Chapter Seven: Fixing Burned Bridges

A/N: I haven't updated in over a year. I am ashamed of myself now. :(

The three characters narrating this chapter form a 'power trio' much like Lief, Barda, and Jasmine do. They haven't met up in a while, so watch as the reunion clogs up canon so badly you can't see the actual plot. ;) Just kidding. But this is where the plot seriously diverges as Oceanus begins to take an active role. (The overarching plot, not the immediate one)

Ignore last chapter's A/N, please. The plan then got (mostly) aborted. You can still see bits of that plot, though.

Dear Journal,

Well, I'm officially out of the group. Not really by choice, either. And before anyone says I did something stupid like…oh, I don't know, stab someone, just know that I didn't. Not really.

Maybe.

More accurately, I got stabbed and just blew the attacking idiot's head off. No, not with lightning, either.

The thing is, I an do a lot more than just ice and lightning. I can do things like open a gateway to another place, shrug off strikes that could kill someone weaker, or even fly the whole length of Deltora in a single day. Why don't I do this more often, you ask? It was only to avoid scaring these three idiots that I held back at all. When jumped, though…let's just say the results were messy. It involved a dismemberment spell and my teeth, if that gives you any idea.

It went sort of like this:

We were walking along in this huge forest, like we had been for a week now. I hadn't slept properly in days, and neither had anyone else. We slept in shifts, but no one gets any sleep when you remember that there are pirates and monsters and who knows what else out there. Most of them probably want to kill us, and some would follow that up with eating. The rest? Looting. So, yeah. No one was very happy.

Worse, I could see magic flickering at the edges of my vision all the time. I thought about it for a while and eventually decided I'd catch one of those stupid flickering things to get some peace. Curiosity doesn't like to leave me alone.

Yeah. I thought about it. Then I saw one of the flickers. I changed my mind.

Seriously, I saw a mouse turn into what can best be described as a bleached-white, living shadow. It had about as much definition to it as spilled milk.

Then the thing turned into a water bird. That crossed the line for me. We'd seen these big white birds - Deltora's equivalent to a swan, I guess - all over the place, even when I couldn't hear a river running anywhere. Yup, we were being stalked. By wraith-creatures that could pull a magic trick and look like damn near everything. That, along with the fact that it gave me the chills, put me off the hunt for a while. I still don't know what the hell that thing was, but whatever it is, I don't want to be anywhere near it.

So, anyway, shortly after seeing that thing for the first time, we were ambushed by bandits dropping out of the trees. Since Jasmine can talk to trees, I don't have any idea how we missed them, but we did. It might have something to do with the fact that she was even more dead on her feet than Lief or Barda.

We ended up fighting. Someone tried grabbing me from behind and putting his sword by the big vein in my neck. I suppose he wanted a hostage to force the other three to stop fighting. As if that would work.

So, my hand moved up and I grabbed his side. One application of a dismemberment curse later, and he didn't have legs. Or ears. Or a nose. I don't know if you've ever had someone scream in your ear, but it's really, really irritating. I guess it must have been bad enough to piss me off beyond all reason - next thing I knew, I'd bitten the man's throat out. I'll be spitting out blood for a while. Ick.

Keras and I are similar in one way - our teeth. He can crack open a Sand Beast (or its Elibe counterpart) without a problem. Me? Clams and other shellfish. So, after that kind of abuse, a human windpipe is nothing.

So, after deciding that my conduct crossed the lines of combat, I got kicked out of the "club." Since when does reversing an ambush have rules? Guidelines? Man, Deltorans are weird about this sort of thing. I suppose I could have done without the biting part, but why does it matter? He and his friends were planning on killing us and looting our corpses! Bah, this place makes no sense.

I guess mauling some idiot who planned on killing you is against some sort of moral code. Lief, Barda, and Jasmine sure won't get far thinking like that.

Well, time to move on. I guess I wasn't as emotionally invested in those idiots as I thought I was. Should I be angry at their decision? Maybe once the general haze of indifference wears off, I will be.

- Oceanus

Log Book,

Well, look who the cat dragged in.

For the last few weeks or so - since before the last time I met with Oceanus - I've been working with the Resistance, which is composed of Doom and his mismatched buddies. Glock, the hulking brute, is here, too, and he picks a fight with either me or Neridah every day. It's getting annoying. I may have to put him in his grave early before he leaves me alone. As for Neridah…well, I can't say I like her the way she likes me. She's taken to following me around everywhere and I'm thinking of taking on a high-risk mission so if she follows me, I can kill her and say it was an accident.

Yeah, I'll even risk irritating the Council just to get her to go away. I'm not even supposed to be in Deltora, much less killing the natives.

