"I've got it!" exclaimed a haggard looking Niko as he burst through the door of Discipline. Lark took him over to the table as Rosethorn poured him some tea. He thanked them absently and took out a sheaf of papers and dropped them on the table. "You're lucky you know." He told them. "You've got the key to the spell living in this cottage. The spell is complicated, intricate. Besides needing to spell out in runes and symbols every equation, person, and thing involved, you need a link. Something that connects the two people, in this case those two are Trisana and Darien. That "something" in our case, is Adam. He's bound by blood to Darien and by Magic to Tris." Here Briar (who had run into the room with everyone else as soon as they'd heard Niko's exclamation) interrupted.

"But he's not bound to Tris by magic anymore. Darien has her magic, so isn't he just bound to Darien again?" Niko shook his head.

"Tris's magic is Tris's magic. It is uniquely hers, it's as much a part of her as her arms and legs. The fact that it's in Darien's control doesn't mean it's not hers. It just means she can't shape it." He explained. Tris thought back to the night that Darien had held her captive. When he had made her watch a lightning bolt, formed with her power, fly at her friends. Adam in particular. She remembered being so afraid and willing it to just not strike them. And it had veered at the last second.

"So there's hope?" She asked, obviously wanting it to be true. Niko smiled and nodded.

"There is hope." He told her. She nodded, as if that gesture made it fact.

"Okay then. How do we do it?"

HOURS LATER…

Though she was anxious to get her magic back, Tris found herself shaking. She took Adam's hand for comfort and he gave her a quick glance as he felt her shaking hands clasp his own steady ones. "It's going to be okay." He told her softly. She didn't say anything, just held his hand tighter. Sparks lit in Adam's eyes that anyone, especially Darien, could make Tris feel this way. He was used to Tris being hard as steel, but as soon as Darien came into the picture the steel turned to water. But Darien would pay. He would make sure of that. Tris's shakes got worse as they got closer to the cave. By the time they got to the entrance she could barely stand and tears were running down her face. Daja's face hardened. "It's a spell. He put up a barrier spell so that she can't get in." She turned to Tris who was being supported by Dan and Adam. "Tris hunny. It's a spell. Darien put up a spell to keep you out. Only you can break it. You have to conquer this fear you have. It's not real. Darien put it there. But you can take it out. I know you can. You're the strongest person I've ever met merchant-girl, and I won't believe for one moment that you'd let him keep this hold on you." Tris heard Daja's words and somewhere deep inside, they penetrated. She started to fight the overwhelming fear that threatened to tear her apart. Daja continued to coax her and encourage her. Finally, Tris broke the spell and a renewed fury burned from within her.

"Let's go." She growled, leading the way inside. She didn't really know how to find him, but she didn't care. She just let herself feel her way around, turning where she felt drawn to turn, letting her intuition-or maybe it was something else-guide her. Finally she saw a light. She stopped to collect the group. "Ready?" She asked, her voice barely a whisper. They all nodded. Daja and Briar worked up a shield to hide their presence from Darien. Together, they stepped towards the entrance to the chamber. Darien was sitting at a desk, writing in a book. Evvy closed her eyes and the rock behind him flowed like water to encompass his form.

"Wha-?" Darien looked down at the liquid rock flowing around him. It hardened and Daja and Briar dropped their shield, revealing their presence. If Darien was surprised, he didn't show it. Instead a bolt of electricity shot at them, only to fly to side at the last second. Brief confusion shadowed his face before he regained his composure. Tris stayed in front of him as the others went to around him to write the runes and symbols needed for the spell. She managed to deflect a few more attacks he attempted. He glared at her. She smiled sweetly at him. "I don't know what you're up to wench, but don't think for a minute you can stop me." Adam practically lunged at him, but Briar caught him in the air and threw him back on the ground, pinning him there. Adam glared at him, but Briar met his glare with his own. Let her deal with it! He mind-spoke to him. Adam gave him one last glare before giving up.

Fine! He mind-spoke back, But I don't know how long I can control myself. Briar smiled at him.

That's what I'm here for. He said, earning another vicious glare.

