So… how to begin. I can only say that I am sorry for the unbelievably long delay in updates. I have plenty of reasons as to why, but I'm sure you don't want to hear them.

Y'all can hate me now if you want to… *scratches head* I wouldn't blame you, really… but I am actually quite proud of myself. I had so many things going against me, and still I pushed through and kept on writing. And I will continue to do so, no matter what – count on it.

Still, though… the second half of this GODAWFULLY long chapter is not yet good enough to me, so I will have to split this chapter – If only to get myself off my back about posting so I can have some calm and peace to re-write the second half.

It won't take as long as this one did, though. That's a promise. ^_~

-*--*-

Chapter eleven: The measure of a life

Judeau tightened the last strap on Packer's saddle and looked back at where the others were packing up camp. Everyone but the elf looked less than rested and would occasionally stop to yawn, except for Judeau himself, who felt deceptively alert. He knew that he hadn't slept for long, and with the short, intense nightmares that had plagued what little sleep he'd got, he certainly wasn't rested – but the only thing that served to remind him of this was a faintly dulled feeling in the back of his mind.

He turned back to the small horse and smiled to himself. I am so tired that I don't even have the energy to be sleepy.

The smile died half-born on his lips. He also knew that he was distracting himself; thinking about how tired he must be helped him not to think about all that had happened last night… and all that might come of it. He sighed and pushed those thoughts away again – it was just too much to deal with right now. Patting packers chestnut neck, he murmured quietly:

"It must be nice, being a horse." The pony idly flicked an ear at him, and he felt another tired little smile tug at the corner of his lips. "So much simpler, for a start…"

"Good morning, Judeau."

Startled, he turned around to find Samina standing behind him with a very serious look on her face. He felt himself tense up, remembering the rather foul mood she had been in only a few hours ago, but greeted her with a smile and a nod.

"Good morning." Now what?

Samina's expression did not change, but her voice was as level and polite as always: "Two things, if you've got the time…?"

Wary and a little perplexed, he nodded at her to go on. Her posture changed slightly and a faint reddish tinge crept onto her face:

"Okay, first of all, I want to apologise for yelling at you yesterday. You had had a hard time already, and I had no right to just accuse you the way I did." She heaved a small, embarrassed sigh. "I really hate losing my temper like that, and I shouldn't have. I'm sorry."

Judeau relaxed a little and managed a more genuine smile.

"Oh, it's okay. I'm on a forgiving streak right now…" She raised a confused eyebrow and he had to look away, himself. Still smiling, he tiredly shook his head. "No… to be honest… I did act like an idiot when I ran off like that. You had every right to be angry." He scratched his neck, sighing, "I'm the one who should be apologising."

"Well… I can't really argue with that," Samina hesitantly replied, "But I was still being unnecessarily…" Then she suddenly caught herself and ran one hand over her face. When she looked up again, it was with a somewhat amused smile. "All right, let's just say that we were both stupid and leave it at that, shall we?"

Judeau blinked at her, and then felt a similar smile break out on his own face.

Sweet heaven, we were almost arguing about who would get to apologise. If that isn't stupid, I don't know what is.

"Sure," he chuckled, giving her a thumbs-up sign. She made a short, equally self-conscious snorting sound, before composing herself and carefully rearranging her features into their original seriousness.

"All right. Okay. Then, the second thing: I am also sorry that I haven't explained to you about my Birthright yet. It is something that you really must know about, if you are going to stay on our team for any longer time…" She paused and shrugged. "And, I don't know, maybe if I had had the spine to tell you about this sooner, you wouldn't have scared the crap out of me the way you did last night."

He frowned in confusion. "You mean, when I ran off?"

"What? No, no, not that. You know full well that that was… not the brightest thing to do, without me telling you again. No, I meant later, when we were trying to get away from the ghosts and I…" She caught herself again, and shook her head as if to clear it. "No, hang on, we're starting at the wrong end, here. If anything of what I have to say is going to make any kind of sense to you, I have to begin with explaining about the Void."

Judeau leaned back against Packer, leisurely crossing his arms over his chest. I was right – If I just waited, she would tell me herself.

