Cearbhail:

Ok, everyone. I have a small break where I can actually write and stuff. don't expect it to last though. I already have two papers coming up in two weeks, and Japanese is only getting harder. Ok then. Enjoy.

[Olin]

I had to admit that going to the tournament had been fun. It was nice to see all the armored fellows fight each other. What was the most fun was watching Red's friend, Zorro fight his way through the armored fellas. Besides all that, it was nice to see a woman fighting as well. I was beginning to think this entire region was sexist or something. Back in my village, women fought with just as much ferocity as our men did, and we all fought as equals. When I looked into the crowd of people to see only men wearing armor, I thought this region only believed in men fighting. It made even more sense since I didn't see one woman on the ship that carried me into this place. But, there was that one woman who tore through her matches with as much ferocity as any man I've ever watched. That reassured me that this region wasn't completely insane.

I watched Red as she cheered for her friend in the ring. She applauded him every time he went up to fight, and he would cast a glance to him at the start of every fight. I wondered if these two had a thing for each other. I mean, Red did ask me out on this date, but I wasn't entirely sure what that meant yet. Did she like me, or did she like him? I guess it was too early to tell, and I could just be worried about nothing. I mean, I've dated before, and I know what it's like to watch a fight with someone. It gets very much just like this. We cheer for our friends, and I would have been doing the same if one of my clan mates had been up there instead.

As the final round started up, Red wrapped her arm around mine and pulled me close to her. We had watched several hours of fighting now, and I'm sure both of us were tired of standing up by now. I know my feet were pounding and wanted me to sit down for a minute. But Red didn't want us to lose our spots, and if we moved, someone would move into our spot. We might not get them back if we left to sit down for a minute. The plan was to watch until Zorro lost the tournament. I never expected him to go all the way to the final round. But here we were, still standing up, watching the man in black face off against the man in white and the only woman in the tournament.

I had time to analyze the three fighters since I saw all their matches. The man in white was ruthless. He would have made a great clan mate. He fought with the same ferocity as my father. Meanwhile, Zorro was quick and agile, but he had a certain restrain that allowed his enemies to get a quick hand up on him. And then there was the woman. She had no such restraint as Zorro, but you could tell she pulled her slashes when they could have been deadly. She had a quick way of measuring her opponents and used their own foundation against them. I couldn't really explain the way she did this, but I could tell that when she looked at someone, she knew how to take them down. And she won all her matches by being one step ahead of everyone else. My money would have been on her, if not only because she'd pit the two other fighters against each other.

So, I stood there and watched as Zorro and the two others started their fight. And they fought…and fought. It was pretty exciting to see both Zorro and the woman fight together against the man in white. Too bad it didn't really help them. They both went against the ruthless man, and they got their butts handed to them again and again. In fact, I think they both were going to be killed by him up until there was a loud explosion from the large castle behind the arena. It was enough to cause alarm to everyone around us, including the armored fighters that had lost their matches.

Red turned to look at me as a knight ran up to the King's chair. "Sir, Assassins reported inside the castle."

Red gasped and grabbed me by my arm. She started to pull me away from the arena and with such speed that I couldn't hear what the King said in return. I looked back at her. "What's going on?"

"Nothing." She said. "I'm just bored of watching the tournament." She pulled me harder, quickly shouldering past everyone that built up around us. Since we were at the first line of spectators in the arena, we pretty much had to squeeze through the entire town to get out of here. And since everyone was moving around in fear of something exploding around them, it was even harder to get away.

"Where are we going?" I asked her.

She looked back at me for a second. "Umm…I think we should check in with my family. I'm afraid something might have happened."

"Does it have something to do with the explosion just now?" She did seem to freak out when the castle exploded. Did someone she knows work there or something? I couldn't begin to know anything about her so far. I didn't know anything about her family or her. Well, I did know something about her friend Zorro. He's an amazing fighter, and that was about it. Oh, and she was training to be a baker with that French guy. Oh, and there is a little girl that can throw fire around. That's weird, but that's all I know about her family.

"Well…" She looked back at me for a second. "I'll explain later, ok?" She pleaded with her eyes and started pulling me as she tugged me through the frantic crowd.

"Ok." I nodded.

The two of us shouldered our way out of the crowd and she took off in a fast walk through the now empty streets. She let go of my sleeve and she started to take off into a jog. I jogged to keep up with her as she led me through some back alleys. I could already see that we had entered the charred part of town; the place no one seemed to go into and was generally ignored by everyone. It was still hard to believe that she actually lived down here. I guess that was something else I knew about her. She lived in the worst part of town.