Other than the daily annoyances, though, it's not hard work to pull my weight around here. Like Doom, I can track an Ol by how they behave and I've never found it hard to teach some of the others the basics of sword fighting. Though, considering that there are only a fourth as many swords as people here, I probably should show them knife-fighting techniques instead.

All in all, life's pretty enjoyable, too. Well, except for one thing. Or person.

Dain.

Never liked the brat. Couldn't tell you why, though. Maybe it's the fact that he gives off the same creepy vibe as this one guy I have a problem with back home…

Oh, where was I? Right, back to the new arrivals.

Lief, Barda, and Jasmine. Can't say I was happy to see them. Where'd my best friend (who is, incidentally, short enough that they might have lost him in a bush or something) go? And why, oh, why did they bring Dain back instead?

I view Dain the same way that dogs view their stuffed toys. It is not something to be loved - it is something to be chewed on until the fluffy insides are coming out and then thrown away, or occasionally eaten.

They explained that Oceanus had brutally (and fatally) mauled some idiot that had tried to jump him. The words "blood" and "death" and "unnecessary violence" came up several times. Yup, that sounds like him. Oceanus and I are similar in that - excessive violence solves everything! Well, I'm actually worse, considering that "berserker rage" is well, well within my ability…what was I saying again?

Oh, right. Dain's got a broken arm and busted ribs. Big whoop. I can't make myself care at all.

The following conversation took place about a minute after:

Me: "Where'd Oceanus head off to, anyway?"

Jasmine: "He did not say."

Me: "Okay. I didn't figure he would."

Lief: "What do you mean?"

Me: "Well, he's weird. And you kicked him out of your little club. And he's weird." Well, that wasn't exactly true - he was no more untrusting than any other accomplished spy. Maybe less. "So, you've found the Resistance. Now what?"

Well, Doom showed up then and locked them in the Ol-testing room. Anything interesting will happen three days from now.

- Keras

Log Book,

Well, Doom's going to be rather irritated. Why, you ask?

Dain and I let Lief, Barda, and Jasmine go. Dain left, too, so I'll be the only one to see the show when Doom blows up at someone. I might tell them about it later if they live to meet me again.

It was easy, really. I grew up as a thief - taught Oceanus everything I could think of, too. The people here have about as much experience with locks as the average farmer. Pathetic. And Dain? Turns out his arm wasn't broken. Either that or the Queen Bee honey really is as good as Doom says.

Dain ditched - he's off with the three of them, probably heading for Tora like he always said he wanted to.

And me? I changed my mind after seeing Doom stalk past and give me a death glare. I'm not sticking around to have Doom yell at me. I'll be moving toward the River Tor and follow it as long as I want to. There's no reason for me to rush at all - I have to tools and the skills to survive. And, most importantly, I don't have a legion of Ols out looking for me like Oceanus's old group does.

Well, I think I'll try to get comfortable in this tree for a bit. I'll be on the move a lot for the next few days.

- Keras

Dear Journal,

I'm still looking for Alana, so not much has changed. I have run into a number of strange characters, but I can ignore most of them easily enough. Pirates are nothing - they were everywhere when I still lived with my parents in coastal Elibe and they're everywhere now. Besides, unlike when I was at home and unlike when I was traveling with Lief, Barda, and Jasmine, I don't need to hold back at all.

It's kind of like when I used to just travel around with Keras and Alana, actually. We did tend to leave a rather high body count in our wake…

Back to the present. I met a merchant named Steven on my way toward the River Tor. I can see something's off about him, but I can't tell what it is. Back home, there isn't a whole lot of variation when it comes to magic. Dark magic, light magic, healing magic, and anima magic are the core group, and that's essentially it. It's a pretty plain place. Well, other than the rainbow of hair and eye colors. I guess Elibe isn't varies enough for that sort of comparison.

I ended up buying a hat (to hide my again-white hair) and a scarf. I still don't know why I got a scarf. I think it's summer here. I also got some other things like Quality Brand honey and random knickknacks. I don't like honey or other sweets, but Alana does so she'll probably appreciate it.

Also met my first (identified Grade One) Ol today, a little before seeing Steven for the first time. I don't know why I didn't mention it before. I guess this lesser ooze-monster wasn't worth my time.

I mentioned it to Steven later and he identified them for me. Thanks, Steven, even if I never actually told you as much. Anyway, the thing to remember about Ols - according to Steven, anyway - is they need to be stabbed through the heart if you want to kill them. When I first saw the creature, I went for its head instead.

Yeah, you aren't supposed to do that, but I think having a rock the size of one's torso land on one's head is overkill. Because it was a monster, though, I added a tree and two more similar-sized rocks. That is overkill.

Ols are supposed to be dangerous, I think. They are not living up to that reputation.

