Journey into Fire
Part III
Author's Note: I'm really very sorry that this took so long! I have an extreme case of writer's
block so much so that it isn't even funny. As a result, not much happens in this installment. I'm
trying to work around it though. Enjoy!
**************
Daystar sighed in frustration. He had been trekking through unknown territory for most of the
day and was now seeing the last rays of golden sunlight disappear from the sky. For the past
three hours, he felt as if he wasn't making any progress and had been walking in circles. Fighting
the urge to press on, Daystar finally gave in to exhaustion. 'I suppose now is as good a time as
any to start building a camp for the night…' he thought to himself.
He had passed through the rocky crags that separated the Mountains of Morning from this
forest earlier in the day. Certain that this was where Antorell had taken Shiara, he was dismayed
at still not seeing any sign of either of them. There were no signs of struggle or dead patches of
land, but then again, Daystar was not sure of the effects that a wizard's staff would have on this
forest. He could feel magic radiating from every corner of the area, but it was much different
than the Enchanted Forest in almost every way.
Walking just a bit further, Daystar entered into a clearing that seemed vaguely familiar to him. 'I
probably have been walking in circles…'
Cautiously laying down his pack, he approached the small brook that was off to the side.
Daystar's throat suddenly felt very dry. 'That's strange,' he thought to himself. 'I wasn't thirsty
earlier.' He knelt down, cupped his hands, and began to drink the clear water. Before he was
able to bring his hands to his mouth, however, a soft whimpering interrupted him.
Daystar dropped his hands and laid his hand on the hilt of his sword. Bringing himself to his feet,
he listened for the sound again. Confirming that his ears weren't playing tricks on him, Daystar's
eyes searched the clearing for the source of the crying. He was certain that he was the only
person in the dark forest. Remembering the Enchanted Forest's primary rule of politeness,
Daystar was determined not to make any new enemies this soon in his quest.
"Is – is anyone there?" Daystar called out tentatively.
"Go away!! You shouldn't be here!" A distinctly feminine voice called out.
Daystar could not pinpoint the direction from which the person was speaking. The sound
seemed to be coming from all directions around him. "Um, hello? I'm not going to hurt you,"
Daystar called out. "I just want to know why you're crying. Maybe I can help?" Daystar waited
for a response. None came. In fact, the weeping had stopped as well. Easing up a bit, Daystar
released his grip on the gilded sword hilt.
After waiting a few moments, Daystar once again approached the stream and started to drink.
Before he could drink the cool water, the soft wailing once again interrupted him. Jumping up,
Daystar unsheathed his sword, searching frantically for his unseen companion.
"Well, you needn't be so violent about it!" The voice cried out.
"You could at least tell me who you are! I don't want to hurt you; I only wanted to know if I
could help!" Daystar said in frustration.
"Well, I suppose I was being a bit unfair."
Daystar watched as several bright spheres of blue and green light materialized before his eyes.
Almost as if they were choreographed, they drifted over to the brook and condensed into one
sphere. Daystar had to shield his eyes, as the light grew brighter and finally faded. Daystar's
eyes widened as he realized that a girl was now standing in the stream. He glanced behind him.
She was most definitely not there a moment ago.
The girl stood up and smoothed her pale blue tunic and retied the sea green cape she wore
around her neck. After patting her golden hair to make sure that the blue flowers that had been
woven through it remained in place, she bent over and pulled up her green boots. "That's
MUCH better," she muttered to herself.
Daystar coughed nervously. It was then that she seemed to notice Daystar for the first time. He
was staring at her with his mouth open in shock. The girl smirked. "Well?" She shrugged her
shoulders. "You said you wanted to help me. A lot of good gaping will do!" Her green eyes
sparked mischievously.
Daystar felt almost as if he wanted to pinch himself. 'This has to be a dream. I've fallen asleep in
the middle of the woods. People don't just appear out of nowhere! Tomorrow when I wake up,
I won't remember any of this and I'll just keep looking for Shiara,' he thought to himself.
The girl stepped out of the water and edged closer to Daystar. "I knew it. I did! I can't believe I
fell for it!!" She shook her head dejectedly. "I just KNEW something like this would happen!"
Daystar frowned. "What?" He was coming closer and closer to the conclusion that something
fantastical was going on here. His body still felt exhausted. He wanted to help this girl as soon as
he possibly could. The sooner her problem was solved, the sooner he could settle down for the
night.
