"We have to tell everybody!" Said Meron.
"Exactly." Said Gregory.
"I'll race you!" Said Maddy.
"No fool!" Exclaimed Meron. "No more races! How many times must we repeat this?"
"Seven-million, eight-hundred and seventy-two times." Said Liney.
"Well, we'd better get started before we-" Started Gregory, but he was elbowed in the ribs by a slightly annoyed Maddy.
"I'm not stupid!" Said Maddy. "I am quite sm-" She stopped and her eyes glazed over, and a few seconds later she began to drool. Liney held her fingers in front of Maddy's face and snapped four times. Maddy shook her head and finished her sentence, "-art, if you want to know the truth."
"Of course you are, my diamond of beauty." Said Meron.
Liney pivoted and stared at Gregory. "Why don't you call me any flowery nicknames? Maddy gets nicknames! I should too!"
"Well, the thing is, I'm not to brilliant with coming up with original nicknames." Said Gregory. "But if and when we get out of this place, I swear on my dagger hilt that I'll try my very hardest!"
"Is a dagger hilt the most honorable thing to swear on?" Asked Meron. "I thought hilts represented deception."
"Shut up!" Gregory muttered.
"Shiny!" Yelled Maddy suddenly. "I like shiny!" Maddy bent over to pick up a glittering object that lay on the ground.
"It's a key." Said Liney when Maddy brought the object up for inspection. "I wonder what it's for."
"Well, if we get out, we can see!" Said Meron starting to run.
"Why do you say if?" Asked Gregory.
"Because Maddy's shout attracted the guards." Said Meron. "And now, they've sighted us."
"That's peachy." Said Liney breaking into a dead out run. "Simply peachy."
"Do you really think so?" Asked Maddy. "I would consider that more of a minus, rather than a plus."
"I was being sarcastic, Kumquat." Said Liney.
"Oooh. I get it." Said Maddy, nodding. Then changed her mind and she shook her head. "No I don't."
"Can we not discuss it?" Exclaimed a slightly hysterical Gregory. "I kind of want to focus my efforts on getting out of this Hell hole in one piece. And preferably alive, too."
The four ran toward the door. Meron opened it only to find soldiers retreating toward them. Maddy screamed loudly and began to flail out with her fists, feet and even her head. Meron pulled the dagger of his boot and began stabbing recklessly at enemy flesh. Liney pulled out her dagger and charged at an extremely surly looking guard. Meron walked forward four steps and cracked one of the soldiers over the head with his slingshot. When the soldier fell to the ground totally shocked and unconscious Gregory saw his chance and leapt over him, bolting toward the forest, Liney slew a soldier with her dagger and ran after him. Maddy screamed and threw herself, arrowhead first, onto a guard. Unfortunately there was a yell from Meron and Maddy lost her concentration. The guard she was about to attack seized her in both his hands and lifted her up over his shoulders. Maddy screamed and beat at the man with her fists, Meron, who was in a similar position did the same. It did no good for either of them, and the guards slowly carried them off away from the door.
~*~
"There." Said Numair, just having finished adding the final touches on the magic shield he had been building for the past hour or so. Nothing will be able to get through unless I take it down. I hope I don't have to take it down though, the process would be long and painful."
"You're going to be really mad when you see who's coming." Said Caprice, giggling a little.
"Aw, damn it." Said Numair looking up. "Damn it all."
Gregory and Liney came running up the barrier at top speed. Liney stopped in front of it and stared at the shield.
"But if the shield is attached to the necklace thing," started Amy, "then wouldn't it go down if you disconnected the necklace?"
"Sounds like it would work." Said Peter. "Allow me." He walked over to the necklace and stared at it. Then dark blue flames consumed it and a second later the shield flickered and disintegrated.
"Wow." Said Numair. "I figured that only my Gift would be able to have the correct magical proportions to cause the spell to erode. But you have done it without the numerous magical magnitudes! Amazing!"
"Say what now?" Asked Raganas.
"He thought he was the only one who had enough Gift to kill the barrier thing, but Peter did it with his wimpy Gift." Said Maria.
"Oh." Said Raganas.