And how did I know it was an Ol? Well, if I look at them out of the corner of my eye, I can see the flickering of its illusion. And then, I look directly at the Ol and concentrate, I can see its true form. If I see another of them tomorrow, the monster in question will be getting a new blowhole.

Well, I'll continue my search tomorrow. Until then!

- Oceanus

Dear Journal,

I haven't written in a week. There's a lot to say.

I found Alana. She's…tired would be putting it lightly. I don't know how long she's been on her own, but she hadn't eaten in a while when I caught up to her. We spent the next two days recovering from all the damage and stress to our bodies we'd picked up. I slept for almost a whole day, Alana tells me.

I told her everything that had happened since I came to Deltora, even using my journal as a reference. I don't think she approved of my actions since coming here, but it's not her call. I was the one who got this stupid mission shoved in my face, not her. She's supposed to be a home, trying to patch up her relationship with her stony-hearted mother.

Did I drag her into this?

Alana says she came because she could. That can't be true. She's not suited for this sort of pre-war reconnaissance. Alana couldn't sneak past a deaf man even if her life depended on it, and she's a bad liar.

She's too nice. Too forgiving. She shouldn't be here.

But I'm sure as hell not going to tell her that to her face.

Alana can be kind and gentle, charitable and all-around sweet. She's like that right up until someone makes the mistake of pissing her off. It seems like that happens to Keras and I more often than not. I think it's because she knows we can take it.

Keras is quick and skilled. I'm a walking disaster waiting to happen. And Alana? She can heal broken bones and can punch through fortified, reinforced stone walls in one shot. So, yeah. Don't make her angry if you want to go home intact.

I think the only reason Keras and I constantly get in trouble with her is because she knows us so well. If she met more people, she'd probably have to pay more healers' fees.

We're not doing very much now. We boarded a boat called River Queen without any other passengers waiting with us or for us on it. Good. I just want to sleep off all the crap I've been through for the last few months. Alana's already -

Damn.

I'm lying on my side as I write this. I pulled out my pack and set out a blanket for Alana and another for myself. Seems that she didn't think it was needed. Right now, her head is pinning my other elbow to the deck. I can't move without waking her and…

Well…this is awkward. I wouldn't have thought she was comfortable enough to - um, I'll finish this tomorrow.

- Oceanus

Dear Diary,

This is the first time I think I've written in one of these. Oceanus recommended it, but I don't really see the point. I observe things differently than he does. I checked his journal - he likes talking down to people and doesn't think of what they're feeling. Maybe that's why he was thrown out of the last Council meeting. Well, other than the fact that he and Keras were blowing spit wads at Terrak.

We're still riding the River Queen. We're not alone now, though. Today, a few more people arrived. There is this…um…well, I'll say that she outweighed her scarecrow of a man by quite a bit. She dresses in a particularly nasty shade of pink that I think Mother had banned at Council meetings a few years ago. Oceanus was still asleep when they got on, but now he's glaring at them like they killed his firstborn or something.

There are two men playing cards in the corner now. I think they're playing Skulls and Bones, but I'm not sure. Keras would know - he used to rob gamblers when we were younger, traveling together for safety's sake, and broke. I wonder why they have so many tattoos. I received the initiation marks for a group that uses magic sigils in one's skin for defense and I've still never seen so many needle marks.

The man with the music box is still here, too. I haven't thought much of him, but I suppose the tune helps morale a little. Oceanus said it was irritating trying to sleep while he played that. I don't mind, though - it's easier for me to stuff cloth in my ears, I guess.

Oceanus hasn't actually said much beyond what he was doing over the last few months. I'm worried - he's held in negative emotions before, and it never ends well. The last time involved a bandit leader in the north, three yards of iron chain, a leg of lamb, and a bear cub…well, I won't go into it here. The results were not pleasant.

Since he's sleeping all the time now, though, I can't get him to talk to me. He is a morning person, but that doesn't mean he gets up quickly - it just means he can't stay awake when the sun goes down. Since the sun set a while ago and everyone else seems to be asleep, I think I should be sleeping right now, too.

I can't, for some reason. Maybe it's because Oceanus keeps thrashing -

He just hit me. It's kind of annoying that I can't hit him back since he doesn't know what he's doing. I wonder what he's dreaming about? It must be bad.

- Alana

Dear Diary,

It seems as though Oceanus knows the girl who came aboard today. She's wearing a lot of purple, such as in the form of her head shawl and the gold-embroidered cloak. It's a little off-putting to see someone her age with enough makeup for three people, too. She has nice black boots, though. Oceanus used to wear a pair like that, though without the heels.