The girl pointed her finger at him and poked him in the chest. "You princes are all alike! You
pretend to want to help a girl and then all of a sudden, when you realize what is being asked of
you, you find some loophole so that you're not obligated to do anything! Laziness, I tell you!"
"Now will you just hold on a minute!" Daystar pushed the girl's hand away. "You haven't asked
me to do anything and I haven't disagreed yet. And how do you know that I'm a prince?"
"I can just tell that sort of thing." She crossed her arms over her chest. "You all have an air of
confidence and arrogance about you. You're just better at hiding it than most, but it's still
there."
Daystar sighed in exasperation. "Oh, it doesn't matter! What exactly is it that you want me to
do for you?" He was beginning to think that this girl was a lot more sly and cunning than she let
on.
The girl's eyes lit up. "You mean you'll do it?"
"Well, yes, depending on what 'it' is…"
Daystar suddenly found a pair of arms encircling his neck. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank
you! You have no idea what this means to me! I was getting so terribly lonesome all by myself,
you know!! I just KNEW you wouldn't leave me here!!" The girl giggled and clapped her
hands together with glee.
"I haven't agreed to anything yet!"
"Well, that's all right. I've never done any traveling before, but I won't be any trouble, I
promise you that. If anything, I'll be able to help you!"
Daystar shook his head in disbelief. "You want to come with me? That's what all that crying
was about?"
The girl nodded. "I needed to get your attention somehow. Princes are suckers for maidens in
distress," she explained, dramatically placing her backhand on her forehead.
"That's all well and good, but why?" Daystar queried, noticing for the first time that the girl had
a pair of delicate wings folded behind her back. 'What on earth am I getting myself into?' he
wondered.
"Why?" the girl's smile faded. "I'm not sure, really. I think it's just something in your blood that
makes you do it. Royalty is a curse, my mother always used to say…"
Daystar interrupted. "No, I mean why do you want to come with me so badly? I don't really
have time for games. Wizards kidnapped my good friend and I need to find her before they do
something horrible to her. I'm really worried about her, so if you could get to the point, I'd
really appreciate it," he snapped.
"Oh! No need to get hostile, you know. That's quite rude!" the girl frowned. "As to why I'm
coming with you, well, that's really quite simple. You're looking for the Society of Wizards and
so am I. Besides; you've been hopelessly lost since you entered into this forest. You must have
passed by this same clearing 15 times before you decided to stop for the night. You need me to
help you get out of this forest."
Daystar gasped. "You're looking for Antorell too?"
"Well, no…" she shook her head. "Don't tell me he's in charge now that old Zemenar
disappeared!" Before waiting for Daystar's reply, she continued. "I'm actually after his nephew,
horrid creature that he is. He lives somewhere on the other side of the forest. I met up with him
awhile back. This forest is full of the magic of several different fairy-type creatures so it would
be a perfect source of power for them. The Society wanted to have full access to the forest
without me giving them any trouble. I wouldn't tell them where the main source of the forest's
power is and they wanted to be free to look for it so that stupid wizard trapped me in this
clearing only to be set free when a prince willingly drags me along with him. Sounds easy, I
know, but most everybody tries to steer clear of the Pixie Forest. And if someone does come
into the forest, he usually doesn't make it this far without being enchanted. It's really dangerous,
especially if you don't have a pixie or a sprite with you. We like to play tricks on a traveler,
that's why most of them don't come out. But anyway, you just have to let me come with you!!!
Please! I've been here so long and you're the first person that's passed y here!"
Daystar frowned. "So you're a pixie? How do I know this isn't a trick?"
The girl's jaw dropped. "I am appalled! I am most definitely NOT a pixie! Those creatures are
horrible tricksters! How DARE you even insinuate something like that?" She stomped her foot
on the ground.
"Then what are you?"
"Marina the water sprite, at your service, Prince Daystar!" She giggled and curtsied.
"I don't know about this…"
"Please! You just HAVE to trust me!" Marina begged. "I'd be good to have around. After all,
you know how much wizards hate water! I'm the last sprite left in this entire forest! It's my job
to protect it! I just have to stop the wizards before they go to far and get their hands on the
forest's main source of magic! You of all people should know about that! Just think about what
they did to YOUR forest!!"
Daystar grimaced with the memory of the burnt and dried out pieces of the Enchanted Forest.
"How do you know about that?"
