CHAPTER 5: TROUBLE

Getting through wasn't as easy as they had hoped. Neither was communicating. Jack and Jaileen had left Melody inside something that looked like fruitshop while they tried to find out more about the village. Melody sat on the stairs and stared suspiciously at her surroundings. There were two exits, and another dwarf trying to sell his fruits. He looked back at her, and she decided to look at the ceiling instead.

This world keeps getting more and more unattractive, she thought. I can not wait until we reach our goal. For a moment she was surprised of her own words. No! Until *I* reach *my* goal! she corrected herself. I just followed them. they do not even care, for sure.

"Want some of me fruits?" the dwarf suddenly asked.

Melody stared, unable to answer.

"Fruits 'r good for ye!"

"No thank you," Jack said as he walked into the fruitshop and past the dwarf. He sat down beside Melody. Jaileen followed but stayed on her feet, looking at both of them.

"Looks like this is a dead end," she said. "We can't get through - whatever lies beyond this village, they call it the 'sanctuary', and only those who has gone through the 'ceremony' can enter."

"And the best part is," Jack continued, "that this 'ceremony' means 'wedding'. Married couples goes on their honeymoon in the sanctuary."

Melody jumped up from her seat, angry. "But we have to get through!"

"There may be a way." Jack started, but Jaileen silenced him with an angry glare.

"I wouldn't marry you Jack, not even for a day! And if we did, we still have to get Melody through."

Jack made a painful expression, then watched Melody thoughtfully. "We could go through the ceremony. Maybe we could make some kind of show at the exit, and get Melody out that way."

The sound of angry voices made them all turn around and look in the direction of the entrance. "I thought this was a peaceful village," he said.

"That's not dwarves, Jack!" Jaileen replied, holding her hand ready near her sword. "Its people like us." She hurried through the stone hallways with Jack and Melody behind her, soon reaching the entrance where they had been greeted by dwarves the day before. The dwarves had been kind and merry, only claiming a single password before they - total strangers - could enter their home. Now one of the dwarves screamed as he was pulled up by an angry man, yelling into its ears. The other two tried to go near, but the stranger's two companions warned them with their weapons.

"It's them," Jaileen said, her eyes narrowing. "Those people we saw in the desert."

"Just what are you doing!?" Jack shouted, surprised. The first and largest of the three men dropped the dwarf. It landed on the ground with another high pitched scream, then it began to swear and scuffled behind a rock to hide. The leader laughed.

"Look, were not alone!" he said, staring at Jack. "Seems like we were late."

Jaileen stepped forward and tried to give the last two dwarves a signal to hide like the first had done. They only stared back at her, not comprehending. Then they ran down the hallway, screaming some kind of warning to the other dwarves. "You're right, late you were. Too late for brains!" she snarled. "Can't you see that was unnecessary?"

"They're only stupid dwarves," he said, pointing out the whole village with his hand. "And this town is filled with stupid dwarves, trying to block our way. Don't say you're trying to do that too."

His too companions laughed and one of them pointed at them with his crossbow. The other swung his mace from side to side.

"You can't kill them!" Jaileen shouted. "There's no reason."

"The treasure is reason enough! I'm sure didn't come all the way out here just for the show either, did you? And this is only an obstacle on our way, right guys?"

The man with the crossbow grunted and smiled. "Yeah, we're here for the big price."

Jack sighed. "Who told you that there's a great price in this worthless desert? You looking for sand maggots?"

"The same who told you, Jack!" the leader snarled. "The Tree of power, you know what I'm talking about."

Melody's eyes grew wide. The tree of power? How?

"You stay out of my business," Jack replied, anger entering his voice. "You don't know anything about my reasons! You're not getting through here."

The man snorted. "Kill them," he commanded, unsheathing his sword. "You should never have gotten in my way."

Melody looked at Jack and Jaileen and saw that they too drew their swords. "Be ready to protect yourself," Jack said to her. "This is serious." She looked back at the men and took her dagger in one hand. Then she concentrated on her enemies, waiting for them to attack.

The first thing heard was the angry roar of one of the companions who fired his crossbow towards Jaileen. She managed to throw herself aside while blocking with her double-handed sword, and the arrow was stopped with the sharp sound of metal against metal. Jack quickly lunged at the archer before he could get ready for another shot, but was soon thrown aside by the one with a mace. The leader stood ready, swinging his sword against Jacks head. He almost fell over, parrying the attack with his own sword. Soon they started a one-on-one challenge, exchanging sword-blows. Meanwhile Jaileen attacked the guy with the mace, trying to stop him from attacking Jack from behind. That was when Melody finally intervened. The crossbow-man tried to hit Jaileen with the handle of his crossbow as Melody reacted quick as a lightning. She jumped forward, kicking into his side. He rolled over with a roar of surprise, staring at the small girl that had attacked him. Melody narrowed her eyes and got into a ready position. The man drew his knife and attacked, mad that she had surprised him. None of them had expected anything from Jack and Jaileens little companion.