Oceanus hasn't said anything to her. She isn't paying attention to him, either, but I think that's because she doesn't recognize him. He changed his eye and hair color before I woke up, and he's keeping the hat brim pretty low. His scarf is covering the entire lower half of his face. I'd be hard-pressed to recognize him, too, and I've known him since we were both children.

Oceanus says her name is Jasmine. They were traveling together during the time Oceanus has marked out in his diar - um, his journal. According to his early descriptions of her, though, I can't see how she and this purple-wearing lady can be the same person.

I'll figure this out tomorrow. Oceanus is sleeping again, though this time he's leaning on the railing. He doesn't have a blanker and though I know he can't catch cold since he's as good at ice magic as I am with fire, I'm worried since the woodwork looks about as stable as a chair with two legs.

I managed to get him to lie down without waking him. I didn't think it was possible - we've lived on the edge of disaster for so long before this that I thought he'd be permanently jumpy. If he slept like a rock back when we were with Keras, he'd be long dead.

A new mystery. I'll look into it.

- Alana

Dear Journal,

Alana is apparently watching me while I sleep. I'm stuck between being flattered or being irritated. That's never a good combination.

This won't end well.

- Oceanus

Dear Journal,

Well, the gang's all here now. Lief, Barda, and some black-haired kid just boarded the River Queen. With Jasmine already here, it's time for any evil plans and contrived coincidences (and sufficiently daring escapes that only succeed because the Enemy hires idiots in bulk) to some into play. I wonder how this will turn out?

Well, I hope it turns out well, but there is a ten thousand-to-one chance that we'll actually not have to fight within the next day or two. How do I know this? Because I've been there. Everything goes horribly wrong as soon as things are looking up for this little group.

In that case, neither of the Ols that boarded is getting off this boat alive if we're attacked.

- Oceanus

Alana was awake long before the pirate ship gently bumped The River Queen. Like Oceanus, who hadn't even bothered to sleep in the first place, she could see perfectly in the dark. She saw the tattered sails and the ruffians at every perch, their eyes glittering with greed and murderous intent. She saw the gleaming, badly-made weapons of the crew and the line they were casting out to keep the vessels connected.

Oceanus stood beside her, his temporary disguise gone, both daggers in hand. He crept silently along the half-rotted boards that made up the deck, past the captain's locked-and-barred door, to where his old allies were resting. Alana paid no attention to the pirates for all of an instant, long enough to see her white-haired friend nudge the bearded man he had identified as Barda.

Alana returned her gaze to where the pirates were tentatively began to come toward the helm of their ship, none of them willing to be the first onto this new ship. Or perhaps they saw her through the half-light of the cloud-covered moon and were taking no chances.

Oceanus roused the group quickly, avoiding a sleepy punch from one of the black-haired boys and pressing his sword into his hands. She saw him pause at the second, more delicate-looking of the two boys before growling softly and standing up and pointedly moving away. The girl in purple didn't need his help - she was already on her feet and apparently searching her fancy clothes for her own daggers.

"Ahem." Oceanus said softly. No one else woke. "PIRATE ATTACK! GET UP OR BE WORM FOOD!"

Well, that was one way of putting it.

The pirates predictably charged, shouting since their attempt at stealth had been dealt a mortal blow. One of Oceanus's smaller throwing daggers caught the first across the throat, sending him crashing into the deck. Alana struck the second head-on, launching him twenty feet into the air and back onto his own ship.

Everything became a violent barrage on the senses. The woman in pink was screaming as if she had already been cut down while her man scrambled about the deck, looking for a place to hide. Alana didn't care. She'd fought pirates before - they never left any survivors if they could avoid it. The panicking pair would be dead soon enough if the invaders weren't routed.

"Get us some light, you fools!" cried a voice. Alana supposed it was one of the pirates - the captain was still in his cabin, while his music-player screamed and his polypan (as Oceanus had identified the creature on their first day) babbled incoherently - and acted accordingly. She pointed Oceanus in his direction and forgot about the problem, which shortly wouldn't exist anymore.

Nonetheless, the polypan seemed to abruptly regain some sanity at being ordered and swung around the deck, lighting the lanterns that surrounded it. Alana wasn't surprised to find that both of the card players had been killed quickly. At least they hadn't suffered. She sidestepped a pirate's charge almost lazily as she thought, almost instantly driving her knee up and sideways into his gut, folding him in half. She tossed him over the side as well, not even looking as she sent one of his friends following soon after.

Oceanus twisted as he fell, landing on his back. That left his hands (and the daggers in them) nowhere to go but up into the nearest pirate's upper leg. He leapt to his feet near-instantaneously, sweeping the man's uninjured leg out from under him and catapulting him into the River Tor, before moving on to the next opponent.

