Review Response:
Mango Sam: Hmm...All fine questions...Guess you'll find out!
Pere Falc: Yes, the old man...I hope you weren't too fond of him...
Jadestar123: He had to die because Trycos wanted him dead, and Trycos would never have left him alive after so much trouble! Once he has his mind set on something, that something gets done...that's the only reason.
OoOoOoO
Tom was bent over his newspaper reading a front-page article when Alex's voice popped into his head, 'Tom? Are you there?'
'Where else would I be Alex? You're talking into my mind. It's about time! You know how worried I was getting? What's going on? How's Phi, I have this really weird feeling like something's wrong...Did you figure out a way to get home yet?'
'Whoa, one question at a time...I can guess how worried you've been, and I'm sorry, we were all just a little busy. It would take a really long time to explain what's going on, but basically we ran Trycos's little errand and we've just set up camp for the night. Phi's fine...She was having a few...health issues earlier, but I promise she's fine now, and we're still working on a way to get home.'
'What? Trycos won't send you back?'
'Well, we didn't really get the chance to ask him, to tell you the truth. Last time I saw him, it was really one of the last things on my mind...'
'What else could be that important?'
'Uh...never mind. I don't want to worry you. It's taken care of now though...'
'So, what do you need?'
'Just wanted to let you know that we were all safe, etc. so that you wouldn't flip out...'
'Good idea.'
'Hey Tom? Right now we're facing two options: the first, try to return to Corus to find Numair who would hopefully be able to send us back, or two, search for Trycos and hope that he's feeling kind and have him send us back?'
'Those are your only options?'
'Basically...'
He heard Tom sigh, 'Well, I would probably go with the second one first, if you know where he is and if that doesn't work then you can walk back to Corus...'
Alex fell silent for a moment, '...Right...'
'You okay? Seriously, is anything going on over there?'
'Not anymore...Oh, our Devic and Luke say goodnight and that they miss you...'
Tom smiled gently, 'I miss them too...Talk to you later Alex; be careful...'
He heard Alex laugh quietly, 'Aren't I always?'
OoOoOoO
Phi smiled softly as Alex returned to the campfire from talking with Tom and rested her head sleepily up against his shoulder. The sun had finally set and they were about halfway between the old man's thicket and the forests of Tortall, still stuck on the moors. Luckily this time they were shielded from the wind with four hills, one on each side, their camp nestled down in a little valley. The children were all ready asleep and Will prodded the fire with a long stick thoughtfully, watching the flames dance around. Devic was gazing down at the ground contemplatively, his eyes sparkling with the reflection the fire, his hands clenched in his lap.
Phi sighed softly and reached out, holding Alex's hand in hers; the peaceful quiet under the crystal clear starry night a strange contrast to the horrors they had been through just that morning. He squeezed her fingers and stared up at the stars; the constellations in Tortall were the same as they were back home...Phi blinked and brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear and Will glanced up at the movement and smiled gently, "We are an exciting bunch tonight..."
Alex sighed and turned towards the archer, "I suddenly have a lot to think about I suppose..." Phi glanced up at him curiously and he smiled sadly and pulled her closer, "Like what could've and nearly did happen..."
Will nodded, "Yes, I suppose thoughts such as those could silence a man for a while...And what of you Devic? What thoughts bother your mind tonight?"
There was a long pause and Will had almost given up on the thought that Devic was paying attention when he murmured, "Dear cousin, I am always thus...you should know better than anyone else...But tonight my mind is haunted by memories if you truly care to know."
Will's smiled fell a little and his eyes softened, "Which ones, if you do not mind my prying?"
"Us as children, of my family, of years past..."
"That is not all, though is it?"
Devic paused again, still staring at the ground, "...I almost had him today...I really thought that today I would be able to end it all, but I was not fast enough. I was too blinded by my rage..."
Alex frowned, "I bet you'll have many more chances..."
"Not like that one; but I shall not trouble you with my obsessions...It is probably for the best if we all get to bed soon. We have many long hours of searching to do tomorrow if it is sure that we have decided to go looking for Trycos..."
