Summersea Saga

by crosseyedbutterfly

Sequel to Twisted Tortallain Tale! This time, our fav group of teens are sent to Summersea...and it's crazy boy mage who runs things behind the scenes! Chapter 22 up!

8.

Multiple chapters! Multiple chapters! *Ducks pointy objects* Hey, I know they're late but there's multiple chapters!!  ^_^ Go on, read, I know. Oh, btw: this chapter will, I repeat will, have more violence and insanity than past chapters. Gore, blood, pain, yeah, we got it all. If it's worse than normal, I blame it on the depressive state of the author due to some unforeseen issues that have come up. But other than that, enjoy!

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Brenna grilled the chicken over the open flames, taking care not to burn herself as she cooked them to perfection while Kaitlin pulled the rolls and roasted vegetables from the oven below.

"Don't you take move," warned Kaitlin as she slowly slid the pan out of it's rack in the oven. "If you do, it's gonna leave and mark and it won't be pretty, either."

"I won't," replied Brenna, turning over one of the chicken breasts with her metal spatula. "But if your hands slip, and it gets me, I'll leave a mark on you that'll be even less pretty."

Kaitlin just grunted and heaved the dish up as quickly as she could, setting it on one of the metal racks above to cool. "Aahh!! My hands, my hands my hands….!!" Running them under the pump, Brenna gave her an odd look as bits of steam rose from the now red flesh.

"Kaitlin! Did you lift that out without using something to protect you hands?!" demanded Brenna angrily. "You moron…!"

"No, I did!!" cried Kaitlin, holding up the two oven mitts, "But I used the wrong side that's all thin and didn't realize it until it was too late…" *sniff**sniff* "I couldn't drop the pan and scream cuz it would've hit you and then I really would