Alana noticed the pirates giving both her and Oceanus a wide berth. Clearly, they had paid attention to the pair's crushing attacks and were trying to avoid being singled out as the next man over the railing. The blonde noticed Oceanus's glowing green eyes flicker and saw him aiming at the man fighting Lief. The dagger flew - the man staggered, clutching his impaled hand.

Alana gave a mental shrug and brought the fight to the enemy. The pirates scattered as she opened her mouth and shot a stream of white fire into the middle of their group, screaming about the end of the world and demons running amok.

She then set to work picking them off.

Lief didn't understand how he had ended up fighting for his life on a boat against a crew of twenty or thirty pirates. He had woken to Kree's cry and then Oceanus shaking him, forcing him up to face the threat. Where had he come from? How hadn't he noticed the mage before?

Thinking too hard in the midst of battle is a form of uninformed suicide. Lief would later remember this statement with some embarrassment. The pirate he was facing off against nearly tore his sword from his hand while he thought. While Lief reeled from the blow, he fully expected to hit the deck in pieces.

A dagger striking the pirate's sword hand made the idea rather…implausible, to say the least. Lief brought the hilt of his sword down on the back of the man's head, sending him to kiss the planks.

"Are you okay?" Oceanus's voice called. Lief couldn't see him past all the pirates - he and Oceanus were both too short to even attempt to look over the lot of them.

"Yes, we are unharmed!" Barda responded, though his voice sounded strained, as though he were gritting his teeth.

Lief noticed that Barda was leaning hard against the railing, which creaked more ominously each passing second, trying to fight two pirates at once. He tried to run over to help him, but someone caught him by the collar and pulled him back, choking him and flinging him into the deck using his own momentum. His head struck something that made a jingling sound and his vision spun.

Just as abruptly, he was hauled back to his feet by his cloak. He coughed and felt as if he was going to be sick - his cloak was knotted around his neck to begin with and his head ached already without more aggravations.

He was sent to the deck again, this time facedown with a man's hand clamped over the back of his neck, long fingers curling around and squeezing his windpipe shut. Panicking, he clawed at his attacker's fingers but he may as well have been scratching wood. He couldn't kick out either - Lief knew that he was doomed when he felt his captor's knee digging into his lower back, pinning him, and a flash of silver. If only he could pry the fingers away from his throat…if only he could breathe…

He twisted, squirmed, did anything he could to get free, only to have a heavy boot kick him in the stomach as he finally managed to turn onto his side, knocking any remaining air out of him. Lief coughed, harder than before, as the tip of a sword was pressed through his shirt. He was sure it was drawing blood, but he didn't care. Barda! Have to…

"Not until we've picked you clean, boy!"

"Oh, finish him off, Finn!"

Barda managed to force the pair of much smaller pirates into the river by redirecting their momentum, letting them run themselves right off the deck as the railing finally gave out. Both fell with startled shrieks.

Near him, Dain finally struck his opponent after several tense minutes of attempts, sticking his short knife into the man's eye. The pirate fell back, screaming, only to be cut down by another pirate. His killer immediately turned and ran.

"Stand and fight, coward!" Barda shouted after him, only to stop abruptly as the other pirate charged into one of the yellow-haired girl's enemies and stabbed him to death as well. Barda wasn't given any time to think about it as he spotted Lief, pinned to the deck by another ruffian. "Lief!"

Barda was not to have a chance to save his companion, however, as three more enemies came onto him at once. "Lief!" he shouted again as he slashed the first pirate's face. But he couldn't see the boy anywhere. Even Dain, fighting so close to him, was faced with two opponents and was far outmatched.

"Lief!"

Jasmine skirted around the main fighting with a combination of stealth and luck. She had already shed her purple cloak in favor of a coat borrowed from a dead pirate. Only her head scarf and her dangling gold earrings remained of the disguise. The face paint had been rubbed off in her sleep and her parasol was currently floating downstream with any number of pirates.

She used the bow of the River Queen as a way around the battle, ducking behind the captain's cabin and hopefully coming out the other side behind an invader. With any luck, she would be able to ambush a few of them before she was forced to retreat. Kree flew low along the water's surface, keeping an eye on everyone that Jasmine couldn't see. Filli was with him, riding in Kree's claws and chattering nervously.

Jasmine was almost to the edge of the cabin and was about to plunge her dagger into the nearest pirate - a redheaded woman almost as tall as Barda - when Kree shrieked.

Lief is in danger, Jasmine translated instantly. She quickly retracted her dagger and glanced around.

A little past where the red-haired woman was standing, a man with a grotesque nose and unnaturally sharp teeth held Lief against the deck, leaving him unarmed and in no position to fight back. He was already undoing the knot at Lief's throat that kept his cloak in place as Lief struggled weakly to get free. When he managed to grasp the man's hand, someone else kicked him in the ribs. As Lief recoiled and let out a pained gasp, the group standing around him erupted in raucous laughter.