Alex and Phi nodded simultaneously and she spoke up softly, "It makes the most sense I think because he has to be somewhere around here..."
"Right then...I suppose we shall see you in the morning."
With that Devic and Will rose to their feet and retired to their own tent and Phi leaned heavily onto Alex, nestling into his sweater, "Want to go back inside?"
"I dunno...It's nice out here...And there's no kids to say 'that's gross' when I kiss you..." She grinned and he leaned in, kissing her tenderly on her lips, letting the kiss linger for a minute before pulling slowly away. "I think I just truly realized how much I would have missed you if you had remained dead..." He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly, rocking her back and forth gently.
She smiled happily and nestled close but was surprised as she felt a warm liquid fall onto the back of her neck. She gazed up and found Alex, his eyes squeezed shut, crying silently. "Oh...Alex...It's all right, I won't leave you, I promise..."
He sniffed and leaned his head up as she reached up to wipe his tears away with her fingers, "I know..." She smiled sadly and kissed him again, "I just...I truly don't know what I would do if anything ever happened to you..."
She bit her lip, feeling tears begin to well up in her own eyes and touched his cheek lovingly, "Come on Alex...let's get to bed, all right?"
He nodded and stood up with her, walking quietly beside her. When they got inside, Luke was curled up besides Devic. Phi felt herself smiling again and pulled off her sweater, laying down next to Luke and closed her eyes happily as she felt Alex's warm and familiar form lay beside her and wrap his arm around her waist.
Meanwhile, back in their tent, Devic (o) sat in the edge of his bed mat and watched Will slip off his arm guard and set his bow and quiver in the corner of the tent. Will looked up and smiled gently, "What?"
Devic sighed and scooted over so that he was sitting next to Will, "I was just thinking about how I almost lost you today..."
Will smiled sadly, "Yes...but you did not, so..."
"I was not finished...Will...I have never really told you just how much you mean to me and after today I realized how quickly I could have lost that chance forever..."
"Devic..."
"Do not interrupt me...I have to get this out...William, not only are you my little cousin, you are my brother, my best friend. I have never been so close to anyone, and I appreciate everything you do for me everyday. I know what a pain I can be, and I know how hard you work, and I know somehow that you are the only person I will so connected to. I would do anything for you Will, you must know that..."
Will smiled, "Devic, I have never heard you speak so kindly...I know that you are caught up in everything, but you are a great commander, and I will always be by your side to help you see it through."
"Well, I guess it will always be just me and you, eh?"
"I suppose so..."
Will glanced up at Devic and found the knight had a small smile on his face. Will punched him lightly in the arm, "But what are we getting so emotional for? We are both alive!"
Devic smiled slyly and rustled Will's hair, "You always knew how to break up a serious moment!"
Will laughed and pushed Devic onto his bed mat with a quick shove, "You never taught me otherwise!"
Devic tumbled over and leapt at his cousin, tackling him gently to the ground, "And I thought that was your mother's job!"
Will grinned up at him and rolled over so that he had Devic pinned to the mat, "You raised me more than she did!"
Devic laughed quietly and rolled back the other way, letting Will fall back onto his own bed before making his way over to his own, "True, true...and now it is time for us to get some rest..."
Will nodded and stretched out on his mat, curling up on his side. He listened to Devic lay down and adjust himself before smiling softly to himself and murmuring, "Good night..."
"Good night..." Will's smiled widened a little and he drifted peacefully off to sleep.
OoOoOoO
Alex woke up to someone poking him gently on his shoulder. He rolled over and waved at it to go away, but the annoyance persisted and finally he opened his eyes and glared sleepily around for its source. He sighed as he caught sight of Luke leaning over him, "Hi Daddy! It's time to get up! The sun's up!" Alex frowned groggily and rubbed his eyes; how could anyone be so happy and excited in the morning? "Daddy?!"
Alex rolled over again, mumbling, "What? Wake up the others...I'll be up by then..."
