Dedicated to Molly, the X-men2 watcher and Nightcrawler lover. (good movie!)

Chapter Five

          Ria was thankful that they hadn't eaten the horses yet, if anything. If they had done anything to Stormsong…she would have probably ordered them to drown themselves. Aden seemed to feel the same way with Chink, his gelding. He patted his neck as they rode alongside the ogres, who once in a while gazed their way longingly. It was creepy, and Ria kept her eyes straight ahead. Ironically enough, they seemed to be on the same road that led them to Ayortha, so when they escaped the ogres, they wouldn't have lost any time.

          Luckily, they didn't catch any more travelers. Grumbling over their bad luck, the ogres found a clearing to stay for the night. Ria was glad- it would be too much work figuring out how to free more people than just her and Aden.

"Who should we cook first?" a smaller ogre asked, while the others stoked up a huge fire. Unlike her mother's predicament with ogres, Ria's ogres had no trouble deciding how to cook her. They liked their humans boiled.

"The man," the tall head ogre said. "A good way to start off. Then we'll have a horse, then the girl, and then the next horse."

"Good plan," another ogre said.

They forcibly stood Aden up, and walked him over to the stewpot. However impatient they were, the water had not heated yet, so Aden was left there to wait on what he thought was his impending doom. Finally, the head ogre nodded, and another ogre moved to pick up Aden. It was time.

"Friends!" Ria called out in Ogrese. All of the ogres turned to look at her, surprised.

"She speaks," one said dumbfoundedly.

"Friends, why do you wish to kill the man?" she asked sweetly, quickly retuning her voice to the 'oil and honey' sort of talking. "Do you not know who he is?"

          The ogre holding Aden dropped him, and shook his head.

"He is a noble," she declared, "Beyond all price. A prince. He is going to get some delicious vegetables for you. You like vegetables. You just love them. In fact, that is all you all will eat from now on, they're that delicious."

"Mmm," the head ogre said. Looking at Aden quickly, she saw him looking incredously at her. She blushed and turned away.

"If you would leave this clearing and walk to the lake a mile away, there will be an abundance of fish and all sorts of vegetables," Ria lied. "Once you get to that lake, I command you, good ogres, to sleep for a month. Once you wake up, you can eat all the vegetables you want, since after a long, luxiorious sleep, you will be hungry."

"Ooh!" the head ogre exclaimed. "Let's go! Ogres, let's away!"

          Within a minute, there was no ogre to be seen. Aden got up weakly and walked over to Ria. They stared at each other for a few seconds. Then Aden broke the silence.

"Truce," he said, holding out a hand. Amused, Ria shook it. He had figured out why she had waited so long to speak.

"Truce," she echoed. "Now let's get going. We have a month to get away from those ogres, but I want to get going."

"A month?" Aden echoed as she mounted. He swung up on Chink. Ria recounted the tale she had told the ogres.

"A prince," Aden laughed. "That was a great story, daffodil."

"No more of those," Ria said. There had to be conditions to the truce.

"Not even primroses? I can't live without that one," Aden pouted, a strange expression on his face. Ria laughed.

"Okay, you can say primrose," she conceded. "But nothing else- no lasses, hearts, or anything like that."

"Rule accepted," Aden agreed. "Primrose."

          They rode until sunset, stopping only when the last ray of sun sunk below the horizon. This time, Ria could assist a bit with the campsite. She was a fast learner. After grooming Stormsong, she sat down hungrily to her dinner.

"Okay," Ria said, munching on bread, "You interrogated me yesterday. It's only fair I get to know about you."

"Fair, yes. But is life fair?" Aden asked, grinning. Seeing the look on her face, he laughed. "Okay, okay."
"Good," Ria grumbled.

"Well, I do have family, but they're…ah, extremely willing to let have time to go wander on my own," Aden said.

"What family does that?" Ria asked curiously. "I mean, this is the second year of drought. Things are hard on everyone. Nobody lets go of an extra pair of hands."

"Nobody except my family," Aden said, smiling. "They're the exception to mostly everything."

"Okay then, who are they?"

"Well, my extended family is basically a train of gypsies," Aden said, leaning back against a tree and taking an apple out of his knapsack.

"Really?" Ria asked incredously.