"Because I make it my business to know!"
Daystar was defeated. "Fine. But I still don't trust you. I'm going to keep my eye on you,
Marina," he warned.
Marina's green eyes sparked as she jumped up and down and beat her translucent wings. "Oh
thank you so much!! You won't regret this, I promise!!"
"We'll see," Daystar replied as the sprite hugged him tightly. He pushed her away and walked
over to the stream. "You might as well get comfortable, Marina. It's getting late and right here is
as good a place as any to spend the night."
Marina nodded. "And then tomorrow, we'll go find some wizards! I can't wait! I've been
waiting such a long time for this!"
Daystar said his goodnights. Once he was sure that Marina had fallen asleep, he stared at his
reflection in the still pool of water. 'I wonder where Shiara is right now,' he thought. 'I hope
she's okay. If Antorell did anything to hurt her, I – I just don't what I would do…' He sighed
and gazed into the clear pool. His eyes widened as his image shimmered and shifted into that of
a familiar person. He leaned over the water and stared in shock.
"Daystar? Is that you?"
**************************
"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Shiara grumbled as she slapped a broken tree
away from her face. "It feels like we've been walking forever! I don't think my feet can take this
anymore!"
"Shiara, you have to be able to trust me. I've lived in this forest for a long time and I know my
way around better than anybody," Reese told Shiara. "But if you feel like you're getting tired,
we can always stop and turn in for the night. There should be a cave up ahead that we can set
up camp in."
"Sounds good to me."
The pair discovered the mouth of the cave a few minutes later. It was cozy as far as caves go,
and was not nearly as dank or dark as either Shiara or Reese expected it to be.
"It might get bit cold during the night so we should try to find some twigs or something so that
we could start a fire," Reese reasoned. "Why don't you go out and look for some? I'll stay
here, if you don't mind. I have some private things to take care of."
"Fine, but I'm not going to go to far. It's not that I'm scared, I just don't like the idea of anyone
playing tricks on me. I've been enchanted before and I wasn't too keen on the way I got back
to normal," Shiara blushed as she thought of the fire witch that had turned her stone.
Reese scowled. "Nothing will happen. Just go get some wood, will you?"
Shiara's hair flickered. "Excuse me! If it's that important to you I'll just leave right now!!" She
left the cave and found a bundle of dry twigs almost immediately. She had some trouble finding
her way back to the cave. When she finally did, however, she almost didn't recognize it.
The forest around the cave appeared as if it had been burnt in the 15 minutes that she had been
gone. She turned behind her to make sure that the rest of the forest had not fallen into disrepair
without her noticing. The area from which she came was still as lush and green as it had always
been with the exception of several burnt patches on the forest floor. 'In the shape of footprints,'
Shiara realized. 'There must be wizards around here somewhere…'
After making sure that there weren't any wizards waiting around the grab her again, Shiara took
another step closer to the mouth of the cave. Looking down at her feet, she lifted her foot only
to find a brown, dry foot-shaped patch of grass where she had been standing. 'This is some
kind of trick.' Shiara's head felt faint.
After walking around in circles and unwillingly making several tracts of brown grass, Shiara
entered the cave. "Something really strange is going on out there. I think the wizards might be
snooping around here somewhere," Shiara said as Reese finished resting his staff against the
wall of the cave.
Reese's eyes shifted nervously. "Don't worry about it. They won't come near us, I'll make sure
of it. I've had no trouble with wizards in the forest yet, and I don't intend to start now!" He
paused. "Um, how about we start that fire?"
Shiara had been particularly polite the entire day and was able to start a fire in no time. She
snorted with laughter. "Daystar would be so proud of me for being this good about his spell!"
She smiled. "Don't get me wrong, I'm still getting him to dispel it as soon as him and King
Mendanbar figure out how."
Reese nodded as he produced two sandwiches for he and Shiara to eat from the bundles he
had packed earlier in the day. They sat across from each other and ate quietly. Reese was busy
thinking to himself, but Shiara broke the silence.
"Do you know how to make magic mirrors?" Shiara asked. "I'd really like to let Kazul know
that I'm fine and that she oughtn't worry about me. Although, on the other hand, maybe I should
let Daystar know since he was there when Antorell spirited me away. He's probably worried
sick…"
"You can't call the King of the Dragons," Reese said quickly before taking another bite of his
sandwich.