"Okay, go ahead."

"Thanks." She flashed him another quick smile. "I know you've been curious, and I appreciate that you didn't press me about it. Though, maybe you should have. You deserve to know." She paused for a moment, thoughtfully rubbing her scarred nose, as she deliberated on what she wanted to say.

"All right," she began, adopting a scholarly manner that she must have gotten straight off of Thirgynn, "Like a Healer's gift, the Void will not be apparent to anyone unless I choose to use it. When it is dormant – or 'closed' – like now, I am as normal as the next person… but when I activate it, it makes me completely immune to magic. Any spell or natural magical phenomena that tries to affect me will be immediately absorbed by the Void, leaving no effects or traces of itself." She cocked her head to the side and smiled again. "So now you know why I wasn't cursed along with the others."

Judeau nodded slowly in comprehension. "Yes, I understand. Wow, that must be useful – and I can understand why you don't want everyone to know about it, you want to keep the element of surprise."

"Yeah, well… It's partly that. Yes, it's good that it's not common knowledge that 'the female bounty-hunter who tags along with the Crusader and the two dwarves' is also magically untouchable, but the moment I activate it, every mage and sensitive magical creature around will immediately know, so… I'm not sure about 'element of surprise', really. The other reason why I prefer not to tell people is because of the way they tend to react when they learn of what happens if the Void absorbs too much magic. You see… the more energy it takes in, the stronger it grows, and if I don't close it to let it subside for a while, it will eventually reach a point where I can't hold it in anymore and it overwhelms me. And when that happens… people around me… dies."

Judeau's eyebrows rose in surprise. She seemed very sincere.

"Really?" he prodded carefully, "Just like that, or… how?"

"Does it matter?" She met his eyes with a hard, almost cold look on her face. "They die, friends and foes alike. Do you really need to know exactly how, to understand how serious that is?"

Judeau held her gaze for a moment. Yep, this is the sore spot. It makes her uncomfortable – almost to the point of being afraid, I'd say… but whatever else, it is definitely the reason why she doesn't want to talk about her Birthright. If I press her, she'll probably tell me, but… He painted a smile on his face and gave a slight, carefree shrug.

"No, I guess not."

"Good. And …thanks." Then she sighed, and all the hardness was suddenly gone from her features. Now, she looked merely tired – tired, and regretful. "So now that you know that, I absolutely understand if you'd rather not stay with us. But before you decide anything, I just want you to know that I have complete control over the opening of the Void – it can't become active unless I make a conscious effort to open it, and I know exactly how much magic I can take in. And I can close the Void before it overwhelms me." She paused again and he noticed how her hand idly began playing with the strap of her morningstar. After a short moment her shoulders drooped slightly.

"Well, most of the time, anyway," she quietly admitted.

Judeau frowned thoughtfully.

"Uh… Okay, so you're saying that you don't have complete control over this dangerous… ability of yours? Just how easily can you lose it, then?"

"Normally, there's no danger at all – I don't lose myself just like that. But you've got to understand that the stronger it gets, the more I have to concentrate on keeping it down. And… I could, technically, also yield control at any time once it is opened, even without absorbing any magic. But believe me," she hastily added, "I will not even open the Void unless I really, really have to. The risk that anything would go wrong is very small, but it's there, and that's enough for me to keep it closed. But… the situation may arise when I have to use the Void – and maybe even release it, if I can see absolutely no other way to reverse an otherwise hopeless situation. It has happened… and given such a choice, I will do whatever I have to do to survive."

The scar-faced woman raised a stalling finger, even though Judeau had made no effort to interrupt her, and her voice became slightly softer, "But rest assured that if we would ever get into such a situation, I will warn you first – and I will absolutely try to buy time so that any ally of mine will have the chance to get as far away as possible. Like what happened last night…" She paused and frowned thoughtfully at him. "I don't know how much you can remember about that…?"

"Not much," he admitted, letting out a long breath and uncertainly scratching the back of his neck. "A lot of it is just a confused blur, really."