"Yes, we've been traveling since the beginning of the world and will be traveling until it ends," he said with a smile. "We have a sort of- culture, I suppose, within our little caravan. You should see it someday. We travel from country to country trading and buying. I know most every language in the world. Except Ogrese." He laughed. Ria did too.

"Which ones do you know?" she asked.

"Ayorthaian, Kyrrian, Common, Gnomic, Elfish, Halonian, and most every other one except Ogrese and Abdegi. We don't have many dealings with either ogres or giants. In fact, this morning I was thinking what a pity it was that I could talk to the ogres in any language except their own."

Ria smiled. "Ubensu ockommo Ayortha?" she asked in Ayorthaian. She wanted to test his knowledge.

"Oyudo non," he replied with the ease of a fluent traveler.

", fwcthchor evtoogh brzzay eerth ymmadboech evtoogh brzzaY?" she asked in Gnomic.
";PhwectOOr, phoUKA," he said, smiling smugly.

"Not bad, not bad," Ria said.

"Same back to you," he replied. "Where did you learn languages from?"

"My mother," Ria laughed. "She has connections all around. Two gnomes, an Ayorthaian, a band of elves, and giants all as friends. Plus, she was caught by ogres once too. She's extremely fluent, even more so than I am. She taught me early on. We'd go to the menagerie in Frell, and she'd make me speak to the ogres there so I could master them. The soldiers had to stop me a lot when I first started."

"Gypsies learn early on," Aden commented. "In our caravan, children as young as six are already speaking fluently in a lot of languages. You learn fast when you have to communicate to play."

"What's it like, traveling your whole life?" Ria asked, curious. She couldn't really imagine it, having lived in the palace her whole life. Until now, that is.

"I can't really describe it," he said thoughtfully. "For one thing, I have four sisters." He flashed a grin. "And the whole caravan is like your family. You know all of them. It's a lot of fun, sometimes. I've been everywhere you can imagine. It's a good experience for a kid."

"And then you went traveling on your own?"

"Well, I wanted to go exploring on my own, and my family thought it was a great idea. A lot of the boys from the caravan do that for a year. It gets you smart, really fast."

"If you're so smart, how did you get tangled up with Revean?"

He laughed. "He owed me money. And then he wouldn't pay up, so I left. But before I could get too far, you stuck him up, and it was a chance I couldn't pass up."

"But how did he get into owing you money?"

"I did a job for him," Aden said, too lightly. Ria narrowed her eyes.

"What job?"

"A job concerning something he wanted and something I could get," Aden said, grinning.

"WHAT job?" Ria persisted.

Aden sighed. "A bit dogged, aren't you? Alright, alright, I'll tell you if you'll just stop glaring at me like that, primrose. Ahh, that's better. Revean owed me money because I got some jewelry he wanted. Yes, yes, I did steal it. Don't look at me like that. It was from a noble, hopefully not your mother. I hope not, at least; she was the most annoying creature I've ever met. She screamed like a banshee. Her name was Lady Olive, considering the way the servants tried to calm her down."

"Olive?" Ria choked. Olive? Her stepaunt?

"You know her?"

"A bit distantly. I don't mind that you stole from her," Ria grinned. "She has more than she needs anyway." She laughed- if she could have only been there! Ella would have loved hearing about it. Wait…she could, couldn't she? No, but Ria could see her. Ria let out a little gasp.
"What's wrong?" Aden asked, concerned.

"Oh, nothing," Ria said. "Just something I remembered."

          She went to her saddlebags and pulled out the book. She had always thought it was heavy back in the palace, yet now it was featherweight. Well, it was a fairy book, anyhow.

"What's that?" Aden asked curiously.

"I'm not quite sure," Ria replied honestly. She opened the book. On the first page, there was a intricate map of Kyrria and Ayortha. A silvery-blue line marked their progress. Ria traced the line with her fingers. "So we're…two days from the Ayorthaian border," she muttered. She turned the page.

          On the next page, there was a letter from Ella. And on the back of the last page, there was a picture of a stone tomb, as well as mourners in black all around it. Her 'funeral.'

Dear _______,

          That's probably the best way to put it because I really don't know what you're called, do I? What's your name now?

          Your 'funeral' was held yesterday. Ober appeared rather grieved. Perhaps because the Halonians are disgruntled. Poor Prince Carrion! He'll have to find another wife, I suppose. Not too hard for such a connivering prince like him, eh?