Shiara glared at him darkly. "Fine," she paused. "You know you're not acting at all like you did
when I first met you. I don't like this change one bit. You get this straight, Reese," Shiara
growled as her hair burst into flames. "I don't like being bossed around and I don't intend to let
the likes of you do so. I am perfectly capable of making my own decisions. If you can't make a
calling mirror, then just say so!"
Reese was taken aback. "I – I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude. I've had a long day and I'm
really tired. I feel a bit wiped out, but I can try to rig something up for you," he paused as if in
thought. "Pixies and dragons don't get along so I don't think it'd be a good idea for you to talk
to Kazul with me here."
Shiara's hair extinguished itself. "Well, then I'll talk to Daystar. I should have a small hand
mirror somewhere in here," she shifted through the pocket of her brown tunic. "Ever since that
last time I figured you never know when you might need to get in contact with someone." She
rummaged around. "Ouch!" She pushed her finger into her mouth. "I think I might have found
it…and geez it hurt!" Shiara pulled the small piece of cracked glass out of her pocket and
handed it to Reese.
Reese sighed, defeated. "If you really need to talk to him, I can see what I can do." He held his
hands over the shard and muttered a few words. After a few moments, the surface of the mirror
began to liquefy and shift.
"Magic mirror that is small, I would like to make a call," Shiara recited.
"Why are you talking to it in rhyme?" Reese questioned as he made a strange face.
Shiara grinned. "I'd rather be safe than sorry. Some of these things can be really stubborn.
Believe me, I know." She laughed at the memory of Telemain's window.
"Who would you like me to connect you to, please?"
"Daystar," Shiara replied.
"One moment please. Your call is important to us."
"Cheerful thing, isn't it?" Reese raised his eyebrow in surprise.
"Not all of them are this pleasant," Shiara whispered so as not to offend her means of
communication.
The surface of the mirror shuddered as Shiara looked into it, and the face of a very tired,
ragged, dark-haired young man appeared in it.
"Daystar! Is that you?"
*********
Author's note: I know that chapter was pointless and very bad. I think that some of the
characters were completely out of character, but I'll change that as soon as I get around to it.
(Unless you think that it was ok. Let me know) Please review this so I know how I'm doing. I
promise the next chapter will be a lot quicker coming out.
Part III
Author's Note: I'm really very sorry that this took so long! I have an extreme case of writer's
block so much so that it isn't even funny. As a result, not much happens in this installment. I'm
trying to work around it though. Enjoy!
**************
Daystar sighed in frustration. He had been trekking through unknown territory for most of the
day and was now seeing the last rays of golden sunlight disappear from the sky. For the past
three hours, he felt as if he wasn't making any progress and had been walking in circles. Fighting
the urge to press on, Daystar finally gave in to exhaustion. 'I suppose now is as good a time as
any to start building a camp for the night…' he thought to himself.
He had passed through the rocky crags that separated the Mountains of Morning from this
forest earlier in the day. Certain that this was where Antorell had taken Shiara, he was dismayed
at still not seeing any sign of either of them. There were no signs of struggle or dead patches of
land, but then again, Daystar was not sure of the effects that a wizard's staff would have on this
forest. He could feel magic radiating from every corner of the area, but it was much different
than the Enchanted Forest in almost every way.
Walking just a bit further, Daystar entered into a clearing that seemed vaguely familiar to him. 'I
probably have been walking in circles…'
Cautiously laying down his pack, he approached the small brook that was off to the side.
Daystar's throat suddenly felt very dry. 'That's strange,' he thought to himself. 'I wasn't thirsty
earlier.' He knelt down, cupped his hands, and began to drink the clear water. Before he was
able to bring his hands to his mouth, however, a soft whimpering interrupted him.
Daystar dropped his hands and laid his hand on the hilt of his sword. Bringing himself to his feet,
he listened for the sound again. Confirming that his ears weren't playing tricks on him, Daystar's
eyes searched the clearing for the source of the crying. He was certain that he was the only
person in the dark forest. Remembering the Enchanted Forest's primary rule of politeness,
Daystar was determined not to make any new enemies this soon in his quest.
"Is – is anyone there?" Daystar called out tentatively.
"Go away!! You shouldn't be here!" A distinctly feminine voice called out.
Daystar could not pinpoint the direction from which the person was speaking. The sound
seemed to be coming from all directions around him. "Um, hello? I'm not going to hurt you,"
Daystar called out. "I just want to know why you're crying. Maybe I can help?" Daystar waited
for a response. None came. In fact, the weeping had stopped as well. Easing up a bit, Daystar
released his grip on the gilded sword hilt.