"It's just a little further." She said back to me as we continued to squeeze through burnt down walls and collapsed ceilings. I nodded to her and kept pace. If she lived back here, I guess she'd know where to go. I had to remind myself that she was like me. She had lost her family and friends in some crazy fire that had happened. I guess she wouldn't just move out of her part of town just because it burnt down. I wonder how many people still lived back here. It had to be hard to live in these conditions. But then again, I'm living in a tavern with 30 other men. We barely have room to sleep, let alone move around.

As we rounded another alleyway, we ended up on the road that led to her family's giant house. It looked a lot like the tavern my new family lived in. Red came to a stop and she looked back at me. "Ok, I have to tell you something. Promise you can keep a secret?"

She grabbed onto my hands, holding them tightly. I nodded to her. "Sure. What is it?"

"Well…" She started, but stopped when there was an explosion from not too far away.

"I DON'T HAVE A CRUSH ON YOU!" I heard that little girl that chased the French man on the roof from earlier today scream from down the road. She was standing over a boy that looked around her age. The boy was lying on his back, covered in all sorts of wrappings that looked like medical bandaging. I should know; I had to sit through a three hour class on how to treat wounds in case I got injured while working in the port town.

"Then why are you always following me around?" The boy screamed right back.

"I'm making sure you don't get yourself killed!" She girl screamed in reply. "You're in no condition to go to the tournament. Get back into bed and let me take care of you."

"No!" He cried right back. "Master said Zorro is fighting in the tournament, and I want to watch him fight."

"You will do no such thing." She said as she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. She started pulling him as she dragged him on his butt towards us. "You will only aggravate your already broken leg."

"Let me go, witch!" He said.

And she did. She let him go. And her face turned white too. I think I even saw her eyes tear up. She snapped her head around. "What did you call me?"

I stood there with Red as the entire street became silent as a graveyard. The boy looked up at the girl, his own face broken with shock. "Vicky…I'm sorry. I didn't…I don't think.."

She slapped him across the face and turned around, running away from us and the boy. She took off into an alleyway, disappearing from the street. I watched as the boy groaned and lied back down, moving so quickly that he smacked the back of his head on the pavement as he did so. "I'm so stupid!" He screamed. "Why did I call her that?"

I looked at Red. "What's a witch?"

She sighed as she grabbed my hand. "Olin…" She looked back at me. "Stay here for a second, will you?"

"If you're going after the girl, I'm coming with you." I said in reply, gripping her hand tightly. "I want to know what's going on."

She rolled her eyes and took off in a sprint, pulling me with her as she took off. "Well…time to meet my cousin then." As we came past the boy staring blankly into the sky, Red looked down at him and said, "Don't worry, Brian. She knows you didn't mean it." And then we went back to running again. My feet were already pounding hard and I couldn't wait to get off them for a few minutes, but I guess that would have to wait.

I followed behind Red as we followed the girl's trail through the alley. As soon as we got into the alley, we didn't really have to run to find her. I could see a bright glowing light in front of us at the end of the alleyway. The girl was surrounded in the bright light, and the walls of a nearby building were collapsing as the light thundered around her. It was amazing to look at, but I had no idea what was even going on anymore. What was a witch? Was it what this girl was? I've never seen anything like it before.

"Red?" I asked her.

"My name is Isabella." She replied.

"Isabella?"

"Yes?"

"What's a witch?" I asked as we started walking up to the little girl. Isabella walked slowly but easily. My own steps seemed to be more tentative and I found my knees shaking. As we started getting closer, I could feel something vibrating all around me, like the air was charged or something. And my joints started locking up, my muscles tensing. The air I breathed in seemed strained and thick.

Isabella stood right beside me, gripping my hand tightly as she approached. "Do not be scared of what I'm about to do, ok?"

"What?" I looked at her but she didn't look at me this time. She had her eyes focused on the girl. She stepped in front of me, pushing me back behind her. "Hey, Vicky!"

The girl turned to face Isabella. And when she turned, all that intensity in the air thickened and rushed over at us. I had to shield my eyes with my hands and squint my eyes, but I could see the tears flowing in the girl's eyes even with the bright blinding light surrounding her. I turned my head away before my eyes burned away. As I looked away, giant green splotches blocked my vision around me. I grabbed onto Isabella's shoulder and kept myself from falling over. I don't know when it happened, but a strong wind started pushing at us.

