~DARK WATERS~
by IceAngel
A/N: Sorry this has taken so long :D
I've started a yahoo group for Deltora Quest fans or fanfic writers- you can discuss DQ or your own stories and lots more! Anyone interested (and you silent readers out there) check it out!
I hope to see some of you there! Read on!
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 10 - The Next Dilemma
Lief's mind was blurred when he became aware of himself. He was lying on something soft, though he could not remember where he was. There was a dull pain in his shoulder, and a throbbing in his head that prevented him from opening his eyes. He tried to remember what had happened, and thought that the acrid smell hanging in the air might have had something to do with his unconsciousness.
Someone was shaking his arm, he tried to shrug away from the insistent grip. When the person did not cease their actions he opened his eyes to see who it was.
Colours blurred and lights made him squint to see. The light was red, but through the haze he could make out the faces of Jasmine and Barda leaning over him. Behind them there were trees wrapped in vines and coloured strangely yellow.
In a flash he remembered their mission. They had been led down from the Border mountains by Jovan, Kaif and Yasrin, then... Lief concentrated on what had come after. He remembered the black dart Jovan had pulled from his neck before collapsing, and Yasrin also being hit. Then Lief saw Kaif's face in his mind as the man had shot him, and his anger boiled. The man had betrayed them all!
"Lief, we have to move on!" Barda was saying softly.
Lief shook his head slightly, but that only sent pain rushing through his mind. There was a strangely warm feeling in his left hand. Blood? He opened his fingers, peering down to see what had happened to it.
In his palm he found the vile Yasrin had slipped him before falling unconscious.
"Lief?" Jasmine asked, "What is that?"
"For your mother," Lief said quietly, remembering what the man had said as he passed on the gift. Looking up at his companions he said, "I know not. Yasrin gave it to me."
"But it is empty!" Jasmine exclaimed. "Why would he give you something so useless?"
"Maybe it will not prove useless," Lief said, leaning on Barda as he straightened into a seating position.
Barda looked confused. "What do you mean?"
"We came searching for an antidote, yet we brought no means to carry such a potion."
"But Lief," Jasmine said, looking as though it pained her to speak. "You realise that if the cure is indeed a potion, we would never be able to bring enough to purify the river Tor and all the other waterways of Del."
"I would have enough for my mother," Lief murmured, looking down at the small glass container.
"You cannot mean that, Lief," Jasmine said more gently than usual, "how would you live with yourself, how would Sharn feel, if you had put your family before your kingdom?"
Lief felt anger rise within him, though he knew it was not Jasmine who was at fault. She had only spoken the truth behind his own selfish thoughts. He looked down at the vile again, and was tempted to throw it away, but something stayed his hand.
The glass felt warm beneath his fingers, and it reminded him of the way the Belt of Deltora had grown warm when they were in the vicinity of another Gem.
"We have to move on," Barda said, reaching out and touching Lief's arm.
"What happened?" Lief gasped, when he saw the large burn on Barda's hand. It looked fresh.
"There is a cursed cloud of gas that sweeps this forest, killing everything in its path." Barda grimaced, pulling his hand away. "But surely you remember? It was you that warned us of the words from the rhyme."
Lief thought back, and something came to him. The smell in the air he had recognised when he had first woken. He remembered! "The first message!" he exclaimed. "It is solved."
"Indeed." Barda said dryly. "We will find what we seek where buzzards crawl and insects creep. But what were we seeking?"
"Protection from the cloud?" Jasmine suggested, looking unconvinced.
"No..," Lief said slowly, "our riddler could not know what time we would reach the forests, so they could not rely on us needing protection. It is more likely that we were seeking what we came to Bratok for... the cure."
Jasmine glanced down at the hole they had dug, and Lief saw the look of disgust on her face.
"What is it?" he asked, glancing at both his companions in turn. "What did you find?"
After a long pause Jasmine spoke, "Bones, hundreds of them."
Lief started in surprise. He made himself crawl closer to the hole to see for himself. Whiteness glared back at him, the immense floor of bones grinning up at his disgust.
"How many people..?" he swallowed, "how many would have died to have such a great number of bones?"
