Wee! (Singing) One more day of schoo-ool! One more day of schoo-ool! (/Singing)

Wow! Has this christmas season ever FLOWN! I'm sorry this is a day late. I was planning on updating yesterday, but my parent's decided to get the Christmas tree last night and, of course, I did not want to be left out of that monumental decision. So, I'm updating at about 11 pm, because I LOVE YOU ALL! And I'm in a very strange mood.

Tiger Lily21: YAY! Thank you! I'm trying to write longer chapters, but I'm not going to make them tedious because that's, well, tedious. And I'm glad we cleared up the poopy phrase. :cD

EreshkigalGirl: Soon, very soon. Patience we must have.

fell4adeadguy: That's great news! :c) I've read a couple of your stories, and most of them arereally good! Das ist kühl!

UruvielTruviel: You're cool. I like you. And, for some reason I have a real urge to watch POTC. ;c) I'm sure Lia didn't count on her entire castle being enchanted. Poor Lia.

You guys all makemy day. (tear tear) I'm sending you all virtual hugs.

See you next update!

-Lulai

Chapter Fourteen: An Unexpected Visitor

It was pitch black. Lia couldn't even see her own hand in front of her face. They padded along softly in the stillness, having wedged Lia's armour behind the door so no one could follow them. She almost laughed at the ridiculousness of it all, walking along in the dark in only a chemise and leggings, but she felt as though the laugh would soon turn hysterical. If not for Robbie's hand firmly clutched in her own, she was sure that the darkness would suffocate her. She had never been very comfortable in closed in places.

Just keep going, she said to herself, trying to be brave. There's nothing here that can hurt you. Despite her bravado, she could feel the fear creeping in the corners of her mind like a grey fog.

Robbie was also trying to keep his mind off his fears.

Spiders don't like the dark, he chanted confidently to himself. Nope, no spiders here. No spiders at all. Still, every time he heard a little scuttle, he could not help but shudder. He heard a small whimper behind him and Lia's hand tightened on his. He squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"Come along Lia," he whispered to her, his voice startlingly loud in the stillness. "I'm sure we are almost there."

"I'm fine," she retorted, but Robbie could hear the small tremor in his fiancée's voice.

Robbie couldn't help but grin as they walked along. His fiancée! He couldn't believe that she accepted. He could barely believe that he had asked. There was the fight, and then he had killed that man (or chair?) who was going to kill Lia. Then there was Lia, in his arms, warm, and he wanted her. He wanted her to be his and him to be hers and to just make the feeling go on forever.

Robbie put his other hand on the hilt of his sword. With it, he could fight like a hero from his books, and he had even saved a damsel in distress. With it, he was a hero, maybe even one worthy of a princess. It was that thought that had spurred him on to propose. He suddenly wanted to get this business with Lia's sister over with so he could take Lia back home.

They walked for what seemed forever in silence. Lia trudged on, her eyes cast down as if she could see the floor. It had been a long day, and now she was exhausted. Dealing with her sister, escaping from her tower, getting in a brawl in the dungeon (almost being killed in the process), then walking through this tunnel of Doom took a lot out of her. The high point of her day was when Robbie asked her to marry him. But she was even too tired to contemplate that.

A small round shape moved slightly causing Lia to jump and give a choked off cry.

"Ack!"

Robbie whirled around and pulled her behind him, his sword drawn.

"What is it?" he asked.

Lia saw the rounded thing again and realized it was her own foot.

"It's nothing," Lia said, feeling stupid.

"We must be getting close to the other end," Robbie said, sheathing his sword. "I'm starting to see some things."

Lia didn't answer. She could see the tousled profile of Robbie in front of her.

Robbie came to a stop in front of the end of the tunnel. A small crack at the bottom of the door cast a small amount of light over the floor.

Robbie put his finger to his lips in a gesture of silence, and leaned his ear against the wall. Hearing nothing, he drew his sword and pushed lightly on the door.

Peering around the wall, he found that the door opened into an enormous library, just as Doggery had said.

It looked just a little too inviting for his comfort. The fire in the huge fireplace was lit, but no one was in the room. He heard a small scuttle behind him and immediately plunged through the door. He'd rather take on the entire garrison than remain in the tunnel with the spiders.