"My Gift is most certainly not wimpy!" Exclaimed Peter.
"Wimpy, wimpy, wimpy." Said Diana in a singsong voice.
"You guys are so mean to poor Peter here." Said Samkin.
"Thank you."
"We should all sing together." Finished Samkin.
"No, wait!" Cried Peter.
"Peter's Gift is wimpy!" Sang Samkin, Diana and Maria. "Peter's Gift is wimpy! Wimpy, wimpy, wimpy!"
"You're so heartless!" Pouted Peter. "I'll go over there where I'm iappreciated/i!" Peter stomped off to converse with his father, Marc and the still unconscious Kathryn.
Liney and Gregory burst suddenly into the clearing where everybody was. "They got them!" Screeched Liney, and she fainted.
"Oh my goodness!" Said Olivia. "What happened?"
"And where are Maddy and Meron?" Asked Lady Light.
"Tell us!" Said Krizsta. "Before we all die!" Everybody looked at Krizsta, slightly startled. "Of anticipation." Added Krizsta, laughing nervously.
"We were in the castle there." Said Marc. "And we heard these two people talking, see. One was a man, called Bryan, and this woman, called Jillian." Gregory paused and let out a hacking cough.
"We need you to continue." Said Kate. "I'll tend to you're injuries later."
Gregory coughed once more and nodded. "They were talking about trying to become the rulers of Tortall."
"What?" Said Alanna. "They were talking about overthrowing the king?"
Gregory nodded. "If you'll hold your questions 'till the end. It's easier to keeping going without being stopped every minute."
"Of course." Said Alanna. "Please continue."
Gregory nodded once again and took in a deep breath. Then he continued. "Well then they went away. Maddy, Liney, Meron and I were trying to leave when Maddy found a key. We made a little too much noise and these guards started to chase us. But when we got to the door there were soldiers coming in. So we were completely trapped. Liney and I escaped but they got Maddy and Meron! We have to get them out of there! We have to charge in there right now!"
"Yes we do." Said Kaytee.
"No we don't." Said Cleon. "Those two can definitely take care of themselves. Maddy and Meron make one Hell of a team, if I do say so myself."
"But what should we do?" Asked Kaitlin. "We can't just leave them in there!"
"We'll wait a day or so." Said Raoul. "If they aren't out by then, we have to go in ourselves."
"But this should only be as a last resort." Said Buri, looking sternly at everyone, including Cleon. "I don't want any of you going in there, even if they do have your friend." And then as an after thought she added for Cleon, "Or your son."
"I suppose you're right." Said Anne Marie. "I'm not exactly crazy about the idea, but if it's best..."
"It is." Said Dom. "That son of yours is quite a good fighter. And Maddy, too. If they can't get out of that trap, I don't think anybody could. Except me, of course."
"Yeah right." Neal scoffed from over by Rosefyre, Marc and Kathryn. "You couldn't escape from there even if the exit danced in front of you naked, wearing a belt on its head!" He then turned to Rosefyre and said, "You're arm should be completely healed by now, why don't you go test it out."
"So eager to get rid of me are you?" Said Rosefyre.
Neal laughed. "Of course I am, you lazy thing!" He then turned back to fixing up Marc's battle wounds, occasionally giving a little 'Hah!' of laughter.
"I don't know about you, but I'm nervous!" Said Maria. "But there's nothing I can do, right?"
"Actually, you and I are the only people who can do anything." Said Daine. "Well, Liney could, but she's out cold for now."
"Another patient!" Said Neal. "You guys are overworking me!"
"I'm helping!" Yelled Kate, while tending to Gregory's wounds.
"I can help with Liney if you like Neal." Said Alanna. "She's just unconscious and it doesn't look like she got too scraped up. I should be finished soon and it should drain my Gift very much at all."
"Well, what can we do to help?" Asked Maria, turning back to Daine.
"We can take animal form!" Said Daine. "Surely you remember how."
"I do!" Said Maria. "But what should I become. It'd look quite awkward if, say, there was a squirrel in the castle."
"If I could make a suggestion." Said Buri.