He grunted as Luke toppled over him, knocking the air out of him, and closed his eyes as he heard Luke trying to wake up Phi, "Mommy? Mommy...Mom...Mommy-Mommy-Mommy-Mommy-Mommy–"
"All right! All right...I'm up..." Phi wiped her eyes and yawned loudly, sitting up cross-legged as Luke moved on to his next victim.
"Devic...Devic?" He poked his older brother lightly, "Deeeeeeeevvvviiiiiiiiiiiiiicccccccccc... Deeeeeeeeevvvvvvviiiiiiiiiiiiii iicccccccccccccc...Wake up...Hey! Are you awake?"
Devic moaned and swatted at Luke, missing badly, "No...I'm not..."
Luke paused, then began to poke Devic again, "Are you awake now?"
"...No..."
"How about now?"
Phi rolled her eyes and pulled Luke away, "All right, I think he's up...
Luke grinned, "I know..."
Alex sat up, stretching his arms and letting out a wide yawn, "What time is it?"
Phi glanced at him, "Too early...Let's go outside, I'm sure Devic and Will are eager to get going..."
Alex nodded, then glanced over at Devic, "Let's get him up first. Knowing him, if we let him alone, he'll just go right on back to sleep."
Phi leaned over, her face close to Devic's ear, "Hear that? Now it's really time to get up..."
"Aww...Mom...just a few more minutes?"
"I don't think so. We have to get going...The faster we find Trycos, the faster we can get home..."
Devic shot up like a bullet, rubbing his face sleepily, "Fine."
Phi shot Alex a grin, pulled on her sweater and reached out to pull the tent flap open.
Instead of seeing the small valley they had set up camp in, Phi gasped; there was nothing outside of their tent except a swirling of blacks and purples. They were floating in an empty space. She reeled back, yanking Luke back away from the edge of the tent by his shirt, "Holy shit!"
Alex caught her in his arms, then sneaked around her, staring out into the open space. He swallowed, "What the–? Where are we? What's going on?"
Devic paled and hurried back to the back of the tent where Luke was huddled behind Phi, gripping her sweater in his hands. Phi shook her head, "I dunno Alex, just come away from the edge..."
He obeyed, slowly slinking back to huddle by his family, "What happened to Devic and Will?"
OoOoOoO
Devic (o) jolted awake, springing into a sitting position. There was something going on outside, he could feel it. Silently, he moved over to Will, shook his shoulder gently to wake him and motioned for him to be quiet as he saw Will's eyes flicker open. Will nodded gravely, not knowing what was going on, and sat up slowly, reaching carefully over and grabbing his bow and quiver. Devic slunk outside on his hands and feet, his eyes opened wide, his senses alert. Everything looked normal. Frowning, he rose to his feet and moved cautiously over to Alex and Phi's tent.
He frowned as he reached out his hand to pull open to flap. The tent was shimmering...tents don't shimmer. Motioning anxiously for Will to join him, he gave the sign for Will to arm himself and then reached out his hand and threw open the flap. All four of them were still asleep...Then why was there a humming in the back of his mind?
Devic quickly glanced around and entered the tent, his eyebrows knit in frustration. Kneeling down by Alex, he gently shook the man's shoulder. Nothing. Frowning, he shook a little harder, "Alex...Alexander...wake up."
He leaned over and listened for breathing; they were alive. Will lowered his weapon and squeezed into the tent next to his cousin, "Gods, that man is a heavy sleeper..."
"I am not sure if they are sleeping Will...Try waking the little ones."
Will kneeled down and shook each boy, "Luke, Devic, it is time to wake..." He frowned and glanced up at Devic who reached over Alex and shook Phi's arm. All she did was roll over onto her back, her eyes shut tight.
Devic gazed up and stared Will right in his eyes, "Something is very wrong..."
"Do you think that they are ill?"
"No..." Will saw Devic's face darken and swore that sparks flew from his eyes, "This is the work of only one man...Trycos..." He hurried outside and Will scrambled after him. As soon as he had stood up, Devic grabbed him roughly by his shoulders, "They are under his spell. Trycos is somewhere nearby and we need to find him before he does them any harm."
