Chapter I- Iodem's Treachery

Garet gave a groan. "We have to sail all around Angara? Why couldn't we just walk?"
"Look, we all know that you, as a Fire Adept, hate the ocean, but that's no reason to delay us from saving Jupiter Lighthouse and the world!" Ivan grumbled.
Garet hung his head. "If you put it that way…if I have to, I will."
"You have to." Ivan said firmly. "And on another topic, what are we going to do about Iodem?"
Issac looked up from the steering wheel. "Mia and I tried to convince him that this plan is a good thing, but it had no effect. He's down in the hold, fuming and muttering to himself."
Ivan sighed. "I'll go try to talk some sense into him."
Mia frowned. "Be careful, Ivan. Something tells me that Iodem can be very dangerous when his place as Babi's trusted advisor is at stake."
Ivan shrugged off her concern. "I'll be fine. I have my blessed ankh and my djinn, and of course my psynergy."
Almost flinging himself overboard, Garet rushed to the edge of the ship and began emptying his stomach into the sea."
Issac shook his head. "Shouldn't have eaten so much of that preserved Man O' War, eh, Garet?"
"You never told me that stuff was Man O' War," Garet protested weakly.
Issac and Mia struggled not to laugh.
~*~
"Io-Iodem?" Ivan's voice echoed oddly in the dank darkness of the hold. "Iodem? It's Ivan. Where are you?"
He heard scuttling sounds and silently prayed there was nothing larger than a rat down here.
None of the company had been down in the hold before. Ivan could see why. The place stank of evil and corrupt. There was something about the veiling black darkness that made it seem like something was lurking here…
Something grabbed him from behind, and before he had a chance to yell, a knife slipped into his ribs, and he blacked out.
~*~
After a long time of teasing Garet, Issac jumped up. "Where's Ivan?"
Mia frowned. "He's been gone for an awfully long time… I'll go check on him."
Nervously, Mia crept down the decaying stairs that led to the hold. She stumbled over something, then gasped. She had tripped over Ivan, who lay fainted on the floor, blood leaking from his chest.
Iodem had gone too far. She picked Ivan up, and struggled with him up the stairs, making as little noise as possible.
When Mia reached Garet and Issac, they turned to look at him and were startled by the sight of the wounded pale-faced Ivan.
Garet jumped up with a curse. "What happened to him?"
Mia could only choke out, "Iodem…"
Issac unsheathed his sword. "He has become dangerous. We must lock him in the captain's quarters for the remainder of the journey." He paused, looking worriedly at Ivan. "Can he be healed?"
Mia nodded, and Issac breathed a sigh of relief.
~*~
"At last…" Garet moaned, holding his stomach as he tottered down the gangplank.
Mia looked around. To the north lay mountains, the fabled Hesperian Range. To the south lay a thickly wooded land. And to the west lay what looked like a dry, flat, desert, she observed with a groan. All deserts, no matter what land they were in, were strength-draining.
Ivan came striding down the gangplank next, followed by Issac, then a very disgruntled Iodem.
Issac's clear voice rang out among the hustle and bustle of the docks of Allamir. "Iodem, you are now free to do what you please. But if you trouble us further on our way north to Jupiter Lighthouse, you may expect painful retribution."
At Issac's words Iodem gulped, then hurried off and soon disapeared into the crowd.
Ivan was consulting a crude map he had bought for 10 coins from a nearby vendor's stand. "The nearest town is a mile west of here…It's called Allamir. I guess that's why these docks are the "docks of Allamir."
"Well, let's go already!" Garet hurried off, anxious to be out of sight of the ocean. Mia, Ivan, and Issac followed.

Author's Notes: I'm sorry about the amount of white space between the paragraphs in the last chapter. I'll get the next chap up soon… I have spring break so all I'm doing right now is writing. ^_^ Please review!!