Author's Notes: Erk! Eheheh...-.-;;; Better late than never! Oh, and due to the fact that I'm really busy all day Tuesday and have trouble writing Arelle (yes, I right Arelle the day before it's due...I'd be such a bad writer...), I'm moving the day I upload new chapters to Thursday. Not a major change or anything, but I thought I'd tell y'all. Yep.

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            Last time on Arelle: "All I want is to be near you, Akinen.  With you is where I belong.  I will never leave you," Lilliah said.

            Lilliah looked at Akinen, and their eyes locked.

            Suddenly, a shrill voice rang through the forest.  Akinen and Lilliah both jumped up, searching for where the voice had come from.

           "Was that Arelle?!" Lilliah asked, beginning to panic.

            "I think so, lass!" Akinen said, brows furrowed.  "We better get to her—and fast!"  Akinen exclaimed, running in the direction the scream had come from.

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            Moren felt his heart pounding inside his chest as he ran through the forest.  His eyes burned in rage—how dare someone try to hurt Arelle!  Never before had something like this happened to Arelle, and never again would it happen, if Moren could help it. 

Briefly leaning down to the ground, he saw the Cutthroats had begun attempting to cover their tracks with foliage.  They had attempted to hide their tracks in a hurry, and it showed.  It was a poor attempt, and by merely shifting the leaves, their footprints were quite visible.  At least, the Barbarian's footprints were.  The Dark Elf was quite light-footed, actually, and rarely did he leave much of a track.  The Barbarian, however, obviously never learned this trait, as his tracks were deep and obvious.

Even if he couldn't clearly see the tracks, however, Moren would still have found them an easy lot to follow.  To put it quite bluntly—they reeked.  Obviously it had been a while since they had enjoyed the pleasant activity of taking baths.  And with Moren's acute sense of smell—well, they were hard to miss.  If Respitas had planned this escapade hoping to run away with Arelle and not be able to be followed, he had obviously made some drastic errors in his plan.

However, Moren's mind wasn't on the pleasantness of being able to easily track them.  His mind was on other things—such as, why he had left Arelle alone, how he was so stupid for leaving Arelle alone, and how that he would make the Cutthroats pay for all they had done—first threatening Arelle's uncle, then kidnapping her.

However, these thoughts came to a pause as he saw that he was coming out of the forest and onto a rocky area.

Though Greater Faydark was, of course, known for being mostly forest, it did have some rocky areas.  Stone lined much of the outskirts or Greater Faydark, and though where Moren stood now wasn't very close to the outskirts, it had the same common white stone.

Moren ran across the cold stone, relying most on his sense of smell to follow them now.  As he ran, the smell became harder to track, since now he was out in the open instead of in that dense forest. 

Moren stopped.  A little ways before him was a small hill of stone, and in that hill he saw what looked suspiciously like a large opening that had been sealed with boulders and stone rubble.  Running up to the opening, he attempted to scurry up the rocks to see if there was an opening at the top.

Climbing up the rocks turned out to be more difficult than he had thought, and more than once he lost his footing on some of the loose rubble.  However, eventually he made his way to the top, where he found that there was, indeed, no opening large enough to fit through.

Yelling in frustration, he began attempting to clear a way through.  The rubble was easy enough to clear away, but the large rocks underneath the rubble were very heavy, and Moren was unable to move them.  Making a small hole, he stuck his head in, attempting to push his way through, but it was to no avail.  He wasn't going to be able to get in.

As he made his way down the pile, he began to come to his senses.  Even if he did catch up with them, what would he do?  They had Arelle as a hostage.  There really wasn't anything he could do, considering any wrong move he made could be the end of Arelle's life. 

As he reached the bottom, he sighed.  He would get Arelle back, but not like this.  Once Akinen agreed to help the Cutthroats find the so-called hidden treasure, they wouldn't have any reason to keep Arelle hostage.  They'd let her go.

Moren had to find Akinen and Lilliah.  He had to tell them what had happened.

With these thoughts, Moren ran back towards the camp.

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Before too long, Moren reached the spot the Cutthroats had left the note.  There, with the note in hand, Moren saw Akinen sitting on the ground, his face in his hands.  Beside him stood Lilliah, who had a very troubled look on her face as she paced back and forth in front of Akinen.  When the two saw Moren, they called to him.