"I figured as much – Possession will do that to you. Okay, I'll recap: We were running from the ghosts, but we weren't going fast enough. If they had caught up with us, I am certain that they would have tried to possess you again, and you were out of strength: if they had gotten to you, you would have died. I couldn't rely on the others reaching us in time, and none of my weapons works against incorporeal enemies like that, so the only option I saw to get us both out of there alive was to let you run on ahead, while I stayed behind and took as many ghosts as I could into the Void. That would certainly have overloaded me, so I told you to get yourself away from there… but you didn't. You came back and – it was a nice thought, but like I said, it scared the living crap out of me – for some reason, you put yourself between me and the ghosts."

Judeau's head was now humming with garbled half-memories. He thought he could remember a female voice screaming at him to run, as an unspecified but terrifying danger approached her rapidly, but it kept getting mixed up with memories of another female voice insisting that he keep moving, keep struggling, from a very similar situation – and he remembered the sudden, desperate need to protect her, no matter what the cost. He blinked at Samina, but before he could say anything, she frowned slightly and continued:

"That was quite reckless of you – very much unlike the Judeau I think I know." Then she shrugged and looked away, a faint shadow of embarrassment passing over her features again. "Of course, you had just been possessed and weren't entirely 'there', and you had no idea of what kind of danger you were putting yourself into. That was all my fault, for not telling you sooner. But Judeau…" She gave him a very direct and serious look, her odd-coloured eyes boring into his.

"If you still want to be one of us, you're going to have to promise me that when I tell you to leave me behind and run for your life, you'll hopping well run for your life. Can you do that?"

Just what I needed, a small voice in the back of his mind grumbled to itself. More potential problems to worry about.

He regarded her for a moment, again pushing the incoherent memories of last night into the background, to focus on the subject at hand. He turned all of what she'd told him over in his mind, and reached a decision.

"Sure I can," he said, finally, "But what about you, then?"

The simple question seemed to catch her completely off guard.

"…Me?"

"Yes, you. If all of us leave you behind in a danger so great that our combined efforts can't defeat it, will you really be okay?"

She watched him in stunned silence, a look of incredulity on her face, until her mouth started twitching and she broke out in a huffing giggle.

"Sacred light!" she laughed, "Are you for real? Here I am telling you how dangerous I can be to everyone around me, to my friends and allies, and you are concerned about me? If you had any kind of sense of self-preservation in you, you would be running for the hills by now! Or haven't you been listening to a thing I've said?"

"No, I've been listening," he answered, serious. "You've said that you won't use the Void unless the situation gets really desperate, and you won't release it without warning us. As I understand it, you will do whatever you can to keep any ally out of harm's way. Am I right?"

"Why… yes, absolutely…" she stammered, her mirth fading away again. Judeau continued,

"Well, then you have answered all the questions I have about my own safety. Then I start worrying about the rest of my team – and from what I can tell, you've already warned Taskkarr, Thirgynn and Steelwing about this, so they're prepared and can get themselves out of it. That leaves – you. In a very tight spot." He frowned at her and straightened up. "See, I don't like the thought of leaving a member of my team behind. Especially not a lady. If you are going to take on some kind of awful danger to let the rest of us escape, I want to know if you can handle it. If you'll be all right, or if you need someone to help you out or something…"

"Mm-hmm," Samina interrupted, crossing her arms over her chest, a sudden anger burning in her eyes. "First of all, I am not, nor have I ever been, a 'lady'. Secondly, are you saying that you think I may not be able to handle it, because I am a woman? I thought more highly of you than that."

"Hey. No. No, no, no. That didn't come out right: I meant to say that I do find it hard to believe that you, alone, will be able to handle something that all of us, together, can't – But it has nothing to do with your sex. It's just that I really hate seeing women get hurt, that's all… But that's my own problem, and I know it."

The anger visibly drained away from her and she sighed, wearily rubbing her forehead. "Yeah, okay, I understand. I'm sorry." She looked up at him again with a small, apologetic smile.

