I want to thank Lady Arianne of Ambers Valley. Thanks for the compliment, and I'll try my best to keep it and interesting story. :)

Saturday, March 12, 247 H.E

Around noon, I had had enough of sitting around the room. So I stood up, and headed for the door. I wanted to go looking around for one Aniki or Kora. I'm not sure I should trust Rosto, and I know that sounds stupid, because Kora and Aniki are the same as he is, but I think that they seem more trustworthy. Besides, I don't like the way he looks at me. Anyway, I think (dare I say it?) that Beka and he are attracted to one another. Beka seems to be in denial though. She likes him, but she doesn't want to be.

Of course, I set out looking for anyone but Rosto, but who do I (literally) walk into? Rosto. He seemed surprised, but he didn't exactly apologize. See, I had closed my door, and was thinking hard, so I didn't notice him striding up the stairs. He didn't notice me, and walked into me. His bump, bumped me against the door, and he stood close. Looking at me, he fingered my brown wavy hair. "You've such a lovely face, and eyes." He commented, still standing in front of me. My eyes flashed, and my mouth twisted. I guess that he, like other people, didn't see my stubborn chin. Or maybe he ignored it.

"Back off, and stop touching my hair. Go do that to Beka." He did as was asked, so I figured that he can't be that bad. Since he was there I decided to ask "I've got coins, but are they the same type as yours?" With that, I handed him my coins. He looked at my coins and blank.

"They're silver nobles, but with the wrong head. Here, I'll give you the same amount as you've got, and I'll take yours. I can have them changed to the right head, and I'll keep them." He took my coins, and he dropped down the right amount of coins. I was amazed that he would be so kind. But, why was I so surprised? George was a Rouge, and I know he was kind.

"Thank you, well, I'm going to go explore." With that, I tucked it in a pouch that was next to my badger dagger, and I became a tabby cat. Pretending not to hear his gasp of surprise, I sauntered off with my tail waving like a banner.

As I walked through the streets, I couldn't help but wonder how Numair, and everyone else was doing. How I missed Numair, how tall he was, his long jet black hair, and his very presence. The thoughts brought pangs of sadness into my heart. But my spirits lifted because I knew that Kitten (my blue baby dragonet) was in the care of her grandpa for another week. She had left a few days before I got my journal. Smiling, I treaded thorough the busy streets, looking at interesting things. How amazing it was how similar and yet different it was from the Corus I was used to. The smells of food, sweat, animals and their leavings was comforting. But, looking at the different houses and different streets made me remember where I was. Then, a horrific smell made me shudder. It took no more than a few seconds to locate the source. It was many slave pens. All the crying children, the bloody men, and the skinny women made me want to barf. I turned around and dashed for the security of Beka's room. I swapped bodies, and was myself. Sweating, I flopped onto my makeshift bed. The only thing that made me move was my stomach's fearsome rumbling. I walked out of the room, left the building, and searched for a mid day meal. I bought a meat pie, and some bread. Taking them back to the room, I curled up, and ate. Before I was finished, Pounce seemed to materialize before me. His pleading eyes begged me to give him a piece. I gave him a large piece because he was a god-cat, and it's always good to stay on a god's good side.

Later, Beka came into the room with her Dogs. Goodwin's shortness and sternness reminded me of an old friend. The three of them questioned me, and I answered as well as I could. At the end of the questioning, I pleaded "Please don't report this to the authorities, they'll think that we're all stark raving mad!"

Tunstall chuckled and said "I know. But if it counts for anything, I believe you, and I know that Goodwin and Cooper do as well." I smiled and then was about to say something else when a giant explosion burst through the whole building. It didn't break anything, but it left its living inhabitants knocked out.


I woke in a dark cell next to Beka, Aniki, Rosto, and Kora. They were all struggling up, and groaning. I, acting on instincts, became a wolf, and leapt up to look around. I was glad that there weren't any chains on us, but the walls were all solid steel. A thin, watery streak of light seeped though a small window from the top of the roof. The wolf form could see better in the lighting then a human, so I got a better view of the tiny window. I despaired because there was no way that any animal could get out because the window was covered in dangerous magic. With a cry, I dropped onto the cold dirt floor.

Wait, it was dirt! I could dig out! When I started to franticly scratch at the dirt, Beka, Rosto, Kora and Aniki looked at me like I was crazy. Then Kora tentatively said "Daine, i-is that you?" I stopped scratching long enough to nod. As I resumed, I felt my hope dying. The floor was too hard. I'd need help.

