Disclaimer: I. Own. Nothing. Got it??

Well . . . notice how, in the chapter, Kit refers to Caramon as 'Little Brother' and Raistlin as 'Baby Brother'. Draw your own conclusions, and tell them to me.

Starts kinda angsty, gets better (I hope). So, now that I do hope my horrible writer's block is over (it better be), I, Mistress of the Kenlims (kender gremlins) am going to present another chapter to you! Bear with me, this chapter goes virually nowhere. Oh, and forget all the 'we've never been on adventures before' stuff in the real books, I just earesed all of it, the wicked being that I am.

Oh, and the runes are not the same, try as I might they just WON'T come out the same, so ignore them, 'K?

Now, read or be irritated to death by annoying blue kenlims.

The Mystery of the Runes.

mîxD âZDX, Lbî lDb Lxîâ DxíîbD "BtPçPZB, îDíü çëînî bîáf zäBbü, bî çBFPâëDíPD WPrBLBëB VxîíPLBDb DxDç îbíîZPbDëüíî líîé öDVP YîëPíBxP, ZFBbîé Z âîërDáZbâîX "BtPçPZB P îáîäxDíífé Z VxîZüáBXP UBëBäPí.

It still made so little sense!

Raistlin, clutching his hand in agony, slumped forward over the table, exhausted. The scrap of now-dry paper with the precious note on it lay on the table, pinned down by the necklace. Raistlin, comparing the two, had seen the same words on the paper on the crescent-moon sapphire at the middle of the black mist inside the stone. But that was about all he knew.

Lifting his head, the six-year-old blinked back tears of disappointment and frustration as they warmed his eyes, threatening to overwhelm him. But the tears-damn them-refused to go away. Wiping his eyes, Raistlin stared glumly at the paper, placing his fingers on the edge.

And then started in terror.

The letters began to glow, a blue glow, just like the necklace's. In responce, the necklace began to glow, too . . . brighter . . . and brighter . . . until . . .

Raistlin could see nothing through the light, the cold, blue light, but . . .

Raistlin's head hit the table. His eyes-whites, irises, and pupils-were unseen through the blue glow that flowed through the paper through his fingers.

A woman stood. He knew he and he didn't know her. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and yet, at the almost-seen glimspe of her, his soul tremble in awe. Had he been standing, he would have fell to his knees before her . . . the Queen . . .

And then she, whoever she had been, was gone, and in her place was a dark, dark smoke, and a sapphire in the shape of a cresent moon, carved with runes. A fair, gentle woman wept in the corner, and Raistlin felt his fear leave by just laying eyes on her. And then . . .

A black creature, like a bird only thousands of times bigger, flew into the room, spinning in a circle around the smoke. Fear such as he had never known coursed through Raistlin's veins, freezing him. There was a brief flash of black light that was more blinding than any other light Raistlin had ever seen, a triumphant, dark laugh, and then silence . . .

Thunk

Raistlin's head snapped up as he slid out of the chair and fell to the ground, thanks to Caramon's annoying habit of slamming doors.

"Caramon!"

Caramon flinched as Raistlin's voice slapped his back, muttering "Sorry". Going up to his twin, He offered his hand--which Raistlin ignored as he scrambled to his feet.

Undaunted, Caramon looked at the table that Raistlin had been sitting at. "What's this, Raist?"

"An undecipherable note and an unearthly necklace, brother." Raistlin said cooly, stopping Caramon's big and as he reached out to touch the precious necklace.

"Well, what I wanted to tell you was that Kit wants us both at the Inn--now." Caramon put the desired emphasize on the 'now'.

"I am coming." Raistlin grabbed the necklace, slipping it carefully into his pocket. Reaching out, he took the note off the table and folded it, slipping it beside the necklace in his pocket, trying to hide it so that Caramon did not see.

He failed.

Caramon, glancing over his shoulder, saw Raist slip the note carefully into his pocket, and was instantly interested. "Hey, Raist, what's that?"

"Nothing, Caramon." The words hissed between Raistlin's teeth, a warning his twin failed to notice.

"But it's a piece of paper, Raist. What are you doing with a piece of paper? Is that blood? Raist, why do you have a piece of paper with blood on it? You shouldn't have stuff like that, Raist. Father said so. Can I see?"

Raistlin froze, then stared up at the ceiling, his lips moving in a silent why me?, then sighed and looked back to Caramon.

"I am studying with the paper, brother." well, that was about the truth. "No, that is not blood, it's strawberry jelly." smooth lie, he thought to himself.  "And I really don't care what 'Father' says. No, you can't see." His voice rose in shrill mockery at the 'father'.

"Why not?" Caramon asked curiously, eyeing his brother's pocket.

Raistlin walked up swiftly to Caramon, standing so close so quickly that Caramon found himself face-to-face with his twin before he could move. "You heard nothing, brother. You saw nothing. Do not mention anything to Kit or Father, or-" Raistlin searched his imagination, coming up with the perfect threat. "Or giant man-eating scorpian-ghouls will come and devour your flesh and use your bones as toothpicks."

"Really?" Caramon's eyes widened; Raistlin marveled at the stupidity of his brother. "Raist, if there are horrible things like that, we shouldn't be here. C'mon, lets go see Kit. She seemed pretty impatient to me. Why is Kit like that, Raist."