Jasmine struck.

She stabbed once, driving her dagger hilt-deep into the woman's spine. She pulled back just as quickly, her dagger's blade followed by a gout of blood from the wound and a strangled shriek from the woman. Jasmine kicked the woman's body hard, sending the still-standing corpse spinning into the pirate group, who abruptly stopped laughing.

"Let him up." Jasmine said icily.

The pirate holding Lief down gave a croak that sounded like a laugh, despite his crewmate's lifeblood staining the deck. "Don't think so, little girl."

Jasmine abruptly realized just how much her concern for Lief had blinded her. No matter her choices now, there were still too many pirates for her to fight. Five against one, even with Lief helping her if he could (which was something she considered unlikely)…those were very poor odds.

Before they could turn on her, though, a body crashed into one of them, throwing him off his feet and right over the collapsed railing.

"Wahoo! Two down!" Jasmine looked to her left and spotted a ruffian with his hat pulled low over his eyes and a cloth over his eyes. He dressed as roughly as any of the others, but Jasmine spotted slits in the cloth covering his eyes. His two weapons - a long, curved sword and a much shorter chopping blade - marked him as different, however.

"What are you doing, Slit?" the man with the sharp teeth demanded.

The other pirate stopped. "Huh?" He looked down. "Oh." He pulled his hat off and untied the cloth. "I am no pirate, worthless brigands!" In a moment, the transformation was complete and Jasmine caught sight of the teal eyes that she had never thought she'd never see again.

Indeed, he wasn't a pirate. But he wasn't a whole lot better.

"Keras, quit your grandstanding and just kill them already!" Oceanus snapped from across the deck.

Keras snapped a silly salute, tongue poking out of his mouth. "Yes sir, boss-man-guy."

"Shut up!"

Jasmine watched as Keras's humorous persona fell startlingly quickly. He grinned, but this time it was very unpleasant - his teal eyes glowed and the black-haired girl stood, stunned, as he systematically began to hack away at his opponents.

It was a detached efficiency so at odds with his normal behavior that it made her want to look away, despite her own lack of remorse over killing.

She shoved her feelings aside and dashed across the wooden planks. The pirate with the ugly nose and pointed teeth had already released Lief and left him lying there on the deck, coughing feebly and trying vainly to stand. As the pirate fled, leaving Keras to chase off the other four that remained, Jasmine pulled one of Lief's arms over her shoulders and helped him up. She was barely strong enough - Lief was larger than her and not much help at all with the way his limbs were shaking.

Jasmine settled for pressing her spare dagger into his sword hand and hoping he'd recover in time to help her hold some sort of defense together. His own weapon, by this point, would be useless to him.

Thinking that over, Jasmine retrieved Lief's sword and began using it instead of her crystal-hilt dagger.

"Holy - What the heck is that thing?!" Jasmine heard the blonde shout as she slew the nearest ruffian. She felt a chill coming over her and looked toward the other girl abruptly. There was the Ol, a creature like a flickering white flame with eyes like burning coals and a wide, toothless mouth.

"OL!" all of the fighters shrieked, echoing Jasmine's thoughts. She couldn't imagine why -

Oh. Oh, no. Jasmine backed up slightly and hoisted Lief to his feet. The creature, once the woman in bright pink, had seen her helping him. And - suddenly noticing that her purple head scarf had come loose and now was merely tangled in her hair below her shoulders - it had seen her.

The pirates fled, leaving their dead where they were, scrambling over one another in an effort to get away. Dain gave a shriek as he was dragged along, making Oceanus jump as if he had forgotten Dain existed and try running after them. The Ol, however, seemed to be in no hurry.

It should have been.

There was a horrendous ripping sound and suddenly the Ol had been literally splattered across the deck. As the creature fell, Jasmine saw Keras standing behind it, his curved sword still extended.

"Well, one down." Keras noted. He held out a hand to her.

Jasmine took it. She was too tired and confused to even think ill of him at the moment.

Splat! And…now the Ol's companion was an interesting, if somewhat disgusting, puddle leaking down through a hole in the deck that hadn't been there before.

"Who…?" Jasmine started to ask, but Keras just shook his head.

"Alana didn't feel like playing nice." he replied, moving over to help Lief up.

The blonde girl had blown a hole in the deck?

Who are these people? Jasmine thought.

Log Book,

Yeah, it's still me here. I guess the time a couple days ago when I jumped that one pirate, stole his identity, and left him to be eaten by river worms really paid off. Surprising, no? I was just planning on hitchhiking from the crew until we hit the coast, but no, they had to attack the boat Oceanus and Alana were on. Oh, and Lief and his group, too.