"Could he really hurt them?"
"Physically, no...But for their sake, especially the sake of the little ones, we must find him quickly."
Will nodded and began to sprint up the hill for a better vantage point, taking a leap onto the top of one of the many boulders laying on the tops of the hills of the moor. He narrowed his eyes and peered around, shielding his eyes from the glare of the rising sun with his hand. He sat perched there for a few moments, then jumped down and turned to Devic who was scanning from the other side of the valley and shook his head. "Not a soul around besides us."
He heard Devic swear and he jogged back down to the campsite to search for traces of a midnight visitor. Getting down on his hands and knees, he began to scour the grass for any signs. Devic slid down the hill on his feet and hurried over to Will, "Are you finding anything?"
"Wait a moment, I have only just started...I am not a dog you know..."
"No, but you are a first-class tracker, which almost results in the same thing..."
"True...Aha!" He stooped down over a patch of dirt near Alex and Phi's tent, "There is a foot print here, do you see? Here is the heel and the contour of the boot."
"I will take your word for it...Can you tell where he went?"
Will frowned in contemplation, "I am working on it...He went...that way..." He pointed west.
"All right! Let us go."
Devic began to walk and Will continued to search the ground for more clues on all fours with his face nearly touching the ground, muttering as he went along, "He was certainly not in a hurry...wait, he turned here...around the base of this hillock...picking up his pace...he stopped for a few seconds here...there he goes again...Wait a minute, he stood right here for a good deal of time...walked a little further, stopped again...wandered this way, stopped again..."
Devic pulled Will up by his tunic, slapped a hand over his mouth, and hauled him to the ground. Will looked surprised by the interruption and searched with his for its cause, then he spotted him.
Trycos was standing still, his eyes staring straight ahead into the side of a grassy hill, a small smirk on the side of his face.
A/N: Sorry my last chapter was a little rushed...It's like that because, well, because I was rushing!
Mango Sam: Hmm...All fine questions...Guess you'll find out!
Pere Falc: Yes, the old man...I hope you weren't too fond of him...
Jadestar123: He had to die because Trycos wanted him dead, and Trycos would never have left him alive after so much trouble! Once he has his mind set on something, that something gets done...that's the only reason.
OoOoOoO
Tom was bent over his newspaper reading a front-page article when Alex's voice popped into his head, 'Tom? Are you there?'
'Where else would I be Alex? You're talking into my mind. It's about time! You know how worried I was getting? What's going on? How's Phi, I have this really weird feeling like something's wrong...Did you figure out a way to get home yet?'
'Whoa, one question at a time...I can guess how worried you've been, and I'm sorry, we were all just a little busy. It would take a really long time to explain what's going on, but basically we ran Trycos's little errand and we've just set up camp for the night. Phi's fine...She was having a few...health issues earlier, but I promise she's fine now, and we're still working on a way to get home.'
'What? Trycos won't send you back?'
'Well, we didn't really get the chance to ask him, to tell you the truth. Last time I saw him, it was really one of the last things on my mind...'
'What else could be that important?'
'Uh...never mind. I don't want to worry you. It's taken care of now though...'
'So, what do you need?'
'Just wanted to let you know that we were all safe, etc. so that you wouldn't flip out...'
'Good idea.'
'Hey Tom? Right now we're facing two options: the first, try to return to Corus to find Numair who would hopefully be able to send us back, or two, search for Trycos and hope that he's feeling kind and have him send us back?'
'Those are your only options?'
'Basically...'
He heard Tom sigh, 'Well, I would probably go with the second one first, if you know where he is and if that doesn't work then you can walk back to Corus...'
Alex fell silent for a moment, '...Right...'
'You okay? Seriously, is anything going on over there?'
'Not anymore...Oh, our Devic and Luke say goodnight and that they miss you...'
Tom smiled gently, 'I miss them too...Talk to you later Alex; be careful...'