Lia followed behind him. "Where are we?" she asked tiredly. Robbie took a good look at her. She looked exhausted. Her face was streaked and dirty and her grey eyes had great dark smudges under them. Her normally vibrant hair seemed listless.

"We're in the library," Robbie said.

Her expression brightened a bit as she surveyed the room.

"I love this room," she murmured. What she wouldn't give to spend just a day back in the library, in one of her father's huge leather chairs, curled up with a good story.

"I'd love to stay and peruse the books," Robbie said kindly, "but we have to keep moving." He put his arm under Lia's, gently guiding her towards the door.

"I wouldn't go that way," a voice spoke up from behind them.

Robbie whirled around. "Lark!" he exclaimed.

At this final strain, Lia broke. She began to cry.

Lark looked worried. "I don't usually have this sort of affect on women, I should hope."

"Lia, love, what's wrong?" Robbie asked, cupping her face in his hands.

"Oh, everything's wrong!" she said, angry at herself for crying. Goodness, she had become such a watering-pot lately! "My sister turned me into an old lady, and then a mob attacked me and almost killed you, and then my sister imprisoned me in a tower, and then I nearly got chopped in half, and then we had to walk through that hideous tunnel, and then Lark appeared, and all I want to do is go home!" she ranted, interrupted every so often by a hicking breath. She realized she sounded extremely whiney, but she was beyond caring.

She sniffed and rubbed her running nose on her chemise sleeve and then sighed.

"I'm sorry," she said, wiping away her tears. "I'm just tired."

"It'll be okay," Robbie said, kissing her forehead. She really was a mess. She was dirty and tear-streaked and now her nose was bright red. She took a shaky breath and turned to Lark.

"So, what were you doing in my sister's court," she asked almost conversationally.

"Spying, obviously," Lark said, shrugging.

Lia crossed her arms over her chest. "I get the feeling this is going to be a long story," she said.

"Not really," Lark replied. "But we can sit anyways." He motioned to two large leather chairs and a small futon. Lia took the first chair and Robbie the second. Both of the chairs were large enough to hold two people, but Lark remained standing and paced as he talked.

"We, the Fey, have a couple rules regarding interaction with the humans. One of the rules is 'Don't interfere with Human politics.' Well, we have a Fey up in our world who doesn't like the way our King is running things. So, she figured if she could start a bit of a tussle down here in the Human world, we would be so busy that she could take over the throne discretely. Luckily, she failed and we captured her. But her powers are still down here."

"Claire!" Lia gasped.

"So that's why she seemed to receive those powers so quickly," Robbie connected. "They are actually Fey powers."

"Correct," Lark responded, nodding.

"But aren't you helping us?" Lia asked, a confused look on her face.

"Well, yes," Lark admitted. "But I had permission to. Since we were the ones who put your land into such turmoil, we felt obligated to straighten it all out."

"So how do we defeat Clarissa?" Robbie asked.

"Well, we cannot simply give powers to humans," Lark explained, "we must create a pool, or something inanimate to hold the power."

"Like a sword?" Robbie asked.

"Yes," Lark continued. "So, like your sword, Claire has something in which her power resides. Separate that from Claire, and her powers will diminish to nothing."

"Do you know what it is that gives Claire her power?" Robbie asked eagerly.

"No," Lark pouted. "Some spy I turned out to be. I can't even find what might be her pool."

A soft rumble from the chair across from them drew their attention away from their conversation. Lia lay curled up, her face resting on her arm, snoring softly.

Robbie made a motion as to wake her up, but Lark shook his head.

"Let her sleep," he said softly. "In fact, you should rest too. I'll make sure no one comes into this room." He handed Robbie a blanket, apparently pulling it from thin air.

"What are you going to do?" Robbie asked, accepting the blanket.

Lark gave him an inscrutable smile. "I'm going to see if I can find anything."

With that, he walked out the door, clicking the lock as he went.

Robbie smiled softly at the sleeping form of Lia, and crawled into the large leather chair with her. Laying the blanket over them both, he pulled her onto his chest and promptly fell asleep.