Idiots.

Oh, and we lost Dain. Well, since he's "a valued member of the Resistance," at least the pirates won't hurt him before they try ransoming him to somebody. Given their track record so far, they'll probably hike right up to the Resistance hideout and try selling him back to Doom. And be riddled with arrow wounds, too.

Alana, Oceanus and I are heading off separately from the three of them, since we got thrown off the River Queen for wrecking it. Well, Alana did. Oceanus wanted to follow her and I didn't know I was supposed to pay anyone. We could (read: will) be tracked by the Shadow Lord, and I figure a smaller party is easier to sneak around with. After all, it's not just 'the three' anymore. It's 'the three and a mage' now.

So, yeah. Hopefully they won't get killed before we see them next.

- Keras

Dear Journal,

Damn. How did those idiots manage to get caught by the same pirates we mangled three days ago?

- Oceanus

Dear Diary,

We're heading into the Maze of the Beast now. Oceanus says titular 'beast' is named Glus and it's a giant slug monster that spits threads that harden into stone.

This is going to suck.

- Alana

Oceanus didn't mind the cold or the damp. He didn't really care that there was a gigantic worm-thing that was turning people into stone-coated treats. And he couldn't care less that some stupid pirate named Milne had beenstuck in the maze with them before having the flesh sucked from his bones.

He did, however, take issue with the fact that he was running the distraction role. Jasmine and Barda were with him only at their insistence and he had forced Alana and Keras to stay behind with Lief, who had apparently managed to find the column of pseudo-rock that the amethyst was hidden in.

As he and the other two ran along, Jasmine's thread winding through the water behind them, he wondered how long it would take for Lief to get the stupid rock out. Keras could turn people into statues if he put his mind to it, along with mud into poor-quality stone and stone into runny muck. Alana could simply break the entire column apart, but no one wanted to damage the gem. With any luck, they'd be done quickly and the two groups would be able to meet up and figure out how to escape.

Oceanus skidded around yet another corner, grabbing a stone-covered skeleton's hand to make a tighter turn. Then an idea came to him, just as he began to hear the Glus again, as they all stopped to catch their breath.

I wonder… He extended a hand and said softly to Barda and Jasmine. "Get off the ground."

Luckily, even Jasmine didn't feel like questioning him just then. With a burst of magical energy, he froze the water pooling throughout the entire maze (or, at the very least, what he could see). He wrenched his boots out of the ice and sat down on it, relishing the chill after running about in the seemingly-endless maze. Barda tested it next, followed by Jasmine.

And around the corner, the Glus was shrieking in rage. It couldn't move.

"Why did the water suddenly freeze?" Lief asked. He had been gently prying stone from the pillar, as Keras melted the harder stuff near the center into warm mud.

"Oceanus. If ever something goes wrong and it has to do with storms, clouds in general, or things randomly getting cold, it's him." Keras replied. Alana sat nearby, looking around constantly as their sentry. She seemed even more on edge than she had during that night on the River Queen. That made sense, though, since then they were only dealing with pirates, not a huge, flesh-eating slug-monster.

Lief grimaced as he cleared away the remainder of the column's insides, remembering the way Milne had met his horrid end. He could hardly feel his own fingers, much less anything else, and it wouldn't do if he was even more distracted by such a vivid memory.

"Need help?" Keras asked.

"No…I think I can find it." Lief replied, groping blindly for something that didn't squish between his fingers. At least Keras had been kind enough to remove most of the sharp edges from the remaining rock, otherwise, Lief thought, he would be pulling back a hand stripped of all skin.

"Try the bottom of the hole," the teal-eyed boy suggested. "It should be down there if the stone stuck to it was melted."

Lief did so, reaching through the muck and the remaining stone fragments until he felt something smooth and cool, settled near the bottom of the cavity. This is it. Lief grasped it and, pulling out quite a bit of mud with it, held up the mud-streaked amethyst.

"Found it?" Alana called.

Keras grinned and said, "Yup, we've got it!" Lief felt like smiling, a little, but the thought of the others, still wandering in the maze, sapped whatever joy he would normally take from the event.

"Good." Alana said. She hopped off her sentry post - a mound that might once have been a skeleton, though now covered in bone-white stone like all the others. "Now, we need a way out of here."

Keras pointed up. "Blow a hole in the ceiling?"

"We don't have rope." Alana pointed out.

"We have Oceanus, even if he's not here right now." Keras replied. "Though there is the chance that something, like a house, is directly above us…"

Lief, while they were debating, bent to wash the amethyst (and his mud-soaked arm) in the water pooling at their feet. His hands shook. Why…?