"You saw the note?" Lilliah questioned, but it was more of a statement.  Lilliah glanced at the parchment in Akinen's hand.

"Yes.  Yes I did," Moren said grimly.

"It's all my fault," Akinen said.  "I'm such an idiot!  This is all my fault!"  Akinen exclaimed.

Lilliah put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly.  "It'll be all right, Akinen!  We'll get Arelle back, safe and sound," Lilliah said.

Akinen paused.  "I've ruined everything…" Akinen said.  "I should have left sooner!  I knew something like this would happen!"

"Left sooner?" Moren questioned.  "What do you mean?"

"I'm sorry I've been such a burden, lad.  I should have left ye sooner.  Being a Cutthroat, I knew I couldn't be part of yer group!  I knew I was endangering ye!  I should have left sooner," Akinen said.

"What?  Then you were leaving?" Moren asked, confused.

"Yes, he was, but that doesn't matter now.  He can't leave now," Lilliah said.  "I, for one, am glad of that.  But there are more important things at hand—what about Arelle?"

"What about her?  All we have to do is help Respitas and his friend find the treasure, right?" Moren said.  "Then she's free!  Right?" Moren said, but his voice shook with worry.

Akinen looked at the ground.  "I…I don't know, lad…"

Moren looked at him hard.  "What do you mean?  It's simple—just lead them to the treasure!  You do know where the treasure is, don't you?"

Akinen kept looking at the ground.  "Well…I suppose so, yes…I do know where it is…"

"Then what's the problem?" Moren asked.

Akinen paused.  "I can't give them that treasure."

Moren paused frowning deeply, shocked.  "You don't mean that that treasure is more important to you than your own niece, do you?!  You wouldn't give up your own niece for something as simple as treasure, would you?!  You wouldn't, would you, Akinen?"

"It's not that simple, lad…" Akinen said.

"Not that simple?!  What do you mean?!" Moren asked, getting really riled up.

"Calm down, lad.  You're misunderstanding," Akinen said.

"Well, then explain it to me!" Moren exclaimed.

Akinen paused.  "The problem is…" Akinen said, sighing, "the treasure already belongs to someone."

Moren paused,  "Oh."

"Yes, well, that is the problem, lad," Akinen said.

"Then, the hidden treasure isn't actually hidden, is it?" Moren asked.

"Well, hidden to some, lad, but not the owner of it," Akinen replied.

"I see," Moren said.  "Well…Then what do we do? What can we do?  I don't suppose Respitas would be satisfied if we just told him the treasure now belonged to somebody?"

"No…no, he wouldn't be satisfied with that," Akinen said.  "He'd be mad.  Very mad.  He'd probably hurt Arelle.  Maybe kill her, knowing Respitas."

"I'm curious…just how well do you known Respitas?" Moren asked.

Akinen paused.  "Pretty well…he was a member of the group of Cutthroats I was in before the Felwithe Guards killed our band.  He was second in command when I first got there, but—well, I think that should wait till another time.  It's a long story, really.  And we should focus on getting Arelle back right now."

"Yes, you're right," Moren said, sighing.  "Well, what can we do?"

"We certainly are in a predicament," Lilliah said.

Moren nodded.  "Yes, we are…" he said,  "Just who is it that owns the treasure, Akinen?"

Akinen paused, "Someone who needs it."

Moren cocked an eyebrow at him.  "Who?  Why does he need it?  Does he need it more than us?" Moren asked.

"It's not a 'he', it's a 'she'.  And really, it's a rather long story," Akinen said.

"We need to know, Akinen!  Maybe we can get him—or her—to give back the money, so we can save Arelle with it!"

Akinen sighed.  "Very well, lad," Akinen said.  "I will tell you the story.

"It began on a cold winter evening when the Commander, whose name was actually Rael, was walking in the Wood-Elf city, Kelethin…

Rael pulled his cloak closely around him as he walked along the wooden platforms the Wood-Elfs built their city upon.  High in the trees this city was built, with wooden bridges connecting each platform with each other.  The platforms were built around trees, being supported by the massive tree branches.

Though Rael was a Wood-Elf himself, he knew a disguise was still necessary in this city, and every other city, him being a wanted man.  Yes, Rael was a Rogue—a Cutthroat, to be more precise.  Not only was he a Cutthroat, he was the commander of his own group of Cutthroats, and had been for years.