I abandoned the small dent in the floor to sit and think. In my mind, I called out to the dogs. Reaching as far as I possibly could, I called out more. The dogs' answers were confusion. I explained what I was, and I asked for their help. Within seconds, several dogs were scratching at the other end. I called out to a few more, then thanked the ones that couldn't reach me in time. With the help that I needed, I started to dig again. Then, feeling like an idiot, I changed my form to a giant, lumbering grizzly bear. With my huge shovel like paws, I sent chunks of earth flying.

I paused when Beka cried out. One of the huge clods of dirt had hit her straight in the face. I swapped back to being a human, and I ran to her. "Are you okay?" I cried. She nodded as she wiped away the dirt. "Do any of you know why We're in a cell?" This time, I addressed it to the whole group.

Rosto rolled his eyes as he said "My dear, don't you realize that as a Dog, Beka has gained enough enemies to fill a drinking tavern? Oh, wait she's got enough enemies to fill several drinking taverns. And as the Rouge, I've got more than my fair share as well? This could be any random person's idea." He sighed then continued to talk "Chances are that Tunstall and Goodwin are in the cell next to ours."

Curious, I asked "How do you know?"

Exasperated, he heaved a sigh and snapped "Oh, I don't know, maybe it's just that fact that I can hear someone of the pounding on the wall next door while roaring like a bear, or the fact that I can hear someone cursing and saying 'Pox rot this! Tunstall, you idiot, that's not going to help!'"

"Oh, yeah, well I've got help digging their way here, and then I'll ask them to dig Tunstall and Goodwin out to." I said. About a minute after I said that, five dirty dogs leapt out of the hole they made, and stood in front of me panting. Beka pounded on the cell wall to get her Dogs' attention. When they were listening, she repeated what I had said. After they agreed, I turned into a bear again and began digging alongside the dogs.

After Tunstall and Good win wormed their way into our cell, we all crawled out of the hole and into the weak morning sunshine.

Tunstall growled "How long have we been here?"

I asked the dogs, and they replied. I nodded and then said "Hey, these dogs saw us being carried in here last night, but I don't think we're in Corus anymore." I looked around and saw nothing but fields and forests. Rosto groaned, and Beka sighed.

Goodwin looked at all of us then said"Well, what are you waiting for? Let's get moving away from these cells. The cells are slightly hidden, but see, there's a road over there, so we were meant to be transported more after this. Let's get moving and find a place to hide and rest before we find our way back home" Goodwin got up and set out in the lead.

With the help of the local dogs, we found a nice shed that was hidden and nobody knew about in an hour. We holed up in there to rest, and I pulled out my journal to try and write. Amazingly, it hadn't been lost. However, I had no ink, so I decided to stand guard while the others rested. While standing guard, I questioned the wildlife and the local dogs to try to find out where we were. By the time I had a good idea of how far from Corus we were, the sun was high, and its heat was beating down on me. Sweat was trickling down my back, but I had what I needed.

Stepping back inside the shed, I nudged Beka awake and asked her to stand guard. After she agreed, I woke up everyone else so that I could give them the news. "I've got good news, and bad news, and worse news." I said "Which do you want to hear first?" when nobody said anything, I began with the worst news. "The worst news is that there is no way that we'll get back to Corus walking within a day and that the people are searching for us and that there is only one road to Corus, and that's the road our captors are searching. The bad news is that we won't be able to get water on our way there because the shortest way back that is away from the road doesn't come near any creeks or streams. The good news is that I can get horses for us to ride and keep legally. The horses belonged to someone a while ago, but they ran away and are now a wild herd. They'll help us." The group was taking the news very well, and then told me it was because Kora had a spell that could get water from the air and other plants without killing them.

When the horses arrived, I was delighted. There were eight of them, so there was one that didn't need to be ridden. I mounted the red roan lead mare, Beka was behind me looking nervous on a chestnut mare, then Goodwin on a bay mare, Rosto on a brown mare, Kora on a pieblade mare, Aniki on a buckskin mare, Tunstall on a tall bay mare, and the blue roan stallion was bringing up the end of the line. I tried to match the people to the mare that fit them best in size and personality. Soon, we were moving in a line through the fields, and into the forests.

Later that night, when we had all bedded down, Kora made some ink for Beka and me to use to write in our journals. We're all sleeping under the stars and there isn't a fire, but the night is warm, and our camp is hidden, and the local animals are watching over us. I feel so safe, and I'm tired. Good night

Daine

Note: If you're not a horse crazed person that knows the colors of the horses, let me explain. A bay horse is a brown horse with a black mane and tail. Chestnut is a redish brown

colored horse. Pieblade is a white horse with black splotches. Buckskin is a yellow colored horse with a black mane and tail. Brown is anywhere from a milk choclate color to an

almost black color (Rosto's horse was a dark brown) Red roan is a chestnut with flecks of white in the coat that make it look redish. Blue roan is a black and grey horse with

flecks of white that make it look blue.