A/N: Yay! I'm getting reviews! :) Thanks much to everyone who did!

*Tortall*

Luke wrapped his arms around Devic (y), clutching his older brother's waist, terrified, as Devic (y) lost control of their horse for about the fifth time. It was a few hours since they had packed up camp, and Will had given up his horse so that the two boys could ride. Unfortunately, Devic (y) still hadn't regained his ability to speak Tortallan, so he was unable to tell them that neither of them knew anything about horseback riding. In fact, Luke was a little scared of the large animals.

Before the mare was able to gallop into the woods, Will was able to snatch up the reins and calm her down. Devic (o) just rolled his eyes as the rest of the knights snickered again, finding the whole situation rather amusing. Devic (o) turned to Will, "Can you not keep her steady?"

Will shrugged, "I do not think that these boys now how to ride a horse Devic! They keep on pulling on the reins to make her stop, but they tug so hard that she gets confused and runs off!"

Devic (o) shook his head, "Very well...Let me know as soon as they start speaking again, I need to ask them a few more questions. I think that we are getting closer to the Scans' camp, and they camp into our camp from this direction. They may have seen them."

"It is possible. All right, I will let you know as soon as they say something I can understand." Will gathered up the reins in his hands, gently taking them from Devic (y) and began to lead the horse for him.

It was a few hours later that the boy actually was able to speak Tortallan again, "Um...Will? Luke says he's hungry..."

"Oh, here is some – Wait a moment, did you just say that in Tortallan?"

"Um...Is that what I'm speakin' in?"

Will turned around, "Devic! They are talking again!"

Devic (o) nodded and steered his horse so that he was riding right along side the boys, "Now that I have you speaking again, I need to ask you so vital questions."

"Like what?"

"Before you arrived at our camp, did you run into any other humans?"

"Um...Oh ya, we did."

"What did they look like?"

"They were really big, an' they were wearin' clothes with furs an' stuff..."

Devic glanced at Will, his eyebrows rose "What did their camp look like?"

"Kinda like yours, 'cept not..."

"How so?"

"They had tents an' stuff, but they're all fallin' apart, an' their campfires had gone out so it was kinda hard ta see."

"Excellent...Now, did you see any mages?"

"Any whats?"

"Mages..." Devic looked half amazed and half frustrated, "People who have the Gift; sorcerers, wizards, magicians?"

"Oh!...Nope."

"Good. Now, where are you from?"

"Um...United States..."

Devic (o) furrowed his eyebrows, "Where?"

"The United States? California?...Where is this?"

"You, child, are in the kingdom of Tortall."

"Tortall? Where's that?"

Will glanced up at Devic that clearing said 'these children are insane' but Devic (o) somehow felt some familiarity in them, "Here, you are in Tortall. What are you doing here in the woods by yourselves?"

"I dunno. We didn't exactly come here on purpose ya know..."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure. See, we were at home in bed when there was this huge flash a' light," Devic (y) gesticulated wildly, "An' we were sucked into it. The next thing we knew, we were here."

Devic (o) paused, deep in thought, "...Interesting story..."

"I'm not lyin'..."

"I did not say you were...Will, the young one said he was hungry. You can fetch some of the extra rations out of the supplies and give that to him. From what the older one said, it sounds as if the Scans have no mages as I had suspected they did. This will make everything much easier for us all, but it intrigues me. If the Scans did not cause that huge pulse of the Gift, where then did it come from, and who caused it?"

Will shrugged, "I suppose we will find out eventually..."

"I hope so, because they could become a threat to this mission if they choose to interfere..."

Will nodded in agreement and the company rode deeper into the forest and closer towards enemy territory.

A few hours later, when the sun was directly above the Tortallan party and seemed to beat down on the with an unnatural heat, they finally came to a small outcrop that looked over a clearing in the woods. Devic dismounted and crouched down right on the edge of the rocky ledge, peering down at a small, disorganized camp. Finally they had made it. He signaled for the others to dismount quietly and crept back to join them in a small huddle away from the edge of the outcrop. He gathered his knights closer together, so that they were practically shoulder-to-shoulder, and quietly briefed them, "All right boys, this is it. The Scans are right below us, seemingly unaware of our presence...Just where we want them..." Some of the veteran soldiers grinned mirthlessly as he continued, "You will be divided into two teams; one will go with your lieutenant, Will, and the rest of you will come with me. Those of you who go with Will shall be the lookouts and archers, positioned in trees on our outcrop for better range. Those of you with me, we will split into two groups; one heading down and around to the right, the other group, left. We will come up on the Scans from the north, surprising them and forcing them back up against our small cliff. Then our archers will be able to let loose a volley of arrows, taking them out from behind...Any questions?" Without waiting for an answer, he straightened up, "Good. Will, choose twenty men and the rest follow me."

The group was suddenly bustling with movement as Will gathered up his special group of archers and the rest of the men hurried over to where Devic was standing, his arms crossed across his chest in silent contemplation. Will approached him, and gave a relaxed salute, "The men are ready sir. But what are we going to do with the children?"

Devic barely blinked, his eyes now focused on the camp below, "What children?"

Will frowned, "Young Devic and Luke sir..."

"Who? Oh yes...keep them close to you Will, so that they do not run off and alert the enemy of our position..."

Will nodded, "Aye sir..." He spun around and motioned for Devic (y) and Luke to follow him, which they did willingly, sensing no ill will this time. When he reached them, Will kneeled down so that he was looking Devic (y) in the eyes and said calmly, "We are going to launch an attack now. The both of you are to stay with me, no matter what, understood?"

Devic nodded solemnly, grabbing Luke's hand as the little boy was about to run off to catch a lizard that he spotted in the grass, "Where are you going?"

Will peered over his shoulder, stood up, and grinned, "Up a tree...Grab the little one and follow me."