"Please go ahead." Said Daine.
"Mice." Buri said. "There are plenty of mouse holes in there, I'm sure and I doubt anyone would get extremely suspicious if they saw a mouse in the castle."
"Brilliant!" Said Maria. "Let's see if I haven't gotten rusty!" In a blinking of an eye, Maria transformed into a small gray mouse.
"Wonderful!" Said Daine. "Here I come." She also transformed. She became a brown mouse, slightly larger than the mouse that was Maria. The two mice looked at each other, blinked and looked back at the crowd of people.
"Be careful in there!" Said Numair. "You know I don't like you doing these things Daine."
The brown mouse blinked at Numair and turned and started to scuttle toward the castle. The gray mouse squeaked in disagreement and hurried after its friend.
"Bye guys!" Said Raganas. "Well, this is all great and all, but I have war magic! I want to make something explode!"
"Of course!" Said Numair. "I don't know if it will do any good, but I want you to concentrate on your palm."
At that moment Raganas' hand burst into white flame. "Ooh, this tickles!" She said.
Numair smiled. "I'm glad you enjoy it. Anyway, now I want you to concentrate on a certain part of the castle and ithrowi your magic at it!"
"Gotcha!" Said Reganas. She shut her eyes and threw her ball of white flame up at the castle. It hit one of the towers, not causing it to fall, but making a good-sized hole in the wall where it had stuck.
There was a low moan and Kathryn sat up, swaying slightly. "What's going on?" She asked looking around. "Where am I?"
"Somebody else explain." Said Neal, laying down in exhaustion.
~*~
Yey! Another chapter! Aren't you proud of me? Of course you are. You're not? *Pouts* Well, nobody asked you mister Cleon! *Gets into an argument* Well, you haven't even read the rest of the story! What? That's it mister! *Whistles* Haha, you're in for it now buddy! *Killer the 8 foot, floating, blue donkey with oversized wings comes flying in* Sic him Killer! *Killer attacks Cleon* Hm, that was stress relieving! Please review. I'm off to go get myself a piece of cake! Yum!
Luv,
LadyKnight
"Exactly." Said Gregory.
"I'll race you!" Said Maddy.
"No fool!" Exclaimed Meron. "No more races! How many times must we repeat this?"
"Seven-million, eight-hundred and seventy-two times." Said Liney.
"Well, we'd better get started before we-" Started Gregory, but he was elbowed in the ribs by a slightly annoyed Maddy.
"I'm not stupid!" Said Maddy. "I am quite sm-" She stopped and her eyes glazed over, and a few seconds later she began to drool. Liney held her fingers in front of Maddy's face and snapped four times. Maddy shook her head and finished her sentence, "-art, if you want to know the truth."
"Of course you are, my diamond of beauty." Said Meron.
Liney pivoted and stared at Gregory. "Why don't you call me any flowery nicknames? Maddy gets nicknames! I should too!"
"Well, the thing is, I'm not to brilliant with coming up with original nicknames." Said Gregory. "But if and when we get out of this place, I swear on my dagger hilt that I'll try my very hardest!"
"Is a dagger hilt the most honorable thing to swear on?" Asked Meron. "I thought hilts represented deception."
"Shut up!" Gregory muttered.
"Shiny!" Yelled Maddy suddenly. "I like shiny!" Maddy bent over to pick up a glittering object that lay on the ground.
"It's a key." Said Liney when Maddy brought the object up for inspection. "I wonder what it's for."
"Well, if we get out, we can see!" Said Meron starting to run.
"Why do you say if?" Asked Gregory.
"Because Maddy's shout attracted the guards." Said Meron. "And now, they've sighted us."
"That's peachy." Said Liney breaking into a dead out run. "Simply peachy."
"Do you really think so?" Asked Maddy. "I would consider that more of a minus, rather than a plus."
"I was being sarcastic, Kumquat." Said Liney.
"Oooh. I get it." Said Maddy, nodding. Then changed her mind and she shook her head. "No I don't."
"Can we not discuss it?" Exclaimed a slightly hysterical Gregory. "I kind of want to focus my efforts on getting out of this Hell hole in one piece. And preferably alive, too."