"Vicky!" Isabella screamed. "I saw what happened. Are you ok?" Ok? Was that a legitimate question? How could this be anything but ok?

"I'm sick of this town!" Vicky screamed at us. "I've had rocks thrown at me…people calling me names…and now…even Brian is calling me a witch?" The wind intensified and the light only grew brighter. "If I were less a person, I would sunder this entire town and go back to York. I told Mommy I'd stay here and guide this coven, save my sisters from a fate worse than death. My Mommy told me that what I would do here would benefit everyone; that I had a special mission. And what's it been so far? I've been pushed around, cursed at, and even thrown in mud for walking around with my ceremonial robes on when I walked into town. And now…no matter what I wear, no matter how I act, everyone only sees a witch and treats me like trash. I'm sick of it. And I thought I had one normal friend. And even he is calling me that foul word."

"Vicky, you need to calm down!" Isabella screamed. "He didn't mean anything by it."

"He didn't?" She roared back. "He treats the word with a curse worse than anyone else. He puts a special hatred into it because that word killed his mother, and subjected him to a status below his knightly standing. You may not understand this yet, Red, but words have power. And negative power collects into curses. And when Brian said that word…he uttered a curse at me. And with his natural abilities from his mother's lineage he struck me with a wound greater than any thrust of a knife. I felt his hatred, his despise for what I am…for what I represent in his mind. He hates our kind; and he hates it because he knows he's one too."

"What's going on?" I said to Isabella. I could barely hear my own voice over the roaring wind that slammed into my back. Isabella was still facing Vicky, refusing to take her eyes off her.

"Do you remember what you told me when you took me to pay respect for the families that were murdered?" She screamed to Vicky. "You told me to save as many lives as I could. You told me that if I failed that I should stand up and keep going."

"What's that got to do with anything?" I heard Vicky's voice over the howl of the wind all around me.

"If you keep this up, this entire part of town will collapse and it will draw guards. They're already out looking for assassins this very second. If they find you doing this…they will try to kill you." Isabella screamed from behind me. I tried to turn around to look at the brightly lit girl, but I as I started turning around the bright light nearly blinded me and I had to snap around again.

The wind started dying down and the light that filled the alleyway started to dim. It got to the point where I could turn around and look at Isabella again. She didn't look like anything had bothered her in the slightest, and I was beginning to wonder if this was a normal day for her. What exactly was her family? I looked back at the tiny girl that just a minute ago had caused a wind so powerful that it nearly threw me off my feet and a light so bright that it could have blinded me. She looked more or less normal now, except that she was still crying. The girl ran into Isabella's arms, wrapping her up in a hug.

I wanted to say something, but I didn't know what to say or if I should say anything. So, I just stood there for a second while the two girls stood there hugging it out. They stayed like that for a minute or two before Vicky sighed and looked over at me. "And who is this?" She looked back up at Isabella.

I looked up at her too. I was just as curious as to who the girl was. I knew her name was Vicky, but that seemed like the least bit of information I should have known by now. I wanted to know how she did what she did, and if Isabella could do something like that too.

Isabella looked from Vicky over to me. She reached out for my hand, taking it, saying, "He's…well I'm dating him. His name is Olin. He's a Norseman."

"You mean a slave…" She replied with a mutter. She looked me up and down for a few seconds before nodding. She turned to face me. "Tell me something. Do you fully grasp who it is you are dating?"

I looked from her over to Isabella. I shrugged. "I think she's a Gael, but that's only because she has red hair." And it didn't really bother me if she was a Gael. I mean, she's been nice to me so far; not at all what my father told me about them.

Vicky's eyes widened at that. She looked up at Isabella, squinting. "He can see past your Illusion spell."

Isabella looked just as confused. "But…I used special hair dye. It should block even the strongest of suggestion." She turned to look at me, and I was so confused now. I had no idea what on earth was going on. And as she was about to say something, there was another explosion from above us. I looked up to see part of a roof falling down on us. Instinctually, I reached out, grabbing both Vicky and Isabella. I pulled them with me as I jumped out of the way.

"Get back here, Assassin!" I heard that woman from the tournament scream as she jumped across the rooftop.

"Sister, don't kill her!" I heard from a rooftop down the street. When I turned to look, I could see that French guy fighting the guy in white from the tournament.