Devic obliged, tugging Luke behind him. He watched Will climb one of the several large oak trees that lined the outcrop as his men began to do the same. Turning back to Luke, he pushed his little brother towards the tree, "You first."

"But I don't wanna!"

"He said we had to!"

"It's too high!"

Devic scowled, annoyed, and lifted Luke up by grabbing him under his arms, and held him up for one of the archers, who had joined Will in his tree, to take. Then, nimbly, Devic grabbed onto a lower branch and shimmied up the tree trunk like a large squirrel, sitting on a thick limb up in the foliage by Will, gathering up Luke next to him. Will glanced at him, his bow strung, clutched in his right hand while his left gripped the limb for balance, "At least you know how to climb trees well."

"I used to do it a lot at home...Hey, what'd ya mean 'At least you're good at climbing trees'?"

"Well, you two could certainly use more practice on a horse."

Devic scowled at Will, who grinned and ruffled the boy's hair happily before turning his attention once again down to the clearing and watched as Devic (o), who was leading the men on the left side of the clearing, edged around the Scans' camp. From his bird's eye view, he could clearly make out where the two flanks of the Tortallan force were moving in the forest as the tops of the trees quivered as they passed by them. Will tensed as a Scan appeared from one of the tents, stretching and wiping his face with the back of his hand. Good. It did not look like they expected anything.

Devic (y) peered downwards; trying to spot what Will was staring at so intensely, but quickly became impatient and his attention turned to a bird that had landed on the edge of the tree limb they were perched on.

As the Tortallan men grew closer to the enemy camp after walking around to the northern front, Will, perched along the south wall, motioned at the other archers. Simultaneously, they took an arrow from their quivers, notched it, and drew back their bows, the strings taut and tense. Suddenly, they heard a shout from down below as Devic (o) and his small army emerged from the forest on the other side of the Scans' camp, letting out a war cry and beginning to slash at anything that moved with their swords. Panicked, the Scans ran out of their tents, some only half dressed, their weapons clutched tightly in their hands, preparing to retaliate.

Will shouted out a command, "Fire!" and released his arrow. A wave of them pounded down onto the Scans, who, with their backs to the rocks, didn't see anything until it was too late. The volley managed to bring down about five of the thirty or so men, and the archers notched another arrows as Devic advanced with his troops below, battling with hand to hand combat.

Will pulled back his bowstring and called out a second order, "Fire!", and soon another cascade of arrows rained down on the now suspecting Scans, taking about another five down. By now, the ground troops had taken out about fifteen men, loosing only two of their own, leaving only about five Scans left. As Will began to notch another arrow, Devic (o) waved to him to stop the attack and his men began to tie up the remaining enemy. Will bellowed, "Cease fire!" before sheathing his own arrow and jumping down from the tree, landing agilely on his feet. Devic (y) scampered down after him, just managing to regain his footing on the ground as Luke slipped about four feet off the ground, just in time to land in Devic's (y) arms. Luke clamored down and sat down on the grass as Devic (o) marched his captives back up the hill where seven knights took custody of them. Devic (o) wiped the sweat off of his forehead as it glistened in the noonday sun, "That worked better than I thought it would..."

Will nodded tentatively, "How many did we loose altogether?"

"Two more than I had hoped we would...Samuel and Richard..." Will winced as a man behind him muttered a prayer, and Devic (o) glanced at the ground, "We will give them a proper burial, but then we must return to the city soon. I have a feeling that the rains are going to fall shortly, and I do not want to be trapped in them..."

Will nodded and turned to make preparations for the funeral as Devic (o) got the men back together and made sure that the captive Scans were secure so that they wouldn't escape.

By the time they were finished, all the dead (including the Scans) had been buried and the group had been loaded back up and was ready to leave. Devic (o) nodded towards Will as his cousin finished tying a lead rope from Devic (y) and Will's horse to his own, "Are we ready to go?"

"Yes sir."

"Good..." He gave his horse a soft nudge and it began to trot back down the hill at a decent pace, the rest of his men following obediently behind.

*Our world*

Tom started, wiped the sleep from his eyes and went over to prod Phi and Alex awake. The sunlight was peering in through the drawn blinds, but for some reason he felt it would be almost disrespectful to open them. Phi's eyelids flickered open and she stared sleepily up at her brother while Alex sat up, rubbing the back of his head. Tom smiled wearily, "I found it."

Alex frowned, "Found what?"

"The way into Tortall...I found a way to drop you off exactly where Devic and Luke were brought to..."

Phi squealed happily and threw her arms around Tom's neck, "Thank you so much! I can't believe you actually did it!"

Tom grinned, "Yes well, as soon as we all get ready I can send us through-"

Alex interrupted him softly, "Tom? I need to ask another favor of you..."

"What is it?"

Alex sighed, "I think it would be best if you stay here..."

Tom's jaw nearly dropped, "What?"

Alex grabbed his friend's arm, "Please Tom, listen. If we need to get back quickly, if something happened and we needed to get back, we would need you to be completely calm and concentrated to get this portal working, right?"

Tom glanced at the ground, a little dejected, "But what if-..."

"What if we need advice? We're going to need you to be focused to be able to help us. We can talk to you through our necklaces, remember? If we are in a panic, you can be here to think clearly for us, and you can save us that way."

"But what if you need me there with you?"

Phi glanced at Alex before taking Tom's hand, "He makes a lot of sense..."

Tom frowned, but finally nodded, "Fine...But I'm going to be bugging the hell out of you two the entire time you're there."

Alex grinned, "Well you'd better...You can keep us on track..."

Tom nodded again, "All right...So, you two get dressed and I'll get some other things together for you to use..."

Alex and Phi nodded and walked out of the room to get ready for their third trip to Tortall.