Raistlin shook his head, frusterated and exasperated beyong endurence. "Fine, Caramon, we'll go see Kit. And remember: not a word!"

"Aw, why? Besides the scorpion-ghoul-thingy." Caramon cast a wary glance arounf the room, standing nearer to his brother-just in case Raistlin needed him, of course.

"Because, Caramon, you imbicilic fool!" Raistlin snapped, losing patience. Seeing Caramon's hurt look and the slight flinch at the sharp words, Raistlin lowered his voice, soothed his tone, and locked Caramon with his eyes. "Because it's a secret, Caramon. My secret. I'll show you later, if you don't tell. OK?" If his threats could not work alone, maybe combining threats and bribes would work. "And remember the giant man-eating scorpian-ghouls."

"OK, Raist. Our secret. Don't worry, I won't tell!" Caramon said enthusiacally, pracically skipping out the door, Raistlin on his heels. "And you stay close to me, just in case."

Raistlin, ignoring his twin, walked at so rapid a pace that Caramon had to hurry to keep up, talking all about what he would do if a Monster-Thingy ever came near Raistlin, illustrating with his short wooden sword Gilon had carved for him. Steadfastly ignoring his twin's show of braggy bravado, and keeping a good eye on some of Caramon's wilder swings, Raistlin thought about the note and the jewel, running over his theories againa nd again in his mind. His hand stayed into his pocket, fingering the strange stone, the crook of his index brushing against the mysterious note.

And then she, whoever she had been, was gone, and in her place was a dark, dark smoke, and a sapphire in the shape of a cresent moon, carved with runes.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kitiara waited impatiently at her table in the Inn, pacing back and forth, her heels hitting the floor with a paticularly angry tap!, her eyes fixed upon the Inn's doorway. Trust Caramon to take a full fourty minutes . . . if he'd forgotten, she'd strangle him and throw his miserable corpse to the bugbears . . . glancing now and then to a table in a paticularly shadowy corner, a dark line appeared between her brows: she'd give them to the count of ten.

one, tap!, two, tap!, three, tap!

Where was Little Brother? C'mon! Kit thought disgustedly to herself. A drunk, blind, and deaf gully-dwarf could have done a simple errand, just fetching Baby Brother! Now, was that so hard? Damn slow brothers, he'd probably stopped to play with his friends or something, instead of what she had specifically told him to do.

five, tap!, six, tap!, seven, tap!

What kind of soldier did not obey orders? Caramon was gonna get a whipping for this, if he didn't show up soon . . .

nine, tap!

Precisely three nanoseconds before she could count ten, Caramon, flanked by Raistlin, appeared in the doorway. Or it might have been more accurate to say that Raistlin was already inside the Inn, walking at a rapid pace, while being flanked by Caramon, who, as usual, was talking his aXX off. Kit pounced on both of them.

"What took you so long!!" She demanded, rudely cutting off her younger brother in mid-sentence. Caramon, who was used to this, responded cheerfully.

"I'm sorry I took so long, but I had to actually walk to Raist, then I had to tell Raist to come, then, you know, I had to walk back here. Are we late?"

"All this took forty-five minutes?" Kit demanded, in a foul mood.

"We-ell, no . . . you see, I, uh, saw some kids throwing rocks at Weird Meggin's place and they asked me to join in so I played, only for a little while, 'cause then I remembered Raist, and then Jan, Ted Miller's son, ran up and wanted to show me his new puppy-its really cute, Kit, all browny-and then I was hungry, so I got an apple and by that time I had reached home and me and Raist talked, and-" Raistlin casted his brother a sharp, imperious look, and Caramon stuttered a little, remembering his promise. "-then we came back here. "

Kit took a deep breath, let it out in an exasperated sigh, and glared into Caramon's large brown eyes. "I gave you an order, Little Brother, and when someone gives you an order, you obey. And you didn't obey me when I gave you the order to get Baby Brother and bring him here, pronto, with no, repeat, no side trips. None. And you took several little trips! What kind of soldier are you gonna be if you can't even complete a simple order, Little Brother? I swear, you are definately more than a kender than, well, a kender is!"

She was being harsh on him: she knew. After all, she berated herself, staring into those little-boy eyes as they filled with hurt tears, he's only six. This only served to irritate her even more. Tearing her eyes from Caramon's face, she looked at Raistlin, who was obseving his brother's scolding with a quiet, collected air: Caramon could have been a stranger. Raistlin shifted his feet slightly, returning his sister's stare until she could bear no more.

"Anyway." She snapped, breaking the silence. Caramon jumped slightly. "I want you to meet someone. Caramon, keep your mouth shut and answer only, I repeatonly when I ask you a question. Hear?"

"I hear." Caramon answered dutifully, cheerfully. Raistlin scowled slightly.

Motioning to her brothers to follow her, Kit headed for the shadowy corner, shaking her head slighly.

From the layer of darkness, the shadows watched back. 

This and the next chapter were originally going to be one but this seems long enough (it probably isn't since the type's all HUGELY messed up, but what the hey) and the fact that the next part is idea only for now.

Review, people, review. Sorry about the shortness.

Danke.