Disclaimer ---× Blah blah blah. Don't own any of these characters, they belong to David Eddings… and Leigh Eddings? Not too sure.. hehe. =P
A/N ---× Thanks to anyone who's R & R so far!! =D Sorry if my chapters are a bit short, but I'll hopefully get them a bit longer when I have more time. School started again today… damn. Am I getting off track? Probably. 0.o
---×---×---×---
Chapter Three
Entering the room, Sparhawk wasn't very surprised to see a little six year old girl sitting on Sir Bevier's lap. Talen and Berit, on the other hand, didn't seem to understand what was going on. They weren't the only ones.
"Where's Danae?" Sparhawk asked Flute carefully.
"She was tired, so she went off to her room with Mmrr. Now, sit!"
Talen, Berit and Sparhawk immediately sat down in three empty chairs. Quickly, Flute outlined the problem to them. Ulath frowned.
"And we're your… uh, competitors?" he asked.
The little girl nodded, "you're not the only ones though"
"Who else is there?"
Flute pouted and thought for a minute, "well, if you have to know… the gods love symmetry. So it's going to be the usual group"
"So, Sephrenia, Vanion, Khalad…" Tynian mused.
She nodded and continued, counting off on her fingers, "as well as Stragen, Melidere, Alean, Ehlana… oh, what is it now?"
Flute paused, while Kalten and Sparhawk stared at her. Kalten was the first to speak out.
"Flute! Surely you're not going to include the ladies!" he exclaimed.
"It's not entirely my decision, Kalten. Besides, you know that I'd never let anything happen to anyone… including Alean…" she looked pointedly at Kalten "… and mo- uh, Ehlana" looked across at Sparhawk. "Now, would you let me continue?"
When there were no further interruptions, she went on, "Xanetia… this is impossible!"
The little Goddess fumed, while the other knights and young thief gave her an incredible look.
"Aphrael, you do know that Xanetia has gone…" Berit began, unsure.
"Yes, Berit. But I've been talking to Edaemus and… oh, nevermind. It will take me forever if I have sit here and explain to you who's coming. I think the most important thing is the actual Challenge, don't you think?"
The others mumbled an agreement and let her continue. Aphrael muttered something about Elenes under her breath and continued.
"What do any of you know about the Six Fires?"
Most of them looked at her confused, though Bevier looked a bit pale.
"Bevier?" Flute asked, sweetly, "is there something you know about the Six Fires?"
"No, not really… they're a legend aren't they? Don't really exist…"
"Believe me, Bevier. They do exist, and it's what we need to find"
"But how? Even if they did exist, they-"
Talen cleared his throat, "um, I'm not sure about the others here. But I'm confused"
Aphrael sighed, and rolled her eyes upwards, "would you like to explain, Bevier?"
"Thank-you all the same, Aphrael. But you seem to be doing a good job so far…"
The Child-Goddess preened, "isn't he such a nice boy? Anyway, in a sense, Bevier is right. The Six Fires are seen as a legend. Not by accident, but rather, on purpose. Everyone knows the six elements, right? Light, Dark, Fire, Water, Earth and Air… Well, a long time ago, I can't even remember how long.. a powerful God created six holy fires, each to their own element. The Earth fire, Air fire, Dark fire-"
"Fire fire?" Talen asked, dubiously.
"Did you want to tell the story, Talen?" the little girl snapped.
"I'll be right…"
"That's what I thought. Now, this God loved his flames dearly, and would spend most of his time watching them, instead of looking after his followers and worshippers. Sure enough, they all deserted him one by one, and he…" Flute shuddered slightly, "… he, well, let's say 'disappeared'. But at the very last moment, the God managed to pour all his power and soul into the flames. No-one exactly knows how or what happened, but after he… 'disappeared', the other Gods didn't seem to know what to do with the flames. They were too powerful for one God to control alone, as they contained the power of a full God already. Nor, did they want a war to start between the Gods over who shall receive a flame, so they cast it out all over this world"
"And we now it's a competition to see who can find all six flames first?" Kalten asked.
"Yes. Whoever loses, will have to back away"
"How do you know that the thing who's threatening Eosia, will keep his word and back down? If we find the flames first, that is…"
Flute shrugged, "it won't really have much of a choice. With the six flames in our power, the Gods combined could easily defeat Jlader"
"Jlader?" Sparhawk asked, obviously confused.
"The name of the thing. You didn't think we'd keep calling it, thing did you?"
"Probably not…"
"But the same thing works the other way around, if Jlader finds all six flames first, then we will be defenseless against him"
"So it's a him?"
The little girl pouted and shot Sparhawk a look. He grinned, "just asking".
"Yes, it's a him, and his name is Jlader. Anything else?"
"No, not really"
"Sorry to interrupt you two, but…" Sir Ulath cut in, "what do the flames look like?"
"That would be part of the problem. No-one knows…" Flute said, jumping down off Bevier's lap, "it could be anything, a tree, rock, ocean, mountain, fire or maybe even a person"
The others stared at her.
"That's what makes this challenge hard. But if it makes you feel better, Jlader and his competitors don't know what they look like either," she said, grinning at them.
---×---×---×---
A/N: Yay, chapter three is finally up!! More talking, yes I know… but don't worry. Just keep reviewing, and more will keep coming. =D Hopefully soon…
