Colm, several feet away from where Xanaphia stood, held still by the vampired, now noticed that she was no longer behind him. Turning, he only saw the dim glimmer of her light blue hair.

"Kitten! What are you waiting for?"

The vampires were slightly distracted, a bird had disturbed a branch above them and thus made a flash of sunlight through the darkness. It was in these few seconds that Xanaphia called out.

"Uh, I need some help with some blood suckers here." Trying to keep her voice calm. This was increasingly difficult because the vampire holding her arms to her sides kept tracing the veins in her neck with one fang. Xanaphia dared not struggle now. One bite of those sharp fangs in the wrong spot, and she's dead. Colm had walked closer to Xanaphia, he saw the Vampires clustered around her. Before Colm could mutter so much as a curse in surprise, the vampire closest to Xanaphia lost their control and bite her in the shoulder. Xanaphia screamed, as blood poured from the bite, two steady streams dripping down her shirt. Colm hesitated a moment, unsure of what to do. He looked around, he needed light. Seeing the shallow branches above their heads blocking the sun. Swinging his sword in a great arch, slicing down several branches and flooding the clearing with sunlight. The vampires screeched and darted away, moving to the cool shadows to sooth their burning skin. Colm was standing purposefully in the sun, tending to Xanaphia's wounds.

"You have to stop getting hurt like this." Colm muttered, wiping away as much blood as he could. Pressing a clean cloth to the wound, he heard the vampires moaning.

"He's wasting the blood! That wonderful blood!"

Xanaphia, no longer in the intense trance of having her blood drained, snapped at the vampires.

"You shouldn't have bit me in the first place, ya crazy leeches!"

The vampires hissed at her, eyes still red in the one that had taken her blood. Colm looked around and judged their position from the sun in the opening in the leaves. Having no other option, if they stepped one foot out of the sun, they were instant snacks. So, Colm carefully wrapped his arms around Xanaphia, hoping that this way he wouldn't kill her, and blinked.
Xanaphia felt a tremendous pressure all around her, but it only lasted an instant. One second later, she was standing in front of yet another healer's house. It took her a moment to realize that she was still in Colm's arms.

"Hey." She rolled her shoulders. A mistake, as this made more blood trickle down her back. When Colm came to his senses, Xanaphia was waving her hand in front of his face. His face lit up with a broad smile.

"You're not dead!!" He exclaimed, and hugged her.

"Uh, yeah, I'm not dead. Still kicking here. For how much longer, I don't know. You're gonna squeeze the breath out of me!"

Colm let go of her immediately. Taking her hand, he pulled her to the Healer's house.

"Zelda! Where are you? I have an emergency for you!!"

A woman, Xanaphia assumed it was Zelda, appeared in the doorway. She was frighteningly thin, and tall. Silvery blonde hair fell almost to the floor, and eyes black as onyx sparkled below long lashes. She wore a simple dress, but somehow it looked elegant on her.

"Get hurt again, Colm? Oh, I see. What happened?" Zelda asked, quickly looking at the wound on Xanaphia's shoulder. Also noticing the scars, but she didn't ask about them just yet. Fresh wounds first.

"It's nothing." Xanaphia tried to say, but Colm cut her off.

"Like hell, it is! Did you see how much blood you lost?"

"Uh, no. Shoulder. Kind of hard to see the back of." She tried to crane her neck. Zelda kept her eyes forward.

"Stop. Just let me work. What but hurt her?"

"Vampires. Off the south side of the Mountain, crazy leeches."

"That's what I said!" Xanaphia said indignantly. Suddenly she swayed, dizzy from loss of blood. Zelda led her to a nearby bed. Helping her to lie down, without blocking access to her wounded shoulder. It wasn't long until Xanaphia slipped into the blackness of unconsciousness.

When she woke again, it was to find Colm holding her shoulder above the bed. Also to find the absence of her shirt. Screeching in surprise, she clutched the bedclothes to herself. Scooting away from Colm, she almost fell off the small bed. A stream of what Colm assumed were very colourful curses flowed from Xanaphia. Zelda came into the room at that moment. Seeing Colm, and the very agitated Xanaphia clutching the covers in a death grip, said;

" Calm down, or you'll mess up the bandages."