After waiting a few moments, Daystar once again approached the stream and started to drink.
Before he could drink the cool water, the soft wailing once again interrupted him. Jumping up,
Daystar unsheathed his sword, searching frantically for his unseen companion.
"Well, you needn't be so violent about it!" The voice cried out.
"You could at least tell me who you are! I don't want to hurt you; I only wanted to know if I
could help!" Daystar said in frustration.
"Well, I suppose I was being a bit unfair."
Daystar watched as several bright spheres of blue and green light materialized before his eyes.
Almost as if they were choreographed, they drifted over to the brook and condensed into one
sphere. Daystar had to shield his eyes, as the light grew brighter and finally faded. Daystar's
eyes widened as he realized that a girl was now standing in the stream. He glanced behind him.
She was most definitely not there a moment ago.
The girl stood up and smoothed her pale blue tunic and retied the sea green cape she wore
around her neck. After patting her golden hair to make sure that the blue flowers that had been
woven through it remained in place, she bent over and pulled up her green boots. "That's
MUCH better," she muttered to herself.
Daystar coughed nervously. It was then that she seemed to notice Daystar for the first time. He
was staring at her with his mouth open in shock. The girl smirked. "Well?" She shrugged her
shoulders. "You said you wanted to help me. A lot of good gaping will do!" Her green eyes
sparked mischievously.
Daystar felt almost as if he wanted to pinch himself. 'This has to be a dream. I've fallen asleep in
the middle of the woods. People don't just appear out of nowhere! Tomorrow when I wake up,
I won't remember any of this and I'll just keep looking for Shiara,' he thought to himself.
The girl stepped out of the water and edged closer to Daystar. "I knew it. I did! I can't believe I
fell for it!!" She shook her head dejectedly. "I just KNEW something like this would happen!"
Daystar frowned. "What?" He was coming closer and closer to the conclusion that something
fantastical was going on here. His body still felt exhausted. He wanted to help this girl as soon as
he possibly could. The sooner her problem was solved, the sooner he could settle down for the
night.
The girl pointed her finger at him and poked him in the chest. "You princes are all alike! You
pretend to want to help a girl and then all of a sudden, when you realize what is being asked of
you, you find some loophole so that you're not obligated to do anything! Laziness, I tell you!"
"Now will you just hold on a minute!" Daystar pushed the girl's hand away. "You haven't asked
me to do anything and I haven't disagreed yet. And how do you know that I'm a prince?"
"I can just tell that sort of thing." She crossed her arms over her chest. "You all have an air of
confidence and arrogance about you. You're just better at hiding it than most, but it's still
there."
Daystar sighed in exasperation. "Oh, it doesn't matter! What exactly is it that you want me to
do for you?" He was beginning to think that this girl was a lot more sly and cunning than she let
on.
The girl's eyes lit up. "You mean you'll do it?"
"Well, yes, depending on what 'it' is…"
Daystar suddenly found a pair of arms encircling his neck. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank
you! You have no idea what this means to me! I was getting so terribly lonesome all by myself,
you know!! I just KNEW you wouldn't leave me here!!" The girl giggled and clapped her
hands together with glee.
"I haven't agreed to anything yet!"
"Well, that's all right. I've never done any traveling before, but I won't be any trouble, I
promise you that. If anything, I'll be able to help you!"
Daystar shook his head in disbelief. "You want to come with me? That's what all that crying
was about?"
The girl nodded. "I needed to get your attention somehow. Princes are suckers for maidens in
distress," she explained, dramatically placing her backhand on her forehead.
"That's all well and good, but why?" Daystar queried, noticing for the first time that the girl had
a pair of delicate wings folded behind her back. 'What on earth am I getting myself into?' he
wondered.
"Why?" the girl's smile faded. "I'm not sure, really. I think it's just something in your blood that
makes you do it. Royalty is a curse, my mother always used to say…"
Daystar interrupted. "No, I mean why do you want to come with me so badly? I don't really
have time for games. Wizards kidnapped my good friend and I need to find her before they do
something horrible to her. I'm really worried about her, so if you could get to the point, I'd
really appreciate it," he snapped.
