ossini: You really like Arden, don't you? Tee hee, don't worry, I'll give you a little more soon. gives ossini an Arden action figure

Kassi of Pirate's Swoop: Good job! You've picked up on all the hints. I don't like Emelan as much as Tortall, but every now and then I feel the urge to pick a Circle book up. And I'll TRY to write a super long chapter, or at least a longer one than I have been writing. If you find a long one in your Inbox one day, you'll know it's for you, 'k? And can we get dividers yet???

basest-8: I told you I had big plans for this fic. Blowing up the ship is just a little taste of what's coming up. And yes, I know Kel ain't no knight. I've fixed that, and there's going to be a whole new change in the plot. Muaha.

Wake-Robin: I know, right? I was so stunned at all those describing words! It was so awesome! Hee hee, I read your review a couple seconds before I uploaded the chapter. It tickled me silly to think how surprised you be. .

So how's this story coming along? Interesting? Am I updating too fast? If you want I could slow down…

- - - - -

"They blew it up," Keladry whispered, gripping the sides of the lifeboat. She shuddered violently. "They blew it all up."

Pale as death, his eyes shadowed with denial and shock, Arden continued to paddle the oars with fierce determination. They were almost out of the ring, but even the briefest delay could hinder their escape fatally.

"Frenn," she whispered. "Frenn…Oh gods…Arden, Frenn's dead! And, and Filip and Tronx and Bart and Whisper and Jax and Wester and Undle and—oh gods, they're all dead."

"Hush, Keladry," he whispered.

"We should go back! There may be some left! Go back, I said!" she cried hysterically. She was as unreasonable and wild as the raging storm, although it was dying gradually and her insanity was growing.

"Keladry! We can't go back! The Priests are still over there, on their ship!"

"Then we'll kill them all! We'll fight them! Go back! Go back, dammit!"

And she collapsed in a puddle of tears, bawling for those she had begun to love. They had kidnapped her, taken her away from the only ones she knew, and they had become like family to her. And now, once again, she was taken away?

(AN: I don't think Kel would become hysterical. But I don't care. It's MY story, right?)

"Keladry," Arden soothed, his voice hardly heard above the storm. "Don't let this disaster cloud your better judgment. I have a map with me. I'll approximate our location and I'll turn us toward Carthak. There we'll find some of Frenn's men so they can…so they can…"

A look of stark horror crossed his face. "Oh, gods…I forgot the reason you're too be brought here."

Kel shivered from the reminder. She would die, no matter what. It mattered not which direction they went. To Carthak, she would be assassinated; to the remnants of the ship, picked up by the mysterious Priests of the Dark; any other way, dead from starvation or eaten by sharks.

Either way she was doomed.

- - - - -

What the…?

"Did you hear that?" Joren asked Kris and his son, Morgan. They were on deck, watching the faraway storm rage.

"I didn'," Kris said, puzzled.

"I did," Morgan said. "It was a big old boom."

"Yeah, like something blew up."

"I wonder what."

Morgan was about Joren's age, give or take a couple months. He was dark, like his gypsy mother, with sharp black eyes and thick raven hair constantly tied back in a navy blue bandanna. He was pretty small, with a slight figure. Joren liked him a lot. The boy was strong, sometimes cruel to strangers, and he had been to Joren when they first met. But they got to know each other, and the squire was telling things to this gypsy boy he had never told anyone else.

"Maybe some pirates are fighting with cannonballs or something," Joren suggested.

"Maybe," Morgan said offhandedly. "It's not our problem though."

Joren grinned, and it faltered when he saw a red-orange flame streak upward into the black clouds.

"Something did blow up," Morgan concluded in awe. "Did you see that explosion? It blew after the lightning struck it!"

"I wonder what blew up?"

"A ship?" Kris offered.

"Or an island," Morgan said.

"Who cares?" Joren snapped, annoyed. "Look, the storm's dying. If we want to save time we should skirt around it instead of waiting for it to die completely. It won't be doing that anytime soon."

Morgan stared at him. "Who died and made you captain?"

Joren blushed and grinned sheepishly. "Sorry."

"Good idea, though," Kris agreed. "You heard 'em, men! Get moving!"

- - - - -

They were coming.

Kel glanced nervously behind her with wide eyes. The Abra Kadabra splashed and roared toward them. Splintered debris of the blown ship tumbled around it.

"Paddle, Arden, paddle!" she screamed.

Arden looked up, his eyes round with fear, and paddled as fast as his arms could. It was not enough. The man in front lifted his skull-topped staff and yelled something in a completely different language.

A tidal wave formed in front of Kel and Arden. It climbed miles and miles high, its monstrous height intimidating.

Then it fell. It broke the lifeboat and tossed its inhabitants into the sea, where they disappeared beneath the surface.