sister.

"Okay, let's get out of this eerie place." Spirit said.

Then Spirit turned to the person and was about to speak when he cut her off.

"I said it was your problem." He said. Then he walked through the secret passage way Saito had gone through and the door closed after he went through.

So after he had gone, Spirit sighed, and apologized for his rudeness. Then she lead Meiru up to her room, and left her there, but before she left, she told Meiru that the handle next to the door would call someone if she needed anybody.

So Meiru sat on her new bed, and looked around. Everything seemed expensive to her, but she would think about everything later, now she had to worry about her new life. After, she fell asleep.

-To Be Continued-


1. Just a name. No importance to the story except to take up character space.

2. I didn't want to use "Rockman" for his name, so I looked for another name.

Well, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter, and please review so that this may be a better story.

Next Chapter The Tour and The Hot Springs

In the next chapter, Meiru well get a tour around the castle, meet some new people, and be in a hot spring with the beastly person that had held her brother captive, wait, did I just say that. Uh, slip of the tongue. Wait for the next chapter.