"Oh! No need to get hostile, you know. That's quite rude!" the girl frowned. "As to why I'm
coming with you, well, that's really quite simple. You're looking for the Society of Wizards and
so am I. Besides; you've been hopelessly lost since you entered into this forest. You must have
passed by this same clearing 15 times before you decided to stop for the night. You need me to
help you get out of this forest."
Daystar gasped. "You're looking for Antorell too?"
"Well, no…" she shook her head. "Don't tell me he's in charge now that old Zemenar
disappeared!" Before waiting for Daystar's reply, she continued. "I'm actually after his nephew,
horrid creature that he is. He lives somewhere on the other side of the forest. I met up with him
awhile back. This forest is full of the magic of several different fairy-type creatures so it would
be a perfect source of power for them. The Society wanted to have full access to the forest
without me giving them any trouble. I wouldn't tell them where the main source of the forest's
power is and they wanted to be free to look for it so that stupid wizard trapped me in this
clearing only to be set free when a prince willingly drags me along with him. Sounds easy, I
know, but most everybody tries to steer clear of the Pixie Forest. And if someone does come
into the forest, he usually doesn't make it this far without being enchanted. It's really dangerous,
especially if you don't have a pixie or a sprite with you. We like to play tricks on a traveler,
that's why most of them don't come out. But anyway, you just have to let me come with you!!!
Please! I've been here so long and you're the first person that's passed y here!"
Daystar frowned. "So you're a pixie? How do I know this isn't a trick?"
The girl's jaw dropped. "I am appalled! I am most definitely NOT a pixie! Those creatures are
horrible tricksters! How DARE you even insinuate something like that?" She stomped her foot
on the ground.
"Then what are you?"
"Marina the water sprite, at your service, Prince Daystar!" She giggled and curtsied.
"I don't know about this…"
"Please! You just HAVE to trust me!" Marina begged. "I'd be good to have around. After all,
you know how much wizards hate water! I'm the last sprite left in this entire forest! It's my job
to protect it! I just have to stop the wizards before they go to far and get their hands on the
forest's main source of magic! You of all people should know about that! Just think about what
they did to YOUR forest!!"
Daystar grimaced with the memory of the burnt and dried out pieces of the Enchanted Forest.
"How do you know about that?"
"Because I make it my business to know!"
Daystar was defeated. "Fine. But I still don't trust you. I'm going to keep my eye on you,
Marina," he warned.
Marina's green eyes sparked as she jumped up and down and beat her translucent wings. "Oh
thank you so much!! You won't regret this, I promise!!"
"We'll see," Daystar replied as the sprite hugged him tightly. He pushed her away and walked
over to the stream. "You might as well get comfortable, Marina. It's getting late and right here is
as good a place as any to spend the night."
Marina nodded. "And then tomorrow, we'll go find some wizards! I can't wait! I've been
waiting such a long time for this!"
Daystar said his goodnights. Once he was sure that Marina had fallen asleep, he stared at his
reflection in the still pool of water. 'I wonder where Shiara is right now,' he thought. 'I hope
she's okay. If Antorell did anything to hurt her, I – I just don't what I would do…' He sighed
and gazed into the clear pool. His eyes widened as his image shimmered and shifted into that of
a familiar person. He leaned over the water and stared in shock.
"Daystar? Is that you?"
**************************
"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Shiara grumbled as she slapped a broken tree
away from her face. "It feels like we've been walking forever! I don't think my feet can take this
anymore!"
"Shiara, you have to be able to trust me. I've lived in this forest for a long time and I know my
way around better than anybody," Reese told Shiara. "But if you feel like you're getting tired,
we can always stop and turn in for the night. There should be a cave up ahead that we can set
up camp in."
"Sounds good to me."
The pair discovered the mouth of the cave a few minutes later. It was cozy as far as caves go,
and was not nearly as dank or dark as either Shiara or Reese expected it to be.
"It might get bit cold during the night so we should try to find some twigs or something so that
we could start a fire," Reese reasoned. "Why don't you go out and look for some? I'll stay
here, if you don't mind. I have some private things to take care of."
"Fine, but I'm not going to go to far. It's not that I'm scared, I just don't like the idea of anyone
playing tricks on me. I've been enchanted before and I wasn't too keen on the way I got back
to normal," Shiara blushed as she thought of the fire witch that had turned her stone.
Reese scowled. "Nothing will happen. Just go get some wood, will you?"