Xanaphia settled down a little. Not much, because the elvin curses were still bubbling out at Colm. Zelda smiled, and looked at Colm.

"I told you that you should let her sleep on her own." Colm shrugged, claiming that it would have hurt her more if she had been sleeping on the sore spot all night.

"What?" Xanaphia asked, looking out of the window at the now starry sky. "It's night already? What about the Crazy Leeches?"

Zelda calmly pointed to the different wards for vampires set around her house. Xanaphia calmed down then, sitting back on the bed. Colm tried to take the smirk off his face but only slightly succeeded. Zelda was convincing Xanaphia to go to back to bed. Colm found himself being pushed out of the room. He couldn't resist calling

"Goodnight, Kitten!" Over his shoulder. He was smiling, until the pillow hit him in the back of the head. Zelda was holding back a chuckle while she returned the pillow to Xanaphia. Whispering to her when she was close enough, "Good shot."

Xanaphia grinned, and went back to sleep, careful to sleep on the side that wasn't bandaged.

When Xanaphia woke it was well past noon, her shoulder was sore and stiff. Gingerly she got up, and tugged at her hair. Looking around, she found her bag a few feet away from the bed. Picking it up, she started searching though it to find her brush. It took a while, but finally she was brushing the knots, tangles and random bits of leaf out of her hair. Then, wandering into one of the rooms branching off of hers, she found Colm and Zelda. Zelda was stirring something in a giant pot, and Colm was lounging on one of the couches that peppered the room.

"Breakfast?" Xanaphia asked, eyeing the giant pot.

"Yup. Sit down and I'll be right there." Zelda said, still stirring the pot and adding a dash of spice every once in a while.
Xanaphia sat, Colm joining her. He, at first, made to give her a one armed hug, but stopped when she felt her stiffen. She felt his arm near her and tensed. She wanted to trust him, but some shadows can't be erased that easily. Colm withdrew his arm, looking a little sheepish. Now, Zelda walked over with three plates. Each one had what looked like a snowball made out of grey mud. Xanaphia poked at it with her spoon.

"Uh, Zelda? That doesn't look edible." She poked it again and could have sworn she heard it giggle. She put down her spoon. No way was she eating giggling food. Colm was having much the same reaction. He couldn't quite tell whether it had actually giggled or not, but he wasn't going to take his chance.

Zelda looked up from her meal, and laughed.

"It's supposed to giggle. They're Snickerpods. Break it open like this." She instructed, and took hers with both hands and split it open on the plate. Xanaphia and Colm did as they were told and split open their Snickerpods. Instantly, a delicious smell rose from the inside, which looked strikingly like a coconut. It smelled nice enough, Xanaphia decided, and her nose had never lead her wrong when it came to food. Taking up her spoon once more, she pried some of the blueish stuff from the pod. It tasted strange, but not disagreeable. Like a blueberry that you picked with a group of friends, followed by cool lemonade under the shade of a cedar tree. After her first bite,Xanaphia realised just how hungry she was. Digging out some of the stuff again, she ate with gusto. Colm was following suit. Though he had lived on this island for most of his life, he had never tasted a Snickerpod. At Alcomist's house food was more likely to be berries and wine. No one talked much during breakfast, all too busy concentrating on their Snickerpods. Afterward, though, Xanaphia had to get another check on her wound. The bleeding had stopped and Zelda only had a few tests to do before she was sure that Xanaphia was cured. She went to fetch a few things, then came back with her arms full with a basket so big that her long arms could barely fit around it. She set it down at Xanaphia's feet. Taking off the top, she pulled from within a string of garlic. Xanaphia covered her nose, she had never liked the smell of garlic much, but didn't recoil. Even when Zelda held it right next to her face, she didn't flinch. Zelda went through the same thing with other things vampires detested. When all was done, Zelda announced that Xanaphia wasn't going to turn into a vampire.

"The only symptom you might experience," She warned," would be some dreams."

Xanaphia didn't understand how dreams could be a symptom, but nodded anyway. With that over, they had to be going again. Colm and Xanaphia hugged Zelda goodbye, and went back into the forest. Zelda, little to their knowledge, had slipped a bit of garlic into Xanaphia's and Colm's bags. A little extra protection never hurt.