For they were indeed human bones, and Lief felt sick at the thought. Jasmine seemed the least disturbed of them, she having seen many humans fall prey in the Forest of Silence. But even to her the massacre that had taken place here was repellent.
She grasped Lief's arm strongly, "Come on, we should leave."
But Lief resisted her, his eyes fixed on the bones. The vile was burning in his hand, and he knew what he had to do.
Ignoring the protests of his friends, he reached his arm over the side of the hole, searching with his eyes for something that would fit. He saw it, and grasped the small white bone tightly in his fingers.
Before Barda or Jasmine could stop him, he unplugged the vile and dropped the bone into it. The glass cooled instantly in his hand, and Lief was pulled back to himself once more.
"What did you do that for?" Jasmine asked, disgust written across her face.
"This is what we came here for," Lief explained, "what the rhyme meant us to find."
"Surely," Barda exclaimed, "You do not believe all this was 'meant' to happen? That our enemy 'knew' we would come this way and dig in this exact spot."
Lief shrugged, rising to his feet. "I do not think it would have mattered where we dug, just so long as we dug."
"You mean?" Jasmine stuttered.
"I mean there are bones scattered beneath the entire forest. I thought it was a strange place when I first entered it, there was no life, no birds or animals."
"Filli did not like it," Jasmine nodded, reaching her hand beneath her cloak to stroke the small fury creature.
"But how could there be so many bones to fill an entire forest floor?" Barda asked, his face white.
But there was no answer, and an uncomfortable silence followed. Each of them felt the need to leave the forest as quickly as possible.
Moving to where their bags had been flung, they quickly packed for the journey. Lief stuffed the vile into his pocket so he would feel it if it grew warm again. He could see by the looks on Barda and Jasmine's faces that they were struggling to believe him, though he knew they would never truly understand. This quest had been his from the start, and only he would sense the ingredients that could save his mother, perhaps even the whole of Deltora.
"Look here," Jasmine called.
Lief followed Barda to the spot, seeing that Jasmine held some kind of parchment between her fingers. The top right corner of the paper was torn and some of the words were unreadable. The other side of the paper was wet with something red. Blood, Lief realised with a gasp.
Jasmine read...
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Jovan, Captain and Prince of Avion,
A message of great import has reached me hear on the eastern borders. Things do not bode well
Avion. Your father, the King, grows more weak by the day, I fear for him. You should ret
soon, my friend. The people need your strength.
The army no longer guards the city, they are sent out into the east. Your brother g
father.
A strange message came to me this morning by express. It is marked with your name.
Below I have taken it upon myself to write out the message. I would not take heed of
you. Most likely a traitor seeking to weaken our city's hold on the mountains.
Best of health to you, my friend. May we meet again soon.
Hiregorn
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~In two days, worthy captain, strangers will come to you seeking aid.
You will be so kind as to give them this message...~
~King of Del~
~So you have passed the first test. You should not count on the same luck again.
Your mother has 17 days to live, as do your people
Another rhyme, another answer to add to your collection~
The east wind blows
how swiftly time flows
into the mists you pass
beneath the tall snake grass
fall on your knees
to avoid comfort and ease
beneath your feet
lies deep deceit
answer the same
regret you came
the wind turns west
it's for the best
________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Another rhyme," Barda groaned. "But I do not see how this riddler knew Jovan would pass on the message - or even that this Hiregorn who sent the message to Jovan would not have thought is a joke and destroyed it."
"Our enemy is clever," Lief said. "He is playing with us. He wants to test us rather than simply telling us where the next ingredient is."
"It is fortunate Jovan dropped the massage when he was taken," Jasmine said thoughtfully. "What would we have done without the next clue?"
"The captain did not fully trust us at first," Barda remarked. "But after Kaif's attack he would have realised we were honest. Perhaps he did not leave the message by accident. He was conscious when he was taken, he took a chance by dropping the letter and hoped we would find it."
Lief sighed, angry that so many good people had to be hurt in order to save his own country.
"So we go east," Jasmine said after a moment.
Lief looked up, startled. "Why east?"
"The first line of the rhyme. To me it is plainly directing us east."