The four ran toward the door. Meron opened it only to find soldiers retreating toward them. Maddy screamed loudly and began to flail out with her fists, feet and even her head. Meron pulled the dagger of his boot and began stabbing recklessly at enemy flesh. Liney pulled out her dagger and charged at an extremely surly looking guard. Meron walked forward four steps and cracked one of the soldiers over the head with his slingshot. When the soldier fell to the ground totally shocked and unconscious Gregory saw his chance and leapt over him, bolting toward the forest, Liney slew a soldier with her dagger and ran after him. Maddy screamed and threw herself, arrowhead first, onto a guard. Unfortunately there was a yell from Meron and Maddy lost her concentration. The guard she was about to attack seized her in both his hands and lifted her up over his shoulders. Maddy screamed and beat at the man with her fists, Meron, who was in a similar position did the same. It did no good for either of them, and the guards slowly carried them off away from the door.
~*~
"There." Said Numair, just having finished adding the final touches on the magic shield he had been building for the past hour or so. Nothing will be able to get through unless I take it down. I hope I don't have to take it down though, the process would be long and painful."
"You're going to be really mad when you see who's coming." Said Caprice, giggling a little.
"Aw, damn it." Said Numair looking up. "Damn it all."
Gregory and Liney came running up the barrier at top speed. Liney stopped in front of it and stared at the shield.
"But if the shield is attached to the necklace thing," started Amy, "then wouldn't it go down if you disconnected the necklace?"
"Sounds like it would work." Said Peter. "Allow me." He walked over to the necklace and stared at it. Then dark blue flames consumed it and a second later the shield flickered and disintegrated.
"Wow." Said Numair. "I figured that only my Gift would be able to have the correct magical proportions to cause the spell to erode. But you have done it without the numerous magical magnitudes! Amazing!"
"Say what now?" Asked Raganas.
"He thought he was the only one who had enough Gift to kill the barrier thing, but Peter did it with his wimpy Gift." Said Maria.
"Oh." Said Raganas.
"My Gift is most certainly not wimpy!" Exclaimed Peter.
"Wimpy, wimpy, wimpy." Said Diana in a singsong voice.
"You guys are so mean to poor Peter here." Said Samkin.
"Thank you."
"We should all sing together." Finished Samkin.
"No, wait!" Cried Peter.
"Peter's Gift is wimpy!" Sang Samkin, Diana and Maria. "Peter's Gift is wimpy! Wimpy, wimpy, wimpy!"
"You're so heartless!" Pouted Peter. "I'll go over there where I'm iappreciated/i!" Peter stomped off to converse with his father, Marc and the still unconscious Kathryn.
Liney and Gregory burst suddenly into the clearing where everybody was. "They got them!" Screeched Liney, and she fainted.
"Oh my goodness!" Said Olivia. "What happened?"
"And where are Maddy and Meron?" Asked Lady Light.
"Tell us!" Said Krizsta. "Before we all die!" Everybody looked at Krizsta, slightly startled. "Of anticipation." Added Krizsta, laughing nervously.
"We were in the castle there." Said Marc. "And we heard these two people talking, see. One was a man, called Bryan, and this woman, called Jillian." Gregory paused and let out a hacking cough.
"We need you to continue." Said Kate. "I'll tend to you're injuries later."
Gregory coughed once more and nodded. "They were talking about trying to become the rulers of Tortall."
"What?" Said Alanna. "They were talking about overthrowing the king?"
Gregory nodded. "If you'll hold your questions 'till the end. It's easier to keeping going without being stopped every minute."
"Of course." Said Alanna. "Please continue."
Gregory nodded once again and took in a deep breath. Then he continued. "Well then they went away. Maddy, Liney, Meron and I were trying to leave when Maddy found a key. We made a little too much noise and these guards started to chase us. But when we got to the door there were soldiers coming in. So we were completely trapped. Liney and I escaped but they got Maddy and Meron! We have to get them out of there! We have to charge in there right now!"
"Yes we do." Said Kaytee.