"Brother, I will try not to kill her, but she's too annoying to let live." Some unknown woman screamed from above me.

"Oh no…" Isabella sighed as she grabbed her forehead. She shook her head in frustration. "I just wanted one date…one nice day with Olin…"

Vicky groaned as she pushed my arm off her. She stood up, brushing her dress off and straightened her frog hat. "Shall I intervene?"

Isabella shrugged. "What can you do?"

Vicky smiled. "This…" Her eyes started glowing and suddenly, I was sitting in a dining chair at a large table inside a tavern. All the scuff marks I got from diving in the alleyway were gone and my robes looked new as day. Sitting around the large table were the girls I saw earlier today when I picked up Isabella, Isabella right next to me on my right, and the Vicky girl on my left. The French pastry master sat opposite me, silently cutting into a slice of meat. Next to him was a woman that looked a lot like him. She even wore the same white robes. She must be French too. And sitting next to Vicky was that Brian kid I saw in the alleyway.

I looked around the table. Everyone was quietly eating their food, no thought in the world as to what just happened. I looked down at my own plate to see that it had a full slice of beef on it and half a potato with butter beside it. What on earth was going on here? I looked at Isabella. "Um…what just happened?"

"Huh?" She looked at me. "I don't know what you mean."

Vicky chuckled from beside me. It drew my attention and I looked down at her. She dabbed her mouth with a napkin and then looked up at me. "You're sharp." She turned back to her food. "Just eat your dinner and shut up."

My head was spinning but I looked down at my food. Did anyone think it was weird that we were just standing in the middle of a battle and then ended up at this table in a blink of an eye? Was I the only one that even noticed? I looked down at Vicky. She looked so content, but I caught her looking up at me again. "What? Do I have something on my face?" She started wiping a napkin at her face and I shook my head.

I looked over at Isabella. "What happened?"

She looked over at me again. "What do you mean?"

"I want to know how your date was today." Vicky interrupted me.

She smiled. "Oh…well…we watched Zorro fight in the tournament. His match was interrupted when the castle was attacked. Then…we came back home to have dinner. And here we are…eating dinner."

Vicky nudged me in the arm and I looked down at her. She nudged her head towards the French guy. She cleared her throat. "So, how did your day go, Malik?"

He looked up. "Well, I did some stuff at the castle today. It was quite the blast. And then…we got home after getting in a little fight with some guards. And…I'm not sure how we got away, but we did."

Vicky looked at me, leaning close. It made me lean down to hear what she was going to say. "I teleported everyone away and had to do a massive memory wipe on everyone around. The guards woke up in the castle, not remembering anything that had happened. Unfortunately, I had to wipe the minds of everyone here too. Not my cleanest effort, but it worked." She paused before she looked up at me. "But for some reason…it didn't work on you. And neither did Red's hair charm. You saw her real hair color, red…when it's actually brown right now…" She chuckled before turning back to her meal. "You're a mystery, and I think I should like to see more of you. If not to find out what you are exactly."

I looked from her over to Red. She looked so happy to be home. I looked back at Vicky and said, "Thanks…but I think I'm already taken."

Vicky choked on her fork for a second before having to take a sip of water. She growled when she looked at me. Everyone stopped moving … and I mean froze in their spots…like they weren't real. She looked up at me, saying, "I'm only going to say this once. You will be good to Red. She seems to like you, and God knows she needs someone stable to be around her right now. So, I'll let you know this right now…" The air around me cooled and shivers traveled down my spine. "Red is a witch like me. Don't let her know that you know…but know that if you piss her off…she's just as good as I am."

With that the air warmed up and Vicky looked away. The sounds of people chatting returned and suddenly I could see everyone moving like nothing had even happened. Isabella tapped my arm and I turned to look at her. She smiled at me, saying, "Thanks for hanging out today. Want to go out again sometime?"

This was a weird family. This was the weirdest day I've ever had. And I was pretty sure the two French people sitting across from me were the ones that caused the explosion in the castle today. They were wearing white robes, and I was warned that people in white robes were dangerous and were terrorizing the city. If these two were the ones I was warned about…I should stay away for my own protection. But…there was something else here as well. I saw a big happy family. I saw some crazy faces that I could have put on my old friends back in my village. So, despite what I had seen today, I nodded. "Of course. I'll come by my next day off."

Cearbhail:

I really didn't know what to do when all that stuff hit the fan. so, I decided, Deus Ex Machina. Always works. And always will. :P