          Nothing much is going on back here. Mandy says to give you the instructions for finding the Fairy Order. She's sent a letter to Areida's inn; it will be there when you arrive there. Areida, if she reads the letter, will realize the situation. You can read the letter there, and figure out what to do next.

          I'm planning to find out what's controlling Char. Ober is leaving tomorrow to look at some conflict going on in a town about five miles from here. He'll be gone for the afternoon. I'll go into his chambers then, claiming some excuse that I haven't figured out yet. If you find the Fairy Order and get them to get rid of Ober, and I figure out what's controlling Char, all will be well. I hope you're all right.

          And now I must be off to meet with Ober about some petty affair so I am still 'involved' in the government. As Mandy says, absolute rubbish.

                             Love from I and Mandy,

                                                                   Mother

          Ria grinned. So everything was well.

"A fairy tale book?" Aden asked, intrigued.

"In a way," Ria said mysteriously. She closed the book and whispered, 'Erase it, but save it for later.' She hoped it would comply. Then she handed over to Aden. He opened it tentatively.

"What do you see?" Ria asked, moving over to look. She saw a regular fairy tale, this one about Sleeping Beauty.

"A fairy tale," Aden replied. He turned the page. She saw a picture of a trail of wagons, and a campfire made against the night sky. Women and men danced around it, in bright fabrics, with a mandolin player in the background.

"My family?!" Aden wondered breathlessly.

"It appears so," Ria said satisfactorily.

"And I suppose this is an innocent possesion of yours?" Aden asked.

"Of course. I'm going to bed. Have fun reading," Ria said, yawning. Walking over to her bedroll, she fell asleep, feeling satisfied knowing that Aden was having an eye-opening experience with the fairy book.

          To pass the time on the way to the Ayorthaian-Kyrrian border Ria started teaching Aden some Ogrese. He picked it up quickly; he didn't have a recognizable accent, and after picking up so many other languages, this one was a breeze.

"hijyNN SsyuNg," Ria asked, as they rode late in the evening.

"Agreed. We should make camp. I'm hungry too," he replied.

"You're supposed to reply in Ogrese!" Ria exclaimed exasperatedly.

"eFFuth sWEE SSyng," Aden replied. "Happy, primrose?"

          Ria couldn't help but laugh. Once she got used to Aden, it was the only thing she could really do.

          The next day, they reached the Ayorthaian border. Opening her book, Ria stopped Stormsong as she looked at the map. Aden rode up to look at it behind her shoulder.

"So we're there," Ria said, pointing to the end of the silver-blue line, "And we need to get to Amonta, where Areida's inn is." She pointed to a city.

"We're only about a half-day from there," Aden said.

"So we make camp for one more day, then we get to Amonta, and I can find Areida's inn fairly quickly. I've been there before."They rode into the woods, Ria reminiscing. "My mother used to take me there. Areida had a daughter my age, and I used to play with her. She was so much fun. Her name was Halia. I wonder if she's still there."

"What information do you need to get?" Aden asked. Ria tried to tell as close to the truth as possible.

"My mother sent a letter to Areida that explains something. I need to find this office in Ayortha that can help me with something, and Areida can probably tell me."

"Very vague about this whole thing, Annia," Aden said teasingly.
"I promise I'll tell you everything when we reach Areida's inn," Ria replied with a sinking heart. Once they reached Areida's inn, her disguise would be over. Areida and Halia would know who she was. And Aden would find out the truth. She didn't look forward to it. How would he react? At the best, not very well.

          She dismounted Stormsong, wishing that tomorrow would never had to come, so she wouldn't have to deal with her betrayal of Aden.

literaryfreak – yeah, he does get annoying sometimes, but he's not as…smug as Aden is. Although is sense of humor is somewhat similar. Both Aden and him love cracking jokes, are extremely self-confident, etc. Thankfully, my brother does NOT call me Primrose(lol!) because Ria isn't modeled after me. HOWEVER, what's kinda cool about this story is in the next chapter, Halia is introduced, and she's modeled after my friend Molly, and there's a girl called Kit who knows Aden well from childhood, and she's modeled after me(she and Aden regard each other as siblings ^-^) So look out for those two! They'll be there next chapter.

-Alqualyne