"You don't have to worry about me, Judeau. I do not need any help, and if you come back for me it's the same as staying – you'll most likely die, so don't. If I say that I can handle it, just trust me. I like my life and I want to preserve it." A hint of mischief snuck into her features and her smile widened. "Unlike someone else I know, who will readily jump right into the jaws of danger without a second thought."

Judeau grinned. "Ah, you mean Taskkarr? Or perhaps Steelwing?"

She blinked at him twice, and then burst out into a hearty laughter.

"I was actually thinking about your little stunt with the ghosts," she finally managed to sputter, "but by the Gods, you are right. I'm surrounded by madmen!"

Judeau kept grinning, his self-confidence and mood boosted as he counted one point to himself.

"Well," Samina giggled when her laughter subsided. "That shut me up. But you've never seen them fight… how did you know?"

"Oh, you know. You're good at watching people." He shrugged. "It's the way they say and do certain things… if you know what to look for, you can easily predict how a person will behave on the battlefield."

"True." She nodded, still smiling in that brilliantly genuine way of hers. "Looks like we can make a bounty hunter of you yet. And I'm glad that you've decided to stay with us."

"I never said I would."

"Yes you did." The spark in her eye said that she knew that he was messing with her. She shook a half-scolding finger at him. "I am good at watching people, don't you know? And listening to them, too – you were talking about us as 'your team' and used the words 'we' and 'us' a few times as well, if I remember correctly."

He grinned and shrugged again, placing his hands behind his head and stretching leisurely.

"Well, I don't know where else I'd go. it's not like I know anywhere better to be. 'Sides, you are a strange bunch of people, but I still like you somehow – even if it seems like any one of you could be the end of me – and I figure that the best way to explore a strange and dangerous new world is with an equally strange and dangerous group of people."

"Now, that actually does make a screwy kind of sense… but…" Her smile became a little more uncertain. "…What do you mean about 'anyone of us would be the end of you'? I told you that I might, but only in an extreme situation and…"

He silenced her with a calm gesture. "I know, I know… and I do trust you. All of you, but… well…" He smiled lopsidedly and began counting off of his fingers. "Taskkarr is quick to anger and quicker to violence. Thirgynn is going to perform some kind of magical 'divination' ritual on me tonight, and God only knows what'll happen to me if that goes awry. Steelwing… well, Steelwing actually told me last night that he is going to kill me, if I let… the team down."

"Really?" She raised one eyebrow and regarded him with an unreadable look on her face for a short moment. Then she smiled and gave a small shrug. "Well, you don't really have to worry about the dwarves – they are more in control than they appear to be… and I am glad to see that you two boys are getting along so well."

He blinked. "Sorry, what?"

Her smile widened into a grin. "You and Steelwing. After all, he only gives a warning to those he thinks are worth something."

*
"Eyes open, manling! This isn't some kind of pleasure-trip, you know!" Judeau returned to the here-and-now just in time to catch the branch that Taskkarr had released, before it hit him in the stomach.

"My eyes are open," he retorted with a quick grin, and bent the branch aside so he could pass. "My mind just begins to wander when we have to move so slowly."

The demon-hunter narrowed his eyes at the not-very-subtle jibe at short dwarven legs, and Judeau gave him an innocent smile in return. If Thirgynn had heard anything, he chose to ignore it and kept trudging along by Shammael's side, in the lead of their little party.

"Keep moving, both of you, or we'll never make it back before nightfall." Samina gave Taskkarr's helmet a light shove as she walked past him, and the dwarf huffed indignantly, turned and hurried his gait until he was abreast with Steelwing and the bounty hunter was once again behind him.

Judeau smiled to himself and re-took to his position next to Samina, bringing up the rear along with her as their trek took them ever further into the dark, dense forest.

It had been almost five days since the reappearance of the Brand, and two since they had arrived at the Healer's home. With a little bit of luck, they would have enough Dusklily by tonight for Shammael to begin removing the magical resonance of the baldness curse – So Taskkarr was in much too merry a mood to remember Judeau's little barb for long. He was soon back to almost skipping (If that word could really be applicable to a creature such as the dwarf) along the poorly used forest path, humming what sounded like a dwarven marching-tune under his breath.

