See see! I told you the next chapter would be longer! I hope you guys find this satisfactory. Read and Review!

Chapter TEN!! yipee!

Featuring:

An unspoken farewell
Two stolen horses
A new beginning

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When Maylen got home that day, she went straight to her room, claiming to her flustered aunt that she was exhausted. She was, in a way.

On the way down the hall, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned to see her aunt's worried face.

"Mum, what's wrong?" Maylen asked carefully.

"It's just…" her aunt sighed, and let her arm drop to her side. "You seem so… distant, lately. We barely see you anymore."

"Okay," Maylen said slowly.

"Just… remember we're your family, alright? Whenever you need us, we're here."

Maylen became frustrated. "Look, Aunt, I'm fine. Sometimes I need alone time, sometimes… I, well," she stuttered into silence.

Aunt Amelia looked at her steadily. Maylen regarded her warily. "You do know that we're here for you?"

"Aunt, you know you aren't my real mum?" Maylen said quietly.

Her aunt sighed. "Yes, but –"

"Then stop acting like you are!" Maylen screamed, and slammed the door in her aunt's face.

Maylen flopped down on her pallet, seething. She had no idea why she was so angry. Were there remnants of the dark magic she had used earlier still in her? She turned her head to the side to look out the window, and caught sight of her sister Maraline's sketching tablet. She straightened, curious, and pulled the drawing towards her.

It was a portrait of… her.

Maylen felt a smile tug at her lips as she examined the fine line of her jaw, the charcoal-sketched eyes and nose. The mouth was not drawn yet. Her hair fell about her face like a dark curtain. For the first time, Maylen realized that she was… pretty.

She felt tears touch her eyes and set the tablet down, and turned over. She refused to think about the drawing, or the fact that she would be leaving that evening. She probably wouldn't see Maraline again after that night's dinner.

Maylen stuffed a last loaf of bread into her satchel. She checked her things once again, just to be sure. Three changes of undergarments, an extra tunic and trousers, a small pocketknife; which she decided to keep at her waist just to be careful; two canteens of water… and the now completed charcoal-drawn picture of herself, by Maraline. Her younger sister had finished it earlier.

Maylen looked around the room. She was sure her sisters were sound asleep, but she was cautiously quiet anyways. She glanced at the window; the moon shone through the ragged curtains, but gave little light. The only suggestion that Maylen's sisters were in the room was the oddly shaped lumps that could be seen through the darkness.

Maylen sighed. She felt terribly guilty, leaving her family like this, but she knew it was for the better -- if she stayed, and the village found out about her, she could be putting both herself and the villagers of Daret in danger. No, the only option was to run.

She slung her bow over her shoulder and strapped her quiver to her belt, opposite her dagger. Then she straightened. Refusing to look back, Maylen opened the door and left the room.

Maylen quietly left the house. She couldn't leave a trace of the fact that she was running away, even a good-bye note could be the death of her family. Let them all think she had gone hunting and been killed. Silent tears streaming down her face, Maylen left the village, left her home; left the one place she had lived all her life.

Maylen walked calmly, silently, through the dark night. Through her tears, the stars were enlarged ten times their size, and threw off shining rays of light. Everything was surreal and oddly blurred. Maylen felt like she was walking in a dream.

After she was out of sight of the village, Maylen called out with her mind. Kumar!

A few moments later, the magnificent crimson-feathered bird swooped down from the sky, alighting on Maylen's raised fist. They exchanged no words, for none had to be spoken, and continued on their journey.

She hadn't been walking for a half a mile before she heard several hoof beats coming up fast. Maylen turned around in alarm as the feathers on Kumar's head raised threateningly, and saw two dark blurs trotting towards her in the night. Squinting through the dusk, Maylen made out two horses, one with a rider, the other being pulled behind.

"Hello," Martusc said cheerfully, coming up to her on the large, ebony horse that was unmistakably Shadowfire. "You weren't thinking of walking the whole way, did you?"

Maylen wasn't as surprised at his arrival as by the fact that he was sitting astride one of the best horses in Daret. "Martusc! Did you steal them?"

The boy looked uncomfortable. "Yeah. But I knew you and Kumar are more important than some grumpy stable keeper, so I took them. The stable keeper wasn't taking good care of Shadowfire anyways; the state of the hay in his stall was terrible! It was so stale, I'd wager he hadn't replaced it in days."