"Wench?" Tris asked him. "I hardly think you're in a position to be calling me names and making threats." Tris was secretly amazed that Darien could still look so condescending while he was imprisoned in rock.

"What are you going to do?" He asked in a mocking tone, "Talk me to death? I have your power now. There's nothing you can do. Sooner or later that child will lose her hold on this spell, and I'll break free. And then I'll really be able to hurt you. I won't play around this time." Tris slapped him, not noticing that Adam was struggling furiously to break free of Briar's hold on him. Briar finally wrestled him to the ground and lay on top of him while holding his arm behind his back, using his leverage and body weight to keep him down.

"Have you forgotten my friends? Briar there could slit your throat. Evvy could make this cave crash down over only your skull. Elizabeth and Dan could flood it, and make sure the water rose to cover only your head. Daja could pull the metal out of this rock and hurl it at you until she cracks that thick head of yours in two. Don't tempt me to let them do it." Tris had said these words in such a cold, cruel tone, that the rest of her friends started to worry if maybe she was serious about it. Darien just laughed.

"Please. You don't have it in you. If you wanted me dead you would have already had me killed. Don't play games with me, I'm much better at them." He told her.

"Done." Daja announced. Tris didn't waste any more time or energy talking to Darien, instead she stood on the other side of the room while Adam took his place between both Darien and her. Tris started to speak the spell. Darien's eyes opened wide.

"What are you doing? No! Stop! You can't!" Tris ignored his desperate voice and continued to say the words, getting progressively louder until she was shouting. Her voice bounced off the walls, seeming to come from everywhere at once. Tris screamed the last word of the spell and saw a glowing blue color shoot from Darien to strike Adam, who let out a yelp before the power coursed through him into Tris. Tris fell to her knees, feeling as if someone was stabbing her over and over again. She heard someone scream and didn't know whether the voice was hers, Adam's, or Darien's. Electric blue light played all over her body, slowly seeping into her pores and submerging itself deep within the core of her being. Tris lost track of time. It could have been seconds or hours before the pain stopped, but eventually it did. She looked up, feeling whole for the first time in days. Adam was crumpled on the floor, but alive. Darien was alive too, and enraged.

"How DARE you! How did you find that spell? When I break free of this, I'm going to-" He was cut off by a sharp punch to the face that caused his head to snap back. Tris towered over him, powerful and furious, seeming like a hurricane about to unleash itself on him. Unwillingly, he shrank from her (or at least tried to, as he was still trapped in his rock prison).

"Why?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper and yet as cold as a blizzard and cruel as that of a torturer.

"Why?" He repeated, no longer daunted by her. "To prove, once and for all, that I was the better mage. The better man. I worked hard, all my life, trying to please him. But all he had to offer was criticism." He spat the last word out as if it left a bitter taste in his mouth. "I didn't do this good enough, that could have been better, I should have done it this way. Never, I see you've been working hard, nice work, you did that well.

And then you two came along." He said, trying to turn to face Dan and Elizabeth. "He was obsessed with bringing you down. But he wasn't careful enough, he didn't use the caution he would reprimand me for not using. I figured that if I could do it, then that punishment for him for not using caution would be worse than the rod I got for it. And I decided that I'd even do him one better. Instead of just taking them, I'd take all of you. And I almost did. And I will yet." He told them ominously.

"Well," Tris said, "I believe you need to practice your caution a bit more, because you need to use it in your words as well as in your actions. I'm not about to let you hurt us again." At this, Tris began speaking a new spell. Darien's eyes widened in horror.

"NOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He yelled. The others watched in shock as Darien's power floated out of him and into Tris. When it was over Tris looked up at them and ordered Evvy to release Darien.

"He's no longer harmful." She told her. Evvy did as she was told, eyeing Tris with a certain degree of fear.

Tris led them all out of the cave as Darien sat in a ball on the ground, weeping like a baby.

Author's Note: This IS NOT THE END!!!!!!!!! I was just hit with a great idea. And for anyone who didn't get it, Tris just took Darien's magic away from him and took it for herself, just like he had done to her before. *evil grin* Wait till you see what I'm going to do to them next.

Joe: *happy sigh* I'm finally getting through to her.

Eve of Mirkwood: You keep me going! I can't thank you enough!