Judeau's smile widened. In these last two days, he had been treated to a completely different aspect of the dwarven attitude; it appeared that the happier the small men were, the more boisterous did they become. There had been many enthusiastic recitals of dwarven poetry, much deep-voiced singing and loud, booming laughter in front of Shammael's fireplace in the evenings, and even the old Healer seemed to get caught up in the mirth of the two dwarves from time to time – apparently even enough to forget how uncomfortable it must feel for him to have so many people in his house, all at once.

Judeau's smile faded away and he narrowly suppressed a sigh as his mind began to wander once more. No amount of boisterous laughter, incomprehensible (but strangely inspiriting) recitals of dwarven songs and poems, or hearty dunks on the back, could fully dispel the dark thoughtfulness that kept lingering on his mind.

The horrid dreams had faded quite rapidly, and would now come only about once a night, feeling much more like nightmares should, unreal and comparatively easily forgotten – but he still didn't sleep well. He'd been laying awake for maybe hours on end, thinking, remembering, pondering….

He found his eyes drawn to the woman walking by his side, and again he felt that eerie, uncomfortable stirring of déjà vu as he took in the sight of her in her helmet. She couldn't help it, of course; if anyone was to blame – beside his own vivid imagination and uncomfortable memories – it was Taskkarr, who had apparently crafted the headdress as a play on her taken surname 'Falcon'.

The beak-like extension that almost reached down to cover her mouth, the slanted eye-slits, the rounded-off back of the head… when Samina looked serious and focused behind that metal-mask, like now, the outward similarities between her and Griffith were uncomfortably striking.

But the outward similarities were the only similarities, he reminded himself, and they weren't dead-on, either. Samina's helmet lacked a chin-guard, its 'beak' was more defined, and it had softly curved-out 'eyebrows' that enhanced the stern, focused bird-of-prey look. But still… the first time she had put it on, it had been all he could do not to recoil from her in pure chock.

Something tugged at his attention as he forced his gaze away from the bounty hunter and pretended to scan the surrounding forest, but it was drowned out by another surge of discomfort as his gaze settled on the broad back of Shammael. The Healer's shoulders were tense and slightly hunched, and he walked without the careful deliberation that Judeau had always known him to use in the past, whenever he got a certain distance away from his little cabin. Judeau felt his hand clench, almost involuntarily, and he imagined that he could feel the outline of the demonic rune like a faint tingle against his skin. Thanks to it, Judeau's mere presence was making Shammael sick to his stomach – and that really didn't feel like a good way to pay the old man back for all that he had done for him. Judeau pressed down on another sigh. He knew what he would have to do….

That thing tugging at the back of his mind was jumping up and down now, trying to call his attention back to the present. He frowned and glanced back over at Samina, ignoring the cold shiver of recognition that rippled through his stomach, and let his eyes travel down to her hand. It was fiddling with the strap of her morningstar.

His mind returned fully to the here-and-now and he looked up again, finally noticing the thoughtful frown on her face.

"What is it?"

She didn't look back at him but frowned deeper behind her metal mask, her gaze uncertainly darting over the surroundings.

"I'm not sure." Her voice was slightly more hushed than his. "I have a feeling like we're being watched, but I can't say that it's not just paranoia."

Judeau let his gaze inconspicuously travel over the trees and dense foliage, focusing on the forest around him for the first time in quite a while, searching, listening… He could hear no sounds to indicate pursuit, nor could he see any out-of-place movements – but there was something that wasn't quite right…

"It's not just paranoia," he mumbled quietly. "Listen… this forest is always full of birdsong, but many birds fall quiet when there are people about. The nearest one is too far away, even considering the noise Taskkarr and Thirgynn are making." Samina looked over at him, and he nodded cautiously. "I think we're surrounded."

Samina leaned forward slightly and tapped Steelwing's pauldron.

"Steel-" She began, but was interrupted by the elf's equally quiet voice:

"I heard you. And Mr. Judeau is right – I can hear them. Heavy creatures, but quick and silent…" the Crusader paused for a moment, surreptitiously turning his head this way and that. "Behind and on both sides of us. There might be some in front of us as well."