Lief smiled, feeling grateful he had relented into having Jasmine with them, despite the danger she was in. She had such a practical brain that Lief knew she would remain strong in their purpose even if he himself was swayed by emotions and duty.
"East it is then."
They shouldered their packs, feeling lighter for the knowledge that they would soon leave the horrible jungle and its carpet of death.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Marilin walked the corridors of the palace. It was night, and she felt tense and ready to jump at the slightest movement. Shadows of doors and objects lining the halls startled her with their likeness to things nightmares were made of. She was holding her breath, hardly daring to breath.
Lief had only been gone three days and she was already breaking down. She knew she could not go on like this. She hated the responsibility placed upon her. She knew that if Lief did not return from his quest she would become queen of Deltora and have the responsibility of looking after her people in the current crisis.
Already people were flocking to the palace gates during the day, asking for their King. Lief's absence could not be kept secret for much longer. What would the people say when they found their King had left Deltora all together? They would think he had deserted them!
The thoughts swirled in her mind, pulling her into an abyss of despair. So it was that she did not see the dark shadow that rounded the corner till it was upon her...
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
*cringe* - sorry! had to stop there! I'll try and get the next chapter up really fast! (hint: reviews make me write faster!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*Eldainwe Aduial Elenath* - you havn't got the final Rowan book in Canada - it came out about 2 years ago! I feel sorry for you! thankyou for watching out for mistakes! I'm happy you liked it! Oh and thankyou for joining my group - feel free to advertise your stories through it!
*Tomfeltonsgirl* - glad you're enjoying it - thanks for reviewing. If you'd like me to email you when I update just let me know in a review.
*Fuu-chan* - Yes Kaif is very evil (I had to have a bad guy!) You like the work EVIL don't you? Thankyou so much for being the 1st to join my DQ group - and thanks for the piccy, it looks good on the front page!
*Suzie* - don't worry about extra reviews! They make my review count look good! I'm happy that my fic was the 1st one u reviewed! glad you're liking the story!
*Pen2* - I have read Rowan of Rin over 50 times so I think that one is my favourite. I like Marlie and Allun (they are my fave characters) And I also like the 4th book. Don't you think Zeel is like Jasmine? Anyway - I hope you're writing fast! I advertised your new fic at my group so hopefully you'll get some more reviews out of that. Hope to see u there sometime.
*lexie* - Yeah, I'd luv to write a Rowan fic but there isn't a catagory for it. You'll have to wait and see about Kaif - but yes, he is creepy and slightly insane... I'm glad you're enjoying the story - and I hope this chapter was a bit creepy too! Oh, and thankyou for joining my yahoo group!
*Black Fury* - Thankyou for joining my group! - you can advertise your fics there when you update! I'm glad you're liking the story! hope you liked this chapter!
*Ellie* - thanks for your thoughts. I haven't had any complaints about my character portrayals so far - I do try to stick to the original, though not owning copies of the books isn't helpful. I see your point with Jasmine, I'm working on that - though with Lief I am satisfied with my portrayal. He may suddenly be a King, but being exactly his age myself I know that self doubt is a big part of being 17. These doubts don't show to anyone but himself, so he doesn't appear weak. Plus having his mother fall ill has altered his life much with the thought of her dying. If you'd like to discuss some of the characters or give me some hints on how you think they should be written, I'll send you an invitation to my yahoo group where we can discuss stuff. thanks for reviewing.
*damson rhee* - eee! 9 reviews! thankyou so much! I'm very happy you are enjoying the story! now.. to questions.. I beleive the river Tor runs from Tora to somewhere near Dread Mountain. but i'll ask my yahoo group for you as I don't own the books myself. Perhaps you'd like to join the group.. I'll send you an invte. Um you've probably worked this out, but I envisioned the mountains at the top of the Shadowlands to be very high and therefore snowy - the men guard the border so no evil things get into their land. true I havn't done much romance - the next few chaps should have a bit more. I thought Jovan was a cool name too - if it's posible to fall in luv with your own character I think I have :D (and just from a name!) Thankyou - I hope you keep reading and reviewing!