He stood, shaking his head. Then, quite suddenly, he felt a breeze from somewhere nearby. He stepped up on the ice bordering their one unfrozen pool and unsteadily made his way over to the far wall. Del never had winters severe enough to freeze the well, much less such a wide area.

"Hey, where are you going?" Keras asked, hopping over to Lief and promptly stumbling on the ice and falling flat on his back. "Ow."

"There seems to be something…" Lief put his hands against a gap in the near-perfect wall. A rush of salty air flowed from the hole. "A way out!"

"Really?" Alana made her way carefully over to him, sliding to a stop against the wall. "Wow. So, you need me to open this for you?"

"Yes." Lief said.

Alana nodded, then began to walk about the gap, skidding occasionally on the ice. "Okay, I'll open a crack here," she said, tapping the wall about a foot above the gap. With that, she drew her fist back and pounded on it the way Lief would pound on a locked door.

The wall gave a massive crunching noise and a colossal crack ran from the gap to the ceiling and chunks of rock began to fall. Alana grabbed Lief by the shoulders, fell to the ice, then kicked off the wall. They came to a stop next to Keras, who was observing the entire event like he had seen it all before.

"You overdid it, Alana." Keras said, stating the obvious in a way so flat that Oceanus would have been proud.

"I know that." Alana snapped at him, standing.

"What the hell did you three do?!" It was Oceanus, running with unfrozen water slapping at his feet - he was clearly thawing the water as he ran so he didn't slip. As he reached them, Keras was abruptly lying in a rather deep puddle that was getting progressively deeper - seawater was flowing from the gap.

"It is coming!" Jasmine gasped, arriving a second later. "The Glus is coming to seal this hole."

Barda grunted at them, clearly wanting to know what the three of them had planned on accomplishing by putting a hole in the maze and thus attracting the beast. At the moment, he was too busy catching his breath to put any of it to words, though all of them got the message.

They were going to get an earful once this was over.

Lief got up and moved over to the gap, sticking his head in. He spotted a circle of light on the dark water - an opening to the surface. He slid the amethyst into its place on the Belt before bracing himself on the edge of the huge gap Alana had made. If this water-filled chamber led to what he thought it did, they didn't have much time.

"Make haste!" Lief snapped at them, scrambling into the cavern. "This is a blowhole, as we saw near the coast. We cannot afford to delay!"

"I can't swim." Keras replied flatly. He was standing near the gap, his arms crossed stubbornly over his chest.

"Too bad!" Oceanus shoved him into the water, following an instant later to keep his friend from drowning in a panic. Lief got the impression the ensuing conversation would not be pleasant.

Alana turned to Jasmine. "Well, shall we?"

Jasmine nodded and both girls dove into the rising water. Lief worried for a moment - he knew Jasmine couldn't swim at all - but he was relieved to see Alana swimming as well as Oceanus, who was living up to his name and keeping his friend afloat. Barda hurried into the chamber last, and past him Lief saw the Glus, half-frozen and red maw gaping.

Lief forced his thoughts away from it, focusing on the gap in the ceiling. Alana squirmed out of the hole first when a lucky tidal surge put her within reach of it, leaving Jasmine to Lief, who held onto her hand in a death grip. She put her hand down through it and managed to catch Keras's arm, tugging him out as well.

The two of them then pulled Barda free, followed by Jasmine a moment later. Oceanus used caught the lip a moment later, his inhumanly sharp nails driving into the soft stone and allowing him to pull himself free.

Lief felt his heart give steadily stronger thuds as the water level continued to surge, stronger than ever before. He was nearly torn away from his handhold as the tide pulled back harder, like water spiraling down the drain.

He couldn't reach the hole from his handhold, and if he let go of it, he would be swept away into the current and drown.

A hand descended from the gap, followed by a torso - they were using Jasmine like a human rope! Lief could see Oceanus and Alana's hands fisted in Jasmine's shirt and was certain that Barda and Keras were keeping them from falling in. She reached for him and he stretched out a hand to meet hers.

Then the tide tore him from his handhold, sending him spinning uncontrollably into the new wall - the one the Glus had just replaced with new stone. As the water began its retreat, however, a pair of hands clenched around his right arm.

Lief looked up and saw that Jasmine had, indeed, managed to catch him.

Dear Journal,

It's official. Humans can be the most suicidal stupid creatures in existence, but if it weren't for Jasmine's self-risking idea, Lief wouldn't be sleeping by the campfire. Gods, I never want to go through that again.

Okay, now I need to see where this goes. Congratulations, you three idiots. Now I need to make sure you succeed.

- Oceanus

A/N: Urgh…I'll edit this later. So…tired…longest…chapter…ever… X.x

Edit: Over Eight Thousand!!

(cough) But seriously, thanks, everyone.

Remember the little purple button in the corner now, okay?