A/N: Yes, I updated twice in a day XD. I didn't think I could do it but there you go. Oh yeah, I haven't read over this as well as I usually would, so there are probably a few typos.

Disclaimer: The world and characters you recognise all belong to TP.

Chapter 13: Prisoner

Takeshi awoke slowly and looked around cautiously. He could barely make out the unconscious forms of the other three in the faint light that entered the room under the door. As far as he could tell it was the only way in or out of the windowless room. With a muffled groan he managed to force himself upright, and casting out his gift swore as it slipped between his mental fingers, like a bar of soap. He jumped as someone spoke,

"Now this is a good trick. What ever this spell is that they've put on our gift, it's sure effective."

"You call it good, I just call it bloody annoying," he complained to Tau.

"For once in my life I find myself in agreement with my brother."

"Oh Julia, I'm touched." She sniffed, settling into a more upright position,

"Don't get used to it." A faint moan from Lilith halted all conversation. "She's still not awake?"

Tau moved so he wasn't blocking the light that fell on her. "Nup, and by the looks of it they went to a bit more of an effort to make sure she couldn't use her gift-"

"Well duh," Julia interrupted. "She can transport herself from one place to another. What's the point of locking her up if all she has to do is will herself somewhere else?"

"Why aren't the evil masterminds ever stupid?" Complained Tau. There was a soft thud, as Takeshi beat his head against a wall,

"I'm not even going to try and answer that. You have watched way too many movies."

……………………

Lilith found herself floating in soft darkness once again. She had a vague memory of yet another vision and sighed, as she began to recall it more clearly. She opened her eyes carefully and yelped at the sight of three shadow-distorted faces looming above her. Sitting up, she looked around taking in her new surroundings. "Oh, well this is just great."

"And aren't you just a wonderful little ray of sunshine," Tau remarked, and quickly shut his mouth as all three glared at him.

"I've always wondered why there were so few optimists around," Takeshi remarked casually. "Now it seems plainly obvious, that they were likely mostly killed off by pessimists stuck in a really bad situation."

"Oh shut up sourpuss," grumbled Tau. Julia coughed to get their attention,

"You know this is lovely how you two feel you can argue at a time like this…but in case you haven't noticed… WE'RE LOCKED IN A WINDOWLESS ROOM, UNABLE TO USE OUR GIFTS, AND WITH NO IDEA WHERE THE HELL WE ARE!"

"So you've decided to rejoin the land of the living," a voice remarked coldly, as light flooded them from the now open door. The four mages all felt the gift that slid over them, holding their legs and arms immobile. "Oh and just so you know, you have your dear Trickster to thank for this." Jamil was met by three identical death glares, and one of pure indifference. He grinned inwardly. This promised to be interesting.

"He's the Trickster as you pointed out," Julia sighed, "I wouldn't put it past him to let something like this happen."

"Oh goody," Lilith muttered, and immediately froze completely under the gaze of the mage in the door way. She blinked as recognition dawned, and freeing her mind and said softly, "You again."

"So you do remember me. I was a little worried for a moment there," he watched as recognition slowly dawned on the Carthaki's face as well.

"You were the one that got her," Tau nodded in Lilith's direction, "in the alley that day."

"And you're the little bastard that half stunned me. I owe you for that, and for what my Lord did to me because I let her get away," he grimaced at the memory.

"I have a name you know," Lilith remarked dryly.

"Too bad," Jamil said. "I need you four to come with me."

"And what if we don't want to?" Takeshi's asked quietly.

"You don't have a choice," he snapped his fingers, and all four found themselves jerked to their feet and out the door before they had time to blink.

Julia looked down at the old worn flags that made up the floor of the hallway they were being dragged along and the stone blocks that made up the walls. There were only a few such buildings in Rajumaut, and as far as she could tell, they hadn't been unconscious long enough to leave the city. "So were in one of Lungkata's temples then," she stated. Jamil smirked coldly,

"Of course. This here is my Lord's domain alone. Your god cannot enter or see this place by any means he possesses. Unlike, my Lord, who's magic allows him to project a temporary image or 'clone' of himself anywhere he wishes." They came to a thick wooden door, as worn as the stone floor.

"Have you ever seen Lungkata?" Lilith asked suddenly, as Jamil reached for the handle. He started, and turned to face her,

"No. It is forbidden. Why do you ask?"

"Lucky you," she muttered and as he frowned, quickly added, "No reason." The door swung open of its own accord, revealing a black cloaked figure.

"She asks, as though she is one who has," the hissing voice said. The group was dragged forward, the door slamming behind them. Jamil dropped to his knees the moment he was released.

"My lord?"

"I don't know how she has seen my face, Jamil. Actually, there are a number of things I have to ask her about." He raised a hand, to point at her, and the world promptly receded back into darkness once again.

…………………

Lilith looked at the dark walls that encircled her. The cloaked figure of Lungkata appeared before her, and she quickly backed away until she hit one of the walls. His tone was anything but reassuring as he said,

…Now, now. I only have to ask you a couple of questions…

…Keep away from me!... Lilith turned to face the wall, and pushed it mentally, with all her strength. It didn't budge.

…Ah, so you have learned something of the powers you carry. It was unfortunate for you, that since Aly died without any children, you, the heir Kyprioth chose for her newly gained power, had to receive my mark as well. Stop fighting, it is pointless. You have no where you can run…

Lilith turned to face him again, he was closer now, his power flowing around him, compelling her to obey… She shook her head to clear it, and a glint of light in the darkness caught her eyes. Without a second thought, she flung herself at the already fading glimmer and found herself falling, into a light, from which familiar voices assaulted her ears. With a grin she recognised it as a vision as it rushed forward to ensnare her mind, effectively blocking the lizard from her thoughts.