He heard Alex laugh quietly, 'Aren't I always?'
OoOoOoO
Phi smiled softly as Alex returned to the campfire from talking with Tom and rested her head sleepily up against his shoulder. The sun had finally set and they were about halfway between the old man's thicket and the forests of Tortall, still stuck on the moors. Luckily this time they were shielded from the wind with four hills, one on each side, their camp nestled down in a little valley. The children were all ready asleep and Will prodded the fire with a long stick thoughtfully, watching the flames dance around. Devic was gazing down at the ground contemplatively, his eyes sparkling with the reflection the fire, his hands clenched in his lap.
Phi sighed softly and reached out, holding Alex's hand in hers; the peaceful quiet under the crystal clear starry night a strange contrast to the horrors they had been through just that morning. He squeezed her fingers and stared up at the stars; the constellations in Tortall were the same as they were back home...Phi blinked and brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear and Will glanced up at the movement and smiled gently, "We are an exciting bunch tonight..."
Alex sighed and turned towards the archer, "I suddenly have a lot to think about I suppose..." Phi glanced up at him curiously and he smiled sadly and pulled her closer, "Like what could've and nearly did happen..."
Will nodded, "Yes, I suppose thoughts such as those could silence a man for a while...And what of you Devic? What thoughts bother your mind tonight?"
There was a long pause and Will had almost given up on the thought that Devic was paying attention when he murmured, "Dear cousin, I am always thus...you should know better than anyone else...But tonight my mind is haunted by memories if you truly care to know."
Will's smiled fell a little and his eyes softened, "Which ones, if you do not mind my prying?"
"Us as children, of my family, of years past..."
"That is not all, though is it?"
Devic paused again, still staring at the ground, "...I almost had him today...I really thought that today I would be able to end it all, but I was not fast enough. I was too blinded by my rage..."
Alex frowned, "I bet you'll have many more chances..."
"Not like that one; but I shall not trouble you with my obsessions...It is probably for the best if we all get to bed soon. We have many long hours of searching to do tomorrow if it is sure that we have decided to go looking for Trycos..."
Alex and Phi nodded simultaneously and she spoke up softly, "It makes the most sense I think because he has to be somewhere around here..."
"Right then...I suppose we shall see you in the morning."
With that Devic and Will rose to their feet and retired to their own tent and Phi leaned heavily onto Alex, nestling into his sweater, "Want to go back inside?"
"I dunno...It's nice out here...And there's no kids to say 'that's gross' when I kiss you..." She grinned and he leaned in, kissing her tenderly on her lips, letting the kiss linger for a minute before pulling slowly away. "I think I just truly realized how much I would have missed you if you had remained dead..." He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly, rocking her back and forth gently.
She smiled happily and nestled close but was surprised as she felt a warm liquid fall onto the back of her neck. She gazed up and found Alex, his eyes squeezed shut, crying silently. "Oh...Alex...It's all right, I won't leave you, I promise..."
He sniffed and leaned his head up as she reached up to wipe his tears away with her fingers, "I know..." She smiled sadly and kissed him again, "I just...I truly don't know what I would do if anything ever happened to you..."
She bit her lip, feeling tears begin to well up in her own eyes and touched his cheek lovingly, "Come on Alex...let's get to bed, all right?"
He nodded and stood up with her, walking quietly beside her. When they got inside, Luke was curled up besides Devic. Phi felt herself smiling again and pulled off her sweater, laying down next to Luke and closed her eyes happily as she felt Alex's warm and familiar form lay beside her and wrap his arm around her waist.
Meanwhile, back in their tent, Devic (o) sat in the edge of his bed mat and watched Will slip off his arm guard and set his bow and quiver in the corner of the tent. Will looked up and smiled gently, "What?"
Devic sighed and scooted over so that he was sitting next to Will, "I was just thinking about how I almost lost you today..."
Will smiled sadly, "Yes...but you did not, so..."
"I was not finished...Will...I have never really told you just how much you mean to me and after today I realized how quickly I could have lost that chance forever..."