*a-drop-of-rain* - glad you're liking the story! Thankyou for reviewing!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
by IceAngel
A/N: Sorry this has taken so long :D
I've started a yahoo group for Deltora Quest fans or fanfic writers- you can discuss DQ or your own stories and lots more! Anyone interested (and you silent readers out there) check it out!
I hope to see some of you there! Read on!
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 10 - The Next Dilemma
Lief's mind was blurred when he became aware of himself. He was lying on something soft, though he could not remember where he was. There was a dull pain in his shoulder, and a throbbing in his head that prevented him from opening his eyes. He tried to remember what had happened, and thought that the acrid smell hanging in the air might have had something to do with his unconsciousness.
Someone was shaking his arm, he tried to shrug away from the insistent grip. When the person did not cease their actions he opened his eyes to see who it was.
Colours blurred and lights made him squint to see. The light was red, but through the haze he could make out the faces of Jasmine and Barda leaning over him. Behind them there were trees wrapped in vines and coloured strangely yellow.
In a flash he remembered their mission. They had been led down from the Border mountains by Jovan, Kaif and Yasrin, then... Lief concentrated on what had come after. He remembered the black dart Jovan had pulled from his neck before collapsing, and Yasrin also being hit. Then Lief saw Kaif's face in his mind as the man had shot him, and his anger boiled. The man had betrayed them all!
"Lief, we have to move on!" Barda was saying softly.
Lief shook his head slightly, but that only sent pain rushing through his mind. There was a strangely warm feeling in his left hand. Blood? He opened his fingers, peering down to see what had happened to it.
In his palm he found the vile Yasrin had slipped him before falling unconscious.
"Lief?" Jasmine asked, "What is that?"
"For your mother," Lief said quietly, remembering what the man had said as he passed on the gift. Looking up at his companions he said, "I know not. Yasrin gave it to me."
"But it is empty!" Jasmine exclaimed. "Why would he give you something so useless?"
"Maybe it will not prove useless," Lief said, leaning on Barda as he straightened into a seating position.
Barda looked confused. "What do you mean?"
"We came searching for an antidote, yet we brought no means to carry such a potion."
"But Lief," Jasmine said, looking as though it pained her to speak. "You realise that if the cure is indeed a potion, we would never be able to bring enough to purify the river Tor and all the other waterways of Del."
"I would have enough for my mother," Lief murmured, looking down at the small glass container.
"You cannot mean that, Lief," Jasmine said more gently than usual, "how would you live with yourself, how would Sharn feel, if you had put your family before your kingdom?"
Lief felt anger rise within him, though he knew it was not Jasmine who was at fault. She had only spoken the truth behind his own selfish thoughts. He looked down at the vile again, and was tempted to throw it away, but something stayed his hand.
The glass felt warm beneath his fingers, and it reminded him of the way the Belt of Deltora had grown warm when they were in the vicinity of another Gem.
"We have to move on," Barda said, reaching out and touching Lief's arm.
"What happened?" Lief gasped, when he saw the large burn on Barda's hand. It looked fresh.
"There is a cursed cloud of gas that sweeps this forest, killing everything in its path." Barda grimaced, pulling his hand away. "But surely you remember? It was you that warned us of the words from the rhyme."
Lief thought back, and something came to him. The smell in the air he had recognised when he had first woken. He remembered! "The first message!" he exclaimed. "It is solved."
"Indeed." Barda said dryly. "We will find what we seek where buzzards crawl and insects creep. But what were we seeking?"
"Protection from the cloud?" Jasmine suggested, looking unconvinced.
"No..," Lief said slowly, "our riddler could not know what time we would reach the forests, so they could not rely on us needing protection. It is more likely that we were seeking what we came to Bratok for... the cure."
Jasmine glanced down at the hole they had dug, and Lief saw the look of disgust on her face.
"What is it?" he asked, glancing at both his companions in turn. "What did you find?"
After a long pause Jasmine spoke, "Bones, hundreds of them."
Lief started in surprise. He made himself crawl closer to the hole to see for himself. Whiteness glared back at him, the immense floor of bones grinning up at his disgust.
"How many people..?" he swallowed, "how many would have died to have such a great number of bones?"