……………………

Lungkata swore vehemently, as he broke from his trance-like state, to glower that the three before him. "Jamil."

"Yes my Lord?"

"Leave us. When I am done with these three you can do whatever you want with them. I really don't care. But the girl," he nodded to Lilith's limp form which held upright only by Jamil's spell, "is mine."

"Yes my Lord…Why…did she pass out?" It was a sign of how distracted the Lizard-man was that he didn't strike him down on the spot. The mage let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding as Lungkata replied,

"She escaped into her mind-into some sort of memory-vision. Until it has run its course, I will not be able to enter her thoughts…which is annoying to say the least." Jamil took the hint and with a hurried bow backed clumsily from the room.

Lungkata turned to the three remaining, and released them from the spell that held them immobile. "Just a warning, in case you're stupid enough to attack me, no blade or bullet can penetrate my shields. Don't expect to survive an attempt." He smiled at the stony silence that was the reply to his statement. "You're not going to make this easy are you?" He affected a hissing sigh, "Ah well, I couldn't persuade you to convert to my religion?" He paused, and then continued, when they remained silent, "No? Well that's too bad. Really, I admire your loyalty to the Trickster, but if you're going to be stubborn we'll have to do this my way."

…………………

Tara snorted, "That's one way of putting it." She watched the former spymaster, as she turned, shrugging deeper into her concealing cloak, to avoid the biting cold air. "So, will you help us?"

"Well, I don't really have a choice now. They know you're linked to me and I really don't want your deaths on my conscience. So I suppose, I can try."

Miki broke into a grin and turned to Lykas, "Told you so!" The older man shook his head, unable to hide the small smile that turned the corners of his mouth upward. Tara laughed, as Aly looked on blankly,

"Am I missing something here?"

Miki looked embarrassed for a moment then his face broke back into a grin. "Me'n Tara told 'im that you wouldna abandon us, t' Lungkata an' 'is followers! He didna think you'd help us!" Aly smirked at the part-raka, then turned and lead the way back into the backstreets.

They were ambushed somewhere between where the safe house had been and the inn they were staying at, on the other side of the temple district. With hindsight, all of them would curse the stupidity that had lead them to return to see what remained of the safe house.

The only warning Aly had was the slight scuff of a boot on the uneven cobbles, around the corner in front of them. She shouted, and then suddenly they were trapped in the alley by black cloaked figures, all armed to the teeth. Aly swore as her sight picked up the group of mages that moved to block there retreat. Without a second thought she threw herself forward, knives drawn, towards the non-mages. They parted before her, taken off guard by her completely unexpected movement. There was a shout and the mages materialised from the shadows around her. She smiled grimly. Yes, they were after her, more than the other three with her. She managed to catch Tara's eyes over the heads of the fanatics who had turned to face her. Nodding back in the direction they had come from, she told her silently to fight there way through the remaining non-gifted fanatics behind them. She saw the old woman hesitate, and sidestepped a fanatic's lunge, shouting "Go! Get out of this death trap! I'll be fine!" She saw the disbelief in her face even as she turned with the other two, and they began to force their way out of the alley. With that weight off her mind, she threw herself completely into the fight. Placing her back to a wall, she counted on her superior speed and fitness, to compensate for their greater strength and numbers. She might have been able to hold them off she knew if it weren't for the mages, and the fact they realised that if they all charged together, she couldn't block them all.

"Why couldn't they have been stupid," she thought wincing as a line of heat sliced into her shoulder. Stumbling, she began to get desperate as all the small wounds she had gathered began to take their toll on her body. Cursing, she shouted, "Kyprioth! A little help would be appreciated!" The mark on her arm pulsed and she tried vainly to ignore the pain it caused and get to the mage that was using it as a focus for his spell. No such luck. The non-gifted fanatics pressed in around her, hemming her in. She growled in frustration, "KYPRIOTH!" She stumbled, and fell raising a futile hand to block the downward swing of a baton towards her head, when light blazed from her hand, shoving those surrounding her back. She stared at her glowing hand in shock,

"Did I know I could do that?" Someone shouted something, and then mages moved forward as the non-gifted backed off. She dragged herself to her feet, as the world spun crazily. She cursed, the blood she'd lost, and settled into a crouch, waiting for everything to settle before she tried to attack. A mage shot a spell at her, and once again she raised a glowing hand and a protective circle flickered into being around her. "Ok, what the hell did you do Kyprioth?" She thought. "I definitely, did not have anything but the sight before you started meddling."

The world seemed to freeze and Kyprioth's voice replied softly. "That was an unexpected side effect, of the Kudarung. But look at it this way, you'd have a rather nasty head wound if you didn't have it."

"Oh thanks heaps," she replied sarcastically. "You could just get me out of here?" There was a sound like thunder, and she could almost hear Kyprioth wince,

"Sorry my dear, I have my own problems to deal with at the moment." He sent her a flashing image of Lungkata, attacking him with magic. The connection was severed abruptly. Crap. The world sped up again, and the mages resumed their attack.

Answering an inner compulsion she crouched her shield flickering as she drew all her power into her hands and placed them on the ground. Shoving it into the earth, she unleashed a wave of power that created a 10m wide destruction zone with herself at the centre.

The other mages never saw it coming and now either sat stunned, unconscious or dead around her. Walking through them, she allowed herself a small smile, before turning and hurrying away from the alley that had turned into a death trap. Now to find- her thoughts and movement was cut short as she was slammed into a wall by a wall of power. She swore and turned, wincing as light assaulted her eyes. She swallowed hard as she realised it was the light of his gift that nearly blinded her. This was not good…

…………………

A/N: I'm going to try to have this story finished at about chapter 15 or 16, so hopefully soon. Please Review!