Maylen had to agree that the best way to travel was by horseback. Kumar crawled up to her shoulder as she mounted the second horse, a piebald mare. "She's beautiful. What's her name?"

Martusc shrugged. "I don't know. You should name her."

Maylen patted the mare's neck affectionately as she thought. Finally – "I shall name you Lily, that's the name of my youngest sister. I think it fits," she said, turning to Martusc. He nodded.

Fit it does, Kumar thought to Maylen; he had seen images of her sisters through her eyes.

"Well? Where are we going?" Martusc asked.

Maylen had remembered a map Frode had once showed her, a map of Alagaësia. It had been long ago, but she recalled a few things; the Ninor River curved a little ways south, and then abruptly ended. If one went west from Daret, and followed the Spine a couple leagues, they would find themselves before an opening in the mountains through which the Toark River flowed. If they followed the river a ways, they would find themselves "In the small, peaceful village of Fasaloft" had been Frode's exact words. If the travelers followed the river past Fasaloft, they would find themselves in the large and heavily fortified city of Teirm.

At Frode's house, he had told her about Teirm; how it was one of Alagaësia's most industrious ports, and how it was so prepared for attack that it was one of the few places one could hide without worrying about attack.

"Teirm," Maylen told Martusc. "We are going to Teirm." She looked at him to see his reaction, but it was to dark to see his expression.

"Alright," he said softly. "Well, we aren't getting anywhere by standing around --- let's go!"

Maylen smiled in spite of the grim mood that had long burrowed any happiness she had previously felt. As they took off galloping, Kumar thrust himself into the sky, pushing the air down with his ruby-feathered wings. He let out a joyous call, and Maylen felt her stomach fill with delightful bliss as he shared some of the exhilaration of flight with her.

They had been riding for an hour, racing across the scrubby plain, when they suddenly reached the end of the Ninor River. Maylen slowed to a halt and turned. There was a large clump of trees around the end of the river, branching off from the trees that grew along the banks of the river all along the way. Maylen turned to Martusc.

"From here we go south, a long ways, then turn west and follow the Toark River." She told him. She called for Kumar, who was soaring in wide circles high above them, like a hawk.

What do you need? He asked, alighting upon her shoulder.

Which way is south?

Kumar lifted his head and turned, facing to Maylen's right. This direction.

Maylen pivoted her horse to face south. "Come on. We might make camp in the Spine by dawn if we gallop."

They reached the foothills of the immense range of mountains known as the Spine just as the sun was resting on the horizon behind them. Exhausted and ravenous, the companions settled beneath the trees a little ways up the slope, tied the horses up to some trees close to a clearing of grass, and fell asleep beneath the waving boughs of the tall firs.

It was noon when Maylen woke. She opened her eyes to see a gorgeous ruby-feathered and beaked face peering down at her. Kumar chirped happily to see that she was awake. He nibbled her hair like he did his own feathers, and she giggled. It was such a wonderful feeling, that Maylen stopped abruptly and chose to keep the cheery spirits bubbling inside.

Martusc was still asleep, huddled under a thin blanket. Maylen watched his calm, dark face, the steady rise and fall of his chest. She decided to let him sleep, and started a fire.

She was waving a plucked fowl impaled on a stick over the fire when Martusc stirred. He sat up, rubbing his eyes, and saw the cooking fowl. He grimaced, but didn't comment. Kumar fluttered his wings, looked around, then took off. I am going to hunt, He told Mayen.

When the meat was lightly brown, Maylen placed it on slab of wood and cut it apart with her knife, taking out the bones. "Dig in," she told Martusc cheerfully, and started eating the cooked meat. Kumar came back with a mouse dangling from his beak. He swallowed happily, and Maylen made a face. If cooking and eating a dead bird was disgusting, that was nothing compared to eating a raw dead rat. Kumar sent a sense of amusement at Maylen's disgust across their link.

After they had eaten, Maylen leaned back and sighed, rubbing Kumar's head. "Here's where it begins," she murmured.

Review review review! It might take awhile for the next chapter, I'm still gathering my thoughts. I know, there's nothing worse than an author without an outline for their story. Well, it will come if you review! Let's shoot for... 70 reviews this time, OK:) See ya later!