Hey guys! Here's your chapter update for Sorcerer Oacus! Sorry it took so long, i missplaced my USB port that held all my fanfictions on it...Anyhow enjoy the chapter and be sure to give me your opinions! As always i look forward to hearing what you think and can't wait to show you what happens next!

Chapter Seven: The Phoenix Visit

Jacob spent most of his day in the kitchen, cleaning more dishes than he could count. It seemed to him that he had washed the same green plate with a notch at least forty times. But of course he would rather clean than sleep on the street of Shadowgate. It was well into the afternoon when he stepped out into the front room on a brief break.

His fingers were shriveled and his wrists ached when he dropped into a chair at one of the tables. Seated across from him at the table was Tyr, who had not moved from his seat since coming down from the inn room that morning. He had a half empty cup before he and seemed to be staring into space.

"I don't know if I can look at another dish…." Jacob groaned covering his eyes.

Tyr blinked then looked from Jacob to his cup, "Well…I don't know that I can drink any slower…"

"That only prolongs the inevitable…" The kid sighed, "I'm going to have to clean it one way or another."

"How was your night?" Jacob looked sharply to his left at the unexpected sound of the girl's voice.

Her blonde hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail and her dark red eyes were as serious as always. She seemed to be eyeing Tyr though she was addressing Jacob.

"It was fine." He looked from her to Tyr who was staring back at the girl.

"Is this a friend of yours?" Tyr asked as he lifted his drink to his mouth.

"Um…sort of…."

"How can we be friends if you don't even know my name?" She looked at Jacob her face humorless.

"Well you never told me you—"

"Exactly."

"Ok so she's more of acquaintan—"

"It's Terra."

Jacob gave a slightly exasperated sigh, "Well it was nice of you to properly introduce yourself."

"What about you? What's your name?" Terra pulled a chair over to their table and sat down still maintaining the same emotionless physique.

"Jacob." This time he smiled when he spoke his friendly disposition kicking in.

She uttered the next words with a slight edge in her voice, "And what about the Toran you've taken company with?"

"Um…" Jacob looked across the table at Tyr whose eyes had not move from staring at the girl, "This is Tyr."

"Well Tyr." She shifted her gaze to him her voice dripping with toxic animosity though her face remained stone cold, "I hope you are better a fighter than your name implies."

Tyr did not respond to the girl's obvious attempt at angering him, instead he stood up from the table and strode to the staircase not even bothering a glance back at his offender.

"Coward…" she whispered plainly after he was out of earshot.

"So…." Jacob returned his gaze to her.

"So shouldn't you get back to cleaning?"

He looked perturbed by the thought of returning to the kitchen, but stood up obediently and with sigh turned to the kitchen door.

Suddenly he went cold and tense; a chill that shook his entire body ran up his spine.

They entered the now empty inn through the open windows bringing with them a storm of frigid air, the stink of death, and a burning hate that reverberated through the room.

Jacob turned slowly to face the fiery feathered creatures that each stood perched on the back of two of the many chairs sitting about. Their midnight colored eyes were deep as a void and fixed upon him. Their talons griped the chairs with obvious crushing force as cracks became visible around where their claws were placed.

The larger of the two birds cocked his head slightly, "This is the boy?"

The smaller lifted a single talon claw and pointed at Jacob, "He is the boy."

Jacob's heart thudded furiously in his chest and a sense of terror grew within him as he stared the creatures straight in the eye. He found that no matter what he did he couldn't pull away from the piecing gaze of the larger bird.

An inhuman screech erupted from the beak of the smaller and as it leapt from the back of its chair to dive though the air towards him.

"Move!" He heard Terra yell. Only his body would not respond to her command nor his own.

As the talon of the monster reached for his throat his mind flashed to a scene of unbearable heat and screams that echoed in his ears until they hurt. Frozen with the fear of the creature and the horror of what his memories had to show him he could not move to avoid the talon that sought to end his life.

The next cry did not come from a suddenly silenced Jacob, but from the creature rushing though the air to him. It's cry of pain was so harsh that made Jacob cover his ears as he gazed at the ax that had suddenly embedded itself in the wing of the bird, his eyes wide with shock.

The creature hit the floorboards in a burst of flames and horrible screeches.

"Are you alright?"

Jacob looked up at Tyr, his hands shaking, "Thank you…"

(-)

She held a bow in one hand while keeping her other hand at the quiver on her back. Her sharp green eyes were locked on the town below her.

Shadowgate had a respectable fence surrounding it that would keep any monster—short of a Dragon or Ak-baba—out. They had thought of nearly everything for their defenses.

Only they hadn't factored in an archer climbing the razor-sharp, jutting rocks of the Barrier Mountains. And why should they? Who would be crazy enough to do such a thing, who would be so determined to kill someone within the walls of Shadowgate that they would risk their very life and limb to get a bird's eye view?

The coins that she had been paid jingled at her belt giving an easy reason.

The money had been good.

She watched as a two obvious phoenixes burst from the inn of Shadowgate. Her eyes caught on the sight of red on one's wing and she knew they were fighting an accurately trained warrior.

"The well trained ones are my favorites…" She whispered pulling an arrow from her quiver and drawing it back in her bow string.

The phoenixes retreated swiftly to the skies riding an easterly wind away from the town and as she watched they both exploded into flames leaving nothing behind save for a bit of ash they drifted in the wind in their place.

She let her hand slack and slid the arrow back in her quiver. Her eyes drifted in disappointment to the seemingly Toran man standing in the street searching the skies for the enemies he had just be fighting.

"Looks like you'll have to wait I'm afraid." She slid the bow over her shoulder, "I have a Sorcerer to track."