Taskkarr turned his head and gave the 'longlings' a suspicious glare.

"What are you lot mumbling about? Can't you speak up like proper, honourable people?"

Judeau resisted the impulse to shush at the dwarf and instead leaned forward, speaking as quietly as possible.

"We are being followed. Steelwing says that he can hear creatures all around us."

"Indeed?" Frowning, the dwarf turned back and sniffed carefully at the air. After a moment he spoke again, only a nuance more silently than before, "Well, now that I think about it… there is a stronger scent of beast on the wind." He tapped his knuckles against Steelwing's thigh, earning himself a slightly annoyed glance from the Crusader. The demon hunter grinned back and brandished his axe. "You might be right, elf. I hope they attack!"

At this gleeful announcement, both Thirgynn and Shammael stopped and turned around.

"What?" the old Healer demanded, "Who?"

Thirgynn turned to Taskkarr with a mixture of curiosity and anticipation on his face. "Are we being followed? By who, or what?"

Beside Judeau, Samina sighed and voiced the scout's own concerns in a weary whisper:

"We'll probably find out, now when they know that we've noticed them…"

-
And indeed, only a stone's throw further along the path, they were met by one of their 'pursuers' in a small glade.

Judeau could only stare in awe and trepidation at the beast before them. Black-coated and towering, it would have dwarfed even Gatts by a head or two, and seemed muscular enough to have been able to wrestle down mighty Pippin without too much effort. From atop the broad, massive shoulders the head of a bull glared down at them with fierce, intelligent eyes, and beneath its leather loincloth two absurdly muscular legs, with one too many pairs of knees, stretched out, ending in cloven hooves instead of feet. Strips of cloth and leather were tied around the sharp, menacing horns, and in one monstrous hand the creature held an axe that would easily have been a two-handed – if not three-handed – weapon to any normal-sized person.

Samina inhaled sharply as the huge, threatening shape came into view.

"Minotaurs. Drat."

For a moment, the small team and the bull-headed giant studied each other in silence. Then Shammael took a few steps forward, holding his hands out in front of himself, palms up.

"Greetings, mighty one…" he began, but the minotaur cut him off with a deep, bass bellow:

"Oo is tres-passig! Vis is our grounds! Go 'way!" For emphasis, it pointed with its axe back at the way they had come. Shammael raised his hands in a peaceful gesture, sounding as calm and reasonable as only he could when he really wanted to.

"We'll soon be gone, we just want to pick these flowers, that's all." Judeau tore his eyes away from the minotaur long enough to glance over at where Shammael was pointing, and noticed a few oblong, white leaves where they peeked out from under a dense bush. Dusklily.

"No!" Rumbled the bull-headed giant. "Vis is our grounds, an' all what grow here is ours! Oo Go 'way!"

Shammael took another step forward, but halted abruptly as the black bull huffed threateningly at him.

"Mighty one," he said, with growing confusion evident in his voice and manner, "Don't you recognise me? You've let me pick these flowers on your grounds many times before. It's me, the Healer! I have treated your wounded more than-"

"LIAR!!!" The bellow was deafening. "Oo is not de Healer! Oo look like de Healer, but oo cannu fool de taurs, dirty, dirty liar!" The minotaur pulled its lips back in a snarl that revealed several sharp, yellowish fangs, and its eyes suddenly burned with rage. Shammael took a startled step back in the face of this sudden and very lethal fury, stammering:

"Bu-but I am the Healer! I am! W-why would I lie about that?!"

The minotaur's eyes narrowed and its voice lowered to a deep, rumbling growl worthy of any murvelbeast:

"How dare oo fink de taurs so stupid? Taurs owe de Healer much, much! Oo fink oo can fool taurs to give oo whadever oo wants, jus' because oo look like de Healer? Oo wrong!" From the corner of his eye, Judeau saw Samina tighten the strap of her morningstar around her wrist, and Steelwing stealthily loosen his swords in their scabbards. The minotaur was beyond reasoning now. "Stupid, dirty liar! Taur can feel Healer!" He roared, "But taur no feel oo!!" And then, with a mighty battle-bellow, he lunged at Shammael.