Currently, Rael was on a trip to meet with the commander of another group of Cutthroats in the area.  He had left his group behind, seeing how he couldn't really enter the city with a whole band of Cutthroats, but had only taken with him his right-hand man, Akinen.

He looked over at Akinen now ands smiled as he saw the young man glancing about the city in wonder and fascination.  Akinen was a young High-Elf who had never seen Kelethin before, and the lad was taking everything he could in while still attempting to not draw any attention to the two Rogues.

Out of the corner of his eye, Rael caught sight of a small quarrel happening on the other side of the platform he was on.  Curious, he hid behind a nearby building and listened, with Akinen following his lead.

"…I told you, I don't have the money yet, sirs!  I said I would be getting the money soon!"  the lady, who seemed to be at the heart of the quarrel, was saying.

"How in Norrath would a good-for-nothin, homeless orphan like you be able to pay off your huge debt?" the man in front of her said.

"I may be an orphan, but I'm not homeless!  And the way I will be paying off my debt will be by working harder!  I have more work than ever now that Marika quite at the tavern, so the Innkeep's paying me double!  That means that that debt is good as gone!" the lady said.

"Double your wages?  What's that, then—maybe a third of our wages?" another man taunted, "No, maybe more like a fourth!"

"Look, sirs, what I'm saying is that I'll soon have enough to pay my debts.  Tell that to m'lord.  Just a little longer," she said.

"You idiot!  You're debt was due weeks ago!  If you don't have at least half of it paid off in three days, we're turning you in to the authorities!" the man exclaimed.

"Just a little longer!  I promise I can repay you!" she said desperately.  "I work everyday from the moment the sun rises, till the moment it vanishes from the sky.  If I just keep up this pace, with these wages, I'll have the money for you in no time!"

"I'm tired of listening to you!" the man said, turning.  "If you don't have the money in three days, we'll turn you in to the authorities.  Then they'll give us your property to repay your debt, and you can go live as a homeless bum.  Good bye!" the man said, turning and walking away.

The woman watched the men leave, and when they were out of her sight, she sunk to her knees, eyes downcast.  Rael watched as she clutched her thin shawl around her.  He could see she was freezing, and no wonder, for it was in the middle of winter, and she wore nothing but a thin dress with short sleeves and a small shawl over it.

Suddenly the woman became aware of a little boy begging by her.  The boy looked up at her, bowl outstretched toward her. 

"Lady?" the boy asked in his quiet, child-like voice.  She smiled at him, but her smile was forced and painful.

"I'm sorry… I don't have any money to give you," she said.  He nodded slowly and turned to leave, sorrowfully.  She watched as he walked away slowly, shivering visibly, wrapping his arms around his chest, hoping to save some of his warmth.  The little boy wore nothing but a pair of trousers and a thin tunic—both several sizes too small.

"Wait!" she called to him.  He turned around to face her.  Kneeling in front of him, she bit her lip.  Taking the shawl off her shoulders, she wrapped it around the little boy.

The boy looked up at her, his eyes sparkling with gratitude.  She smiled at him again, but unlike last time, this time her smile was genuine.

"To keep you warm," she said.

"Thank you, m'lady!" the boy said gratefully.

She smiled.  "Just call me Lyrial," she said.

He nodded.  "Thank you, Lady Lyrial!" he said enthusiastically.

She giggled.  "You're welcome, sir!"

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Note: Stariting next week, new chapters of Arelle will be uploaded on THURSDAY instead of WEDNESDAY. Ok? Ok.

Blue the Echidna: Ack! Not Arelle! O.O I wonder what Moren will do. Maybe now Akinen will understand. :) Evil cliffhangers.. Only 6 reviews? This will not do! Time to break out the chopsticks again!
Amai's Reply: Lol! Yay! the chopsticks return! ^^ As for Akinen--we hope he'll understand now, don't we? Goodness...

Lady Aniviel Greenleaf: Gr i really hate cutthroats now more than ever!! Poor Arelle. Cant wait to see what happens next! bye till then!
Amai's Reply: I hate the Cutthroats, too! Except for Akinen, of course ^^ And the Commander. But they do make great villains, ne? ^^