Melody ducked and rolled into the attackers legs. He fell heavily on the hard ground with a thud, but recovered quicker than she had thought. He rolled over, cutting a hole in the air with his knife. Melody didn't get away in time and felt the sharp blade slicing into her arm. With a scream she held her bleeding arm, and fell back. Her attacker laughed in blood thirst and got up, knocking his fist into the side of her head. She was knocked over and lay still on the ground. Believing that she was done for, he soon concentrated on loading the crossbow. Meanwhile, Jaileen had succeeded in disarming her opponent, and was ready to knock him out for good. The crossbow-man aimed for her head with a grin, and placed his finger on the trigger.

He felt a singing pain in his head, followed by a cloud of darkness as his consciousness failed. He landed on the ground a second time, looking up. Melody rose in front of him, after kicking him hard in the head. She still held her left arm in a tight grip to stop the blood, and the dagger was lying on the ground. Desperately he tried to cover his face, feeling the fear crawl through him when he saw into her dark, angry eyes. Then everything turned black.

Melody stood still for a couple of seconds, trying to regain her breath. Then she turned away from the man and looked for her companions. Jaileen had cornered her opponent, but Jack seemed to be in trouble. He was still fighting on equal footing with the leader, but it was obvious that he was getting tired. For a second Melody felt like she was passing out, but regained her consciousness with the help of her willpower. Then she ran toward the back of the leader and jumped. He roared in surprise as she swung her arms around his neck and held onto his back. He backed away from Jack, trying to get Melody off, but she used her one advantage and grabbed around one of his legs with her tail. He fell over and she got thrown off in the impact, rolling over the ground. The leader jumped up and saw his last conscious companion flee from the battlefield. The he snarled, grabbing the archer before he ran down the roots of Conte-Petie together with his partner. Melody saw them disappear and sighed in relief. Then she looked down and her arm and almost blacked out.

"Melody?" she heard a voice call, but could no longer remember who it belonged to, as she lost consciousness.

"Melody!"

She looked up through the blue clouds, trying to figure out who was talking.

"What are you doing? I thought I told you to return here when you were done with your trip."

She saw her. She was coming closer, and so was her surroundings - blue buildings and water.

"But I am back," Melody replied, finding her voice oddly distant. "I returned, home."

Mikoto stopped and tilted her head to the side. She looked concerned. "But you are not home. You are far away. Too far away."

"No!" Melody screamed. "This is my home! This is where I was born, and where I belong!"

The genome closed her eyes and shook her head. "No. This is not our home, not anymore. This is far away now, too far away."

"... It is too far away."

Melody opened her eyes and the blue sky was replaced with the brown ceiling of a dwarven hut. She closed her eyes again, trying to summon the vision from her dreams. Around her she heard voices that she didn't recall. Or maybe she did.

"But I don't care, not anymore. Can't you see that this may be the key? That we actually are on the right track?"

A quick movement. "I cannot see what is going on with you!" An angry woman's voice. Jaileen. "I thought you had promised not to even think about that subject again! It is total madness! And leave the girl out of this."

A sigh from nearby. She heard him move uncomfortable in his seat, and recognised Jack without listening further to his voice. "I... I'm sorry. But if they're looking for it, we have to be careful. I just wonder... if she knows anything." He was looking at her, she could feel it. "She has led us in this exact direction all the time, the same that they followed. Through the mountains, do you remember that?"

A striking, hurtful silence followed. Jaileen's voice was cold. "If you do this Jack, I will not pay for the consequences. If you as much as show the tiniest interest in this... then I will no longer be on your side."

He moved, maybe a nod. No other words were spoken, and she heard Jaileen walk over to her side. "Has she changed?"

"I don't think so. She's sleeping."

Melody sighed and heard Jaileens surprised reaction. "Melody?" She opened her eyes once again, and looked up into Jaileens face. She decided to act like she hadn't heard their conversation and rose slowly. She stopped as she felt sudden pain in her left arm, followed by a surge of dizziness, and looked down at it. Someone had taken care of her wound and bound a tight bandage around it. She looked at the two again.

"You scared the hell out of us back there," Jack said, smiling. "Blood all over the place - you even covered that mans face in blood! We were lucky they only hit you in the arm."

Jaileen nodded. "You should rest some more, we still have to think of a way to get out here."

"Where are we?" was all Melody could ask.

The female knight looked around the small room, filled out with a big round table and four beds. "This is one of the dwarves's houses. They gave us the right to put you here, as they almost look at us as heroes now." She sighed.

"Heroes?" Melody looked down and wondered as she had done so many times before.

"Yeah," Jack replied. "We saved them from the villains, right? You are a hero when you do something great or good. Especially if you save people."

Jaileen laughed. "Of course she knows that, Jack. You don't have to explain everything to her."

Heroes...

END OF CHAPTER 5