Time slowed down for Judeau, as it tended to do when things began happening very rapidly. He saw Shammael lift his arms in a hopelessly futile effort to save himself, the axe at his side apparently forgotten. He saw Steelwing draw his blades and step out in front of the Healer, in the exact same heartbeat as Taskkarr threw himself forward into the minotaur's path, his dwarven battle axe already describing a calculated arc towards the beast's midsection. He heard Thirgynn chant something and saw the miracle-worker's skin begin to turn grey and hard – like stone.

And he saw Samina turn around the way they had come, shouting a quick and urgent warning. Without expending further thought on it, he spun around, his hand instinctively reaching up to his chest. The enormous beast bearing down on him presented a nice, big target, and in the space between one heartbeat and the next, three sharp steel points had embedded themselves deeply in the body of the ambushing minotaur. The reddish-brown beast faltered, dropped its club and gave a deep, hateful, feral gurgle before it unceremoniously toppled over and crashed to the ground, red blood pouring out from its now-empty eye socket and the small, deep wounds in its throat and chest. But Judeau didn't get any time to enjoy his victory, nor a chance to release any more knives; the minotaurs were fast and furious, and the scout only narrowly avoided getting brained – by a fearsome blow from an equally fearsome club – by means of a quick and purely instinctive dodge. With one down, there were three more bulls for Samina and him to deal with, two of which were engaging the bounty hunter – and he could hear more beasts erupt from the underbrush all around the glade.

There are at least ten of them…. Still desperately dodging the furious onslaught by the club-wielding minotaur, he reached around and pulled out one of his scimitars. From out of the turmoil behind him, he heard Taskkarr bellow – sounding just a little bit too cheerful:

"The big one with the horns is mine!!"

Yeah, that really narrows it down, Judeau thought dryly, and then swiftly slunk in under the minotaur's heavy swipe, burying his scimitar deeply into the furry throat. He finished his opponent off with a quick twist and slash, leaving the beast to drown in its own blood as he turned, taking a quick look at the situation.

Taskkarr had just managed to dodge a horribly powerful blow from the black, axe-wielding 'mighty one', but the minotaur was very fast indeed and before the demon hunter had a chance to act, the black bull sent him tumbling across the ground with a hard and well-aimed kick. Steelwing was standing over the corpse of one bull-headed beast, deftly evading the quick and furious blows from two other. As Judeau watched, the Crusader slid in between their flailing weapons with seemingly effortless ease, struck out at both sides with all the speed and deadly precision of a viper, and slipped out on the other side completely unscathed. When the metal-faced elf turned around to face his opponents once more, only one still stood – but the blood gushing forth from its stomach indicated that the beast would not remain on its feet for much longer.

Shammael had finally drawn his battle-axe and was desperately parrying the heavy blows from one minotaur, each clash of metal driving the old man several steps back – but three more were coming at him.

Before Judeau had had a chance to call out a warning to the Healer, there was a sudden flash of light followed by a wave of heat, and the three bulls were engulfed in a cloud of roaring flames. Thirgynn, now looking every bit like a clothed stone statue, slowly turned away from the burning, panicking minotaurs – too slowly, as the black 'mighty one' came up behind him and caught the miracle-worker right in the neck with one fell swoop of its axe, effortlessly smashing the stone-like dwarf to the ground. Judeau only had time to see Taskkarr furiously fly back into combat – small and unstoppable like a very angry cannonball, before his attention was riveted back to Samina by means of a sharp cry of pain.

He turned to see her stagger backwards, trying to fend the one remaining minotaur off with her sword, while her right arm hung limply from her side, twisted at an unnatural angle and weighed down by the morningstar that was still fastened around her wrist. She was actually keeping the bull at bay, but not by much – and if the whiteness of her face was anything to go by, she was in too much pain to notice the second minotaur bearing down on her from behind, with its giant mace raised for a crushing, final blow.