"Devic..."
"Do not interrupt me...I have to get this out...William, not only are you my little cousin, you are my brother, my best friend. I have never been so close to anyone, and I appreciate everything you do for me everyday. I know what a pain I can be, and I know how hard you work, and I know somehow that you are the only person I will so connected to. I would do anything for you Will, you must know that..."
Will smiled, "Devic, I have never heard you speak so kindly...I know that you are caught up in everything, but you are a great commander, and I will always be by your side to help you see it through."
"Well, I guess it will always be just me and you, eh?"
"I suppose so..."
Will glanced up at Devic and found the knight had a small smile on his face. Will punched him lightly in the arm, "But what are we getting so emotional for? We are both alive!"
Devic smiled slyly and rustled Will's hair, "You always knew how to break up a serious moment!"
Will laughed and pushed Devic onto his bed mat with a quick shove, "You never taught me otherwise!"
Devic tumbled over and leapt at his cousin, tackling him gently to the ground, "And I thought that was your mother's job!"
Will grinned up at him and rolled over so that he had Devic pinned to the mat, "You raised me more than she did!"
Devic laughed quietly and rolled back the other way, letting Will fall back onto his own bed before making his way over to his own, "True, true...and now it is time for us to get some rest..."
Will nodded and stretched out on his mat, curling up on his side. He listened to Devic lay down and adjust himself before smiling softly to himself and murmuring, "Good night..."
"Good night..." Will's smiled widened a little and he drifted peacefully off to sleep.
OoOoOoO
Alex woke up to someone poking him gently on his shoulder. He rolled over and waved at it to go away, but the annoyance persisted and finally he opened his eyes and glared sleepily around for its source. He sighed as he caught sight of Luke leaning over him, "Hi Daddy! It's time to get up! The sun's up!" Alex frowned groggily and rubbed his eyes; how could anyone be so happy and excited in the morning? "Daddy?!"
Alex rolled over again, mumbling, "What? Wake up the others...I'll be up by then..."
He grunted as Luke toppled over him, knocking the air out of him, and closed his eyes as he heard Luke trying to wake up Phi, "Mommy? Mommy...Mom...Mommy-Mommy-Mommy-Mommy-Mommy–"
"All right! All right...I'm up..." Phi wiped her eyes and yawned loudly, sitting up cross-legged as Luke moved on to his next victim.
"Devic...Devic?" He poked his older brother lightly, "Deeeeeeeevvvviiiiiiiiiiiiiicccccccccc... Deeeeeeeeevvvvvvviiiiiiiiiiiiii iicccccccccccccc...Wake up...Hey! Are you awake?"
Devic moaned and swatted at Luke, missing badly, "No...I'm not..."
Luke paused, then began to poke Devic again, "Are you awake now?"
"...No..."
"How about now?"
Phi rolled her eyes and pulled Luke away, "All right, I think he's up...
Luke grinned, "I know..."
Alex sat up, stretching his arms and letting out a wide yawn, "What time is it?"
Phi glanced at him, "Too early...Let's go outside, I'm sure Devic and Will are eager to get going..."
Alex nodded, then glanced over at Devic, "Let's get him up first. Knowing him, if we let him alone, he'll just go right on back to sleep."
Phi leaned over, her face close to Devic's ear, "Hear that? Now it's really time to get up..."
"Aww...Mom...just a few more minutes?"
"I don't think so. We have to get going...The faster we find Trycos, the faster we can get home..."
Devic shot up like a bullet, rubbing his face sleepily, "Fine."
Phi shot Alex a grin, pulled on her sweater and reached out to pull the tent flap open.
Instead of seeing the small valley they had set up camp in, Phi gasped; there was nothing outside of their tent except a swirling of blacks and purples. They were floating in an empty space. She reeled back, yanking Luke back away from the edge of the tent by his shirt, "Holy shit!"
Alex caught her in his arms, then sneaked around her, staring out into the open space. He swallowed, "What the–? Where are we? What's going on?"