For they were indeed human bones, and Lief felt sick at the thought. Jasmine seemed the least disturbed of them, she having seen many humans fall prey in the Forest of Silence. But even to her the massacre that had taken place here was repellent.
She grasped Lief's arm strongly, "Come on, we should leave."
But Lief resisted her, his eyes fixed on the bones. The vile was burning in his hand, and he knew what he had to do.
Ignoring the protests of his friends, he reached his arm over the side of the hole, searching with his eyes for something that would fit. He saw it, and grasped the small white bone tightly in his fingers.
Before Barda or Jasmine could stop him, he unplugged the vile and dropped the bone into it. The glass cooled instantly in his hand, and Lief was pulled back to himself once more.
"What did you do that for?" Jasmine asked, disgust written across her face.
"This is what we came here for," Lief explained, "what the rhyme meant us to find."
"Surely," Barda exclaimed, "You do not believe all this was 'meant' to happen? That our enemy 'knew' we would come this way and dig in this exact spot."
Lief shrugged, rising to his feet. "I do not think it would have mattered where we dug, just so long as we dug."
"You mean?" Jasmine stuttered.
"I mean there are bones scattered beneath the entire forest. I thought it was a strange place when I first entered it, there was no life, no birds or animals."
"Filli did not like it," Jasmine nodded, reaching her hand beneath her cloak to stroke the small fury creature.
"But how could there be so many bones to fill an entire forest floor?" Barda asked, his face white.
But there was no answer, and an uncomfortable silence followed. Each of them felt the need to leave the forest as quickly as possible.
Moving to where their bags had been flung, they quickly packed for the journey. Lief stuffed the vile into his pocket so he would feel it if it grew warm again. He could see by the looks on Barda and Jasmine's faces that they were struggling to believe him, though he knew they would never truly understand. This quest had been his from the start, and only he would sense the ingredients that could save his mother, perhaps even the whole of Deltora.
"Look here," Jasmine called.
Lief followed Barda to the spot, seeing that Jasmine held some kind of parchment between her fingers. The top right corner of the paper was torn and some of the words were unreadable. The other side of the paper was wet with something red. Blood, Lief realised with a gasp.
Jasmine read...
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Jovan, Captain and Prince of Avion,
A message of great import has reached me hear on the eastern borders. Things do not bode well
Avion. Your father, the King, grows more weak by the day, I fear for him. You should ret
soon, my friend. The people need your strength.
The army no longer guards the city, they are sent out into the east. Your brother g
father.
A strange message came to me this morning by express. It is marked with your name.
Below I have taken it upon myself to write out the message. I would not take heed of
you. Most likely a traitor seeking to weaken our city's hold on the mountains.
Best of health to you, my friend. May we meet again soon.
Hiregorn
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~In two days, worthy captain, strangers will come to you seeking aid.
You will be so kind as to give them this message...~
~King of Del~
~So you have passed the first test. You should not count on the same luck again.
Your mother has 17 days to live, as do your people
Another rhyme, another answer to add to your collection~
The east wind blows
how swiftly time flows
into the mists you pass
beneath the tall snake grass
fall on your knees
to avoid comfort and ease
beneath your feet
lies deep deceit
answer the same
regret you came
the wind turns west
it's for the best
________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Another rhyme," Barda groaned. "But I do not see how this riddler knew Jovan would pass on the message - or even that this Hiregorn who sent the message to Jovan would not have thought is a joke and destroyed it."
"Our enemy is clever," Lief said. "He is playing with us. He wants to test us rather than simply telling us where the next ingredient is."
"It is fortunate Jovan dropped the massage when he was taken," Jasmine said thoughtfully. "What would we have done without the next clue?"
"The captain did not fully trust us at first," Barda remarked. "But after Kaif's attack he would have realised we were honest. Perhaps he did not leave the message by accident. He was conscious when he was taken, he took a chance by dropping the letter and hoped we would find it."
Lief sighed, angry that so many good people had to be hurt in order to save his own country.
"So we go east," Jasmine said after a moment.
Lief looked up, startled. "Why east?"
"The first line of the rhyme. To me it is plainly directing us east."