The day went by uneventfully. Xanaphia and Colm trudged through the forest. It was only another three days until they reached where Alanna had hinted that the problem would be. As the moon started to show above the trees, Xanaphia and Colm made camp. Colm placed his sleeping bag close to Xanaphia's. He didn't want to be woken up, yet again, by a scream in the night. Xanaphia laid down and got comfy, staring at the stars through the branches. It wasn't long until she and Colm dropped off to sleep.

Again Xanaphia saw the firelight at the end of the cave. It burned brightly, but the warmth never reached her. It was a cold night, snow could be seen at the mouth of the cave. Xanaphia shivered, but didn't let her teeth chatter. If He thought she was cold he'd put the iron to her again. "To warm you up" He often said. The bloodstained stone floor was cold, too. Everything was cold. Xanaphia shivered again. She heard his voice echoing from near the fire.

"Are you cold? This should warm you up." A dark voice, Xanaphia thought, even as she pleaded.

"No, no, not the iron. Please. NO!" The last word ended with a scream as the iron, almost yellow with the heat made it's cruel contact with her skin. Xanaphia jerked awake, cold sweat making her shiver. Colm had woken up, it would have been hard to sleep through a scream when it was right next to one's ear. She was still shivering when Colm snaked an arm around her. He tried to calm her, but she still shivered. Colm stayed up with her until the shivering stopped and she could sleep again. Colm thought about what she must have dreamed about. It didn't take much to guess. Before he turned over to sleep, Colm cursed the monster that had done this. It took a monster to leave such shadows on a person. Colm was able to get a few more hours of sleep until the morning sun woke them both. Xanaphia woke first and took her bag to a stream she found a few minutes away from their camp. She needed to wash. Wash away the dream from last night. Zelda was right, the dreams came. Xanaphia shook her head, as if to clear it of the memories, and began to wash.

Colm woke, to find Xanaphia gone. He fought down the panic that started to rise in his chest. He listened and heard the sound of a stream and the splashing and singing of Xanaphia. Relaxing once again, he rolled up his sleeping bag and started hunting up some breakfast.

After Xanaphia had come back from her wash, Colm took his turn. When all was done and they were ready to continue with their trek, it was only a few more hours until dark.

"Might as well get as much travel in as possible." Colm said and Xanaphia cut their path with her sword. Her well cared for blade sliced easily through the branches and weeds. Hours passed in this way, until they came to a clearing just as the moon peaked through the overhanging branches. Then, bathed in silvery moonlight, they saw the "pests". Colm recognized the plants right away, but all Xanaphia saw was a bunch of fluttery looking stalks of varrieing hues of orange and electric blue.

" Oh. My. Gods." Colm muttered. Xanaphia looked at him and started to walk forward.

"What? They're just plants." Colm reached for her to pull her away from the plants that he knew were deadly. By the time he had gotten hold of her arm, her leg had brushed one of the long, feathery stalks. He pulled her back sharply.

"Hey!" Xanaphia said, and started to back up from him. Colm watched helplessly as her left leg, the one that had touched the stalk, went dead, and she stumbled backward, landing just inches from the plants. Colm quickly dragged her away from them and took the flint and steel from her bag. He made an even circle around the clearing of deceivingly beautiful plants, and lit it. He finally threw the stick, which he had lit on fire to make the circle, into the middle so that the clearing would be completely rid of the plant.

Xanaphia was still trying to get up. Colm went over and set her on her feet. When she tried to take a step, she fell back to the ground.

"Well, clearly THAT isn't going to work. What happened? and Why did you burn the plants?" Xanaphia was very confused, and Colm shook his head.

"Those were Klipper Plants. Each feather has one million tiny needles that are so small that they go through any clothing and into the skin. There they slowly make the entire body shut down until death by suffocation or starvation. You, my friend, walked right into them."

Xanaphia looked at the, now charcoaled, plants.

"So, unless there's a cure, I'm going to die a slow, annoying death. Any more good news Doctor Colm?"
Colm peered at her carefully, then said, with all seriousness,

"You have split ends."