Shiara's hair flickered. "Excuse me! If it's that important to you I'll just leave right now!!" She
left the cave and found a bundle of dry twigs almost immediately. She had some trouble finding
her way back to the cave. When she finally did, however, she almost didn't recognize it.
The forest around the cave appeared as if it had been burnt in the 15 minutes that she had been
gone. She turned behind her to make sure that the rest of the forest had not fallen into disrepair
without her noticing. The area from which she came was still as lush and green as it had always
been with the exception of several burnt patches on the forest floor. 'In the shape of footprints,'
Shiara realized. 'There must be wizards around here somewhere…'
After making sure that there weren't any wizards waiting around the grab her again, Shiara took
another step closer to the mouth of the cave. Looking down at her feet, she lifted her foot only
to find a brown, dry foot-shaped patch of grass where she had been standing. 'This is some
kind of trick.' Shiara's head felt faint.
After walking around in circles and unwillingly making several tracts of brown grass, Shiara
entered the cave. "Something really strange is going on out there. I think the wizards might be
snooping around here somewhere," Shiara said as Reese finished resting his staff against the
wall of the cave.
Reese's eyes shifted nervously. "Don't worry about it. They won't come near us, I'll make sure
of it. I've had no trouble with wizards in the forest yet, and I don't intend to start now!" He
paused. "Um, how about we start that fire?"
Shiara had been particularly polite the entire day and was able to start a fire in no time. She
snorted with laughter. "Daystar would be so proud of me for being this good about his spell!"
She smiled. "Don't get me wrong, I'm still getting him to dispel it as soon as him and King
Mendanbar figure out how."
Reese nodded as he produced two sandwiches for he and Shiara to eat from the bundles he
had packed earlier in the day. They sat across from each other and ate quietly. Reese was busy
thinking to himself, but Shiara broke the silence.
"Do you know how to make magic mirrors?" Shiara asked. "I'd really like to let Kazul know
that I'm fine and that she oughtn't worry about me. Although, on the other hand, maybe I should
let Daystar know since he was there when Antorell spirited me away. He's probably worried
sick…"
"You can't call the King of the Dragons," Reese said quickly before taking another bite of his
sandwich.
Shiara glared at him darkly. "Fine," she paused. "You know you're not acting at all like you did
when I first met you. I don't like this change one bit. You get this straight, Reese," Shiara
growled as her hair burst into flames. "I don't like being bossed around and I don't intend to let
the likes of you do so. I am perfectly capable of making my own decisions. If you can't make a
calling mirror, then just say so!"
Reese was taken aback. "I – I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude. I've had a long day and I'm
really tired. I feel a bit wiped out, but I can try to rig something up for you," he paused as if in
thought. "Pixies and dragons don't get along so I don't think it'd be a good idea for you to talk
to Kazul with me here."
Shiara's hair extinguished itself. "Well, then I'll talk to Daystar. I should have a small hand
mirror somewhere in here," she shifted through the pocket of her brown tunic. "Ever since that
last time I figured you never know when you might need to get in contact with someone." She
rummaged around. "Ouch!" She pushed her finger into her mouth. "I think I might have found
it…and geez it hurt!" Shiara pulled the small piece of cracked glass out of her pocket and
handed it to Reese.
Reese sighed, defeated. "If you really need to talk to him, I can see what I can do." He held his
hands over the shard and muttered a few words. After a few moments, the surface of the mirror
began to liquefy and shift.
"Magic mirror that is small, I would like to make a call," Shiara recited.
"Why are you talking to it in rhyme?" Reese questioned as he made a strange face.
Shiara grinned. "I'd rather be safe than sorry. Some of these things can be really stubborn.
Believe me, I know." She laughed at the memory of Telemain's window.
"Who would you like me to connect you to, please?"
"Daystar," Shiara replied.
"One moment please. Your call is important to us."
"Cheerful thing, isn't it?" Reese raised his eyebrow in surprise.
"Not all of them are this pleasant," Shiara whispered so as not to offend her means of
communication.
The surface of the mirror shuddered as Shiara looked into it, and the face of a very tired,
ragged, dark-haired young man appeared in it.
"Daystar! Is that you?"
*********
Author's note: I know that chapter was pointless and very bad. I think that some of the
characters were completely out of character, but I'll change that as soon as I get around to it.
(Unless you think that it was ok. Let me know) Please review this so I know how I'm doing. I
promise the next chapter will be a lot quicker coming out.