There was no way that that mace could be blocked, and even a knife in the eye might not be enough to prevent the blow from impacting, at this point. From the corner of his eye, Judeau saw a flash of silver and knew that Steelwing was on the intercept, but though the Crusader could be frighteningly fast, he was just a little bit too far away…

By the time Judeau realised what he had to do, his body had already acted on it. He crashed into Samina palm-first and sent her sprawling to the ground, but didn't get a chance to join her – the fearsome blow meant for Samina's head had changed direction, faster than he would have thought possible, and it caught him a glancing hit in the ribs. The monstrous force behind the blow lifted him off his feet and sent him spinning through the air.

He turned in mid-flight, just in time to see Steelwing decapitate the mace-wielding bull and then – before the heavy, headless body had even begun to fall – buried his twin blades up to their hilts in the chest of the other minotaur. Then Judeau's entire world was jarred out of focus as he smacked spine-first into the thick trunk of a tree. His breath was torn out of his lungs, and a searing pain rippled through his body.

He fell towards the ground, but blacked out long before he hit it.

-*--*-

Okay, now remember that this chapter was not supposed to end here, so I didn't really MEAN to leave it in a cliffhanger. *curls up behind Taskkarr* Don't hurt me, and I will get the second part up as soon as possible! Honest!

Please review, though, so I know if this part still needs improving, and if someone's still interested in this story. ^_^

RR: (because hope is the last to abandon man…)

nada: ^_^;;; Yes… I am soo, soo sorry – but after so many good chapters, I can't post something as crappy as the earlier versions of this chapter were… forgive me?

Rose: I hope you still want to read more, 'cause there is more coming. I am so glad that you enjoyed the last chapter so much!

TCA: *Blushes* Don't worry, I will! Thank you.

Berzerkerprime: Thank you. I'm sorry for the splitting here, but it's not as awkward a break as the last chapter would have had… 'pologies for the cliffy, though.

Stargazer Nataku: Thank you very much, I strive to write an interesting story. Again, sorry it took so long. :(

Gorgonzola: Thank you for all your support, and for not giving up on me despite everything. There will be more dwarfishness, don't you worry, as well as more on the dynamic duo. And yes, I am in pain.

Niclas and SKOBlack: Now, these boys seem awfully proud of me, don't they? *blushes* Much support here… it really helps. ^_^

Lizalou42: review 1: thank you very much! I intend to! Review 2: Thanks muchly for the 'not pressuring myself'. I need to loosen up a little, sometimes. And thanks for liking my website! Review 3: Really? Thank you! I love dialogue too (Like you couldn't tell…), and I do make an effort to make it believable.

Sara: I'm sorry, I should have been more careful with the spoiler warnings, I suppose. I e-mailed you with an apology, but I think it got lost…

Drachen: Yayy! Drachen's back! And still liking it, that's sweet! Sorry for splitting, but I REALLY had to… and Steely seems to be getting quite popular. Interesting.

Merina: Again, many apologies for the long delay. Thanks for reading and liking so far!

Hawkeye: thanks, but I have the storyline all thought out already. Y'know, if you want to read more about Gatts, read the manga. I can't ever compare to Mr. Miura's genius.

Brother Angelon: Thank you for reading, liking and reviewing! Are you a friend of Hawkeye's? I just don't want you to have any illusions, here: in this story, Judeau is, and will continue to be, the main character. Just so you know. Keep reading, though!

Karita: NO! not the big, teary manga eyes! Now I feel really bad for delaying so long… I share your need, though. That's why I'm writing, after all.

Gau: Thank you very much! I will!

Azrael: review 1: I would really hate to hurt you, so I'll keep writing. Thank you so much, I am blushing like crazy over here! Review 2: Thank you. I'm blushing again. Don't worry, I shall.

MTH: Yep! Still here! I am actually more active than I let on… ^_^;

A very special thank you goes to SKOBlack, Niclas, Hott and Gorgonzola for support and for believing in me when I didn't, myself. And to White_Aster, who's helped me more than she knows.

And now – fixing the second half…