"No we don't." Said Cleon. "Those two can definitely take care of themselves. Maddy and Meron make one Hell of a team, if I do say so myself."
"But what should we do?" Asked Kaitlin. "We can't just leave them in there!"
"We'll wait a day or so." Said Raoul. "If they aren't out by then, we have to go in ourselves."
"But this should only be as a last resort." Said Buri, looking sternly at everyone, including Cleon. "I don't want any of you going in there, even if they do have your friend." And then as an after thought she added for Cleon, "Or your son."
"I suppose you're right." Said Anne Marie. "I'm not exactly crazy about the idea, but if it's best..."
"It is." Said Dom. "That son of yours is quite a good fighter. And Maddy, too. If they can't get out of that trap, I don't think anybody could. Except me, of course."
"Yeah right." Neal scoffed from over by Rosefyre, Marc and Kathryn. "You couldn't escape from there even if the exit danced in front of you naked, wearing a belt on its head!" He then turned to Rosefyre and said, "You're arm should be completely healed by now, why don't you go test it out."
"So eager to get rid of me are you?" Said Rosefyre.
Neal laughed. "Of course I am, you lazy thing!" He then turned back to fixing up Marc's battle wounds, occasionally giving a little 'Hah!' of laughter.
"I don't know about you, but I'm nervous!" Said Maria. "But there's nothing I can do, right?"
"Actually, you and I are the only people who can do anything." Said Daine. "Well, Liney could, but she's out cold for now."
"Another patient!" Said Neal. "You guys are overworking me!"
"I'm helping!" Yelled Kate, while tending to Gregory's wounds.
"I can help with Liney if you like Neal." Said Alanna. "She's just unconscious and it doesn't look like she got too scraped up. I should be finished soon and it should drain my Gift very much at all."
"Well, what can we do to help?" Asked Maria, turning back to Daine.
"We can take animal form!" Said Daine. "Surely you remember how."
"I do!" Said Maria. "But what should I become. It'd look quite awkward if, say, there was a squirrel in the castle."
"If I could make a suggestion." Said Buri.
"Please go ahead." Said Daine.
"Mice." Buri said. "There are plenty of mouse holes in there, I'm sure and I doubt anyone would get extremely suspicious if they saw a mouse in the castle."
"Brilliant!" Said Maria. "Let's see if I haven't gotten rusty!" In a blinking of an eye, Maria transformed into a small gray mouse.
"Wonderful!" Said Daine. "Here I come." She also transformed. She became a brown mouse, slightly larger than the mouse that was Maria. The two mice looked at each other, blinked and looked back at the crowd of people.
"Be careful in there!" Said Numair. "You know I don't like you doing these things Daine."
The brown mouse blinked at Numair and turned and started to scuttle toward the castle. The gray mouse squeaked in disagreement and hurried after its friend.
"Bye guys!" Said Raganas. "Well, this is all great and all, but I have war magic! I want to make something explode!"
"Of course!" Said Numair. "I don't know if it will do any good, but I want you to concentrate on your palm."
At that moment Raganas' hand burst into white flame. "Ooh, this tickles!" She said.
Numair smiled. "I'm glad you enjoy it. Anyway, now I want you to concentrate on a certain part of the castle and ithrowi your magic at it!"
"Gotcha!" Said Reganas. She shut her eyes and threw her ball of white flame up at the castle. It hit one of the towers, not causing it to fall, but making a good-sized hole in the wall where it had stuck.
There was a low moan and Kathryn sat up, swaying slightly. "What's going on?" She asked looking around. "Where am I?"
"Somebody else explain." Said Neal, laying down in exhaustion.
~*~
Yey! Another chapter! Aren't you proud of me? Of course you are. You're not? *Pouts* Well, nobody asked you mister Cleon! *Gets into an argument* Well, you haven't even read the rest of the story! What? That's it mister! *Whistles* Haha, you're in for it now buddy! *Killer the 8 foot, floating, blue donkey with oversized wings comes flying in* Sic him Killer! *Killer attacks Cleon* Hm, that was stress relieving! Please review. I'm off to go get myself a piece of cake! Yum!
Luv,
LadyKnight