Devic paled and hurried back to the back of the tent where Luke was huddled behind Phi, gripping her sweater in his hands. Phi shook her head, "I dunno Alex, just come away from the edge..."
He obeyed, slowly slinking back to huddle by his family, "What happened to Devic and Will?"
OoOoOoO
Devic (o) jolted awake, springing into a sitting position. There was something going on outside, he could feel it. Silently, he moved over to Will, shook his shoulder gently to wake him and motioned for him to be quiet as he saw Will's eyes flicker open. Will nodded gravely, not knowing what was going on, and sat up slowly, reaching carefully over and grabbing his bow and quiver. Devic slunk outside on his hands and feet, his eyes opened wide, his senses alert. Everything looked normal. Frowning, he rose to his feet and moved cautiously over to Alex and Phi's tent.
He frowned as he reached out his hand to pull open to flap. The tent was shimmering...tents don't shimmer. Motioning anxiously for Will to join him, he gave the sign for Will to arm himself and then reached out his hand and threw open the flap. All four of them were still asleep...Then why was there a humming in the back of his mind?
Devic quickly glanced around and entered the tent, his eyebrows knit in frustration. Kneeling down by Alex, he gently shook the man's shoulder. Nothing. Frowning, he shook a little harder, "Alex...Alexander...wake up."
He leaned over and listened for breathing; they were alive. Will lowered his weapon and squeezed into the tent next to his cousin, "Gods, that man is a heavy sleeper..."
"I am not sure if they are sleeping Will...Try waking the little ones."
Will kneeled down and shook each boy, "Luke, Devic, it is time to wake..." He frowned and glanced up at Devic who reached over Alex and shook Phi's arm. All she did was roll over onto her back, her eyes shut tight.
Devic gazed up and stared Will right in his eyes, "Something is very wrong..."
"Do you think that they are ill?"
"No..." Will saw Devic's face darken and swore that sparks flew from his eyes, "This is the work of only one man...Trycos..." He hurried outside and Will scrambled after him. As soon as he had stood up, Devic grabbed him roughly by his shoulders, "They are under his spell. Trycos is somewhere nearby and we need to find him before he does them any harm."
"Could he really hurt them?"
"Physically, no...But for their sake, especially the sake of the little ones, we must find him quickly."
Will nodded and began to sprint up the hill for a better vantage point, taking a leap onto the top of one of the many boulders laying on the tops of the hills of the moor. He narrowed his eyes and peered around, shielding his eyes from the glare of the rising sun with his hand. He sat perched there for a few moments, then jumped down and turned to Devic who was scanning from the other side of the valley and shook his head. "Not a soul around besides us."
He heard Devic swear and he jogged back down to the campsite to search for traces of a midnight visitor. Getting down on his hands and knees, he began to scour the grass for any signs. Devic slid down the hill on his feet and hurried over to Will, "Are you finding anything?"
"Wait a moment, I have only just started...I am not a dog you know..."
"No, but you are a first-class tracker, which almost results in the same thing..."
"True...Aha!" He stooped down over a patch of dirt near Alex and Phi's tent, "There is a foot print here, do you see? Here is the heel and the contour of the boot."
"I will take your word for it...Can you tell where he went?"
Will frowned in contemplation, "I am working on it...He went...that way..." He pointed west.
"All right! Let us go."
Devic began to walk and Will continued to search the ground for more clues on all fours with his face nearly touching the ground, muttering as he went along, "He was certainly not in a hurry...wait, he turned here...around the base of this hillock...picking up his pace...he stopped for a few seconds here...there he goes again...Wait a minute, he stood right here for a good deal of time...walked a little further, stopped again...wandered this way, stopped again..."
Devic pulled Will up by his tunic, slapped a hand over his mouth, and hauled him to the ground. Will looked surprised by the interruption and searched with his for its cause, then he spotted him.
Trycos was standing still, his eyes staring straight ahead into the side of a grassy hill, a small smirk on the side of his face.
A/N: Sorry my last chapter was a little rushed...It's like that because, well, because I was rushing!