Lief smiled, feeling grateful he had relented into having Jasmine with them, despite the danger she was in. She had such a practical brain that Lief knew she would remain strong in their purpose even if he himself was swayed by emotions and duty.
"East it is then."
They shouldered their packs, feeling lighter for the knowledge that they would soon leave the horrible jungle and its carpet of death.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Marilin walked the corridors of the palace. It was night, and she felt tense and ready to jump at the slightest movement. Shadows of doors and objects lining the halls startled her with their likeness to things nightmares were made of. She was holding her breath, hardly daring to breath.
Lief had only been gone three days and she was already breaking down. She knew she could not go on like this. She hated the responsibility placed upon her. She knew that if Lief did not return from his quest she would become queen of Deltora and have the responsibility of looking after her people in the current crisis.
Already people were flocking to the palace gates during the day, asking for their King. Lief's absence could not be kept secret for much longer. What would the people say when they found their King had left Deltora all together? They would think he had deserted them!
The thoughts swirled in her mind, pulling her into an abyss of despair. So it was that she did not see the dark shadow that rounded the corner till it was upon her...
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
*cringe* - sorry! had to stop there! I'll try and get the next chapter up really fast! (hint: reviews make me write faster!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*Eldainwe Aduial Elenath* - you havn't got the final Rowan book in Canada - it came out about 2 years ago! I feel sorry for you! thankyou for watching out for mistakes! I'm happy you liked it! Oh and thankyou for joining my group - feel free to advertise your stories through it!
*Tomfeltonsgirl* - glad you're enjoying it - thanks for reviewing. If you'd like me to email you when I update just let me know in a review.
*Fuu-chan* - Yes Kaif is very evil (I had to have a bad guy!) You like the work EVIL don't you? Thankyou so much for being the 1st to join my DQ group - and thanks for the piccy, it looks good on the front page!
*Suzie* - don't worry about extra reviews! They make my review count look good! I'm happy that my fic was the 1st one u reviewed! glad you're liking the story!
*Pen2* - I have read Rowan of Rin over 50 times so I think that one is my favourite. I like Marlie and Allun (they are my fave characters) And I also like the 4th book. Don't you think Zeel is like Jasmine? Anyway - I hope you're writing fast! I advertised your new fic at my group so hopefully you'll get some more reviews out of that. Hope to see u there sometime.
*lexie* - Yeah, I'd luv to write a Rowan fic but there isn't a catagory for it. You'll have to wait and see about Kaif - but yes, he is creepy and slightly insane... I'm glad you're enjoying the story - and I hope this chapter was a bit creepy too! Oh, and thankyou for joining my yahoo group!
*Black Fury* - Thankyou for joining my group! - you can advertise your fics there when you update! I'm glad you're liking the story! hope you liked this chapter!
*Ellie* - thanks for your thoughts. I haven't had any complaints about my character portrayals so far - I do try to stick to the original, though not owning copies of the books isn't helpful. I see your point with Jasmine, I'm working on that - though with Lief I am satisfied with my portrayal. He may suddenly be a King, but being exactly his age myself I know that self doubt is a big part of being 17. These doubts don't show to anyone but himself, so he doesn't appear weak. Plus having his mother fall ill has altered his life much with the thought of her dying. If you'd like to discuss some of the characters or give me some hints on how you think they should be written, I'll send you an invitation to my yahoo group where we can discuss stuff. thanks for reviewing.
*damson rhee* - eee! 9 reviews! thankyou so much! I'm very happy you are enjoying the story! now.. to questions.. I beleive the river Tor runs from Tora to somewhere near Dread Mountain. but i'll ask my yahoo group for you as I don't own the books myself. Perhaps you'd like to join the group.. I'll send you an invte. Um you've probably worked this out, but I envisioned the mountains at the top of the Shadowlands to be very high and therefore snowy - the men guard the border so no evil things get into their land. true I havn't done much romance - the next few chaps should have a bit more. I thought Jovan was a cool name too - if it's posible to fall in luv with your own character I think I have :D (and just from a name!) Thankyou - I hope you keep reading and reviewing!
*a-drop-of-rain* - glad you're liking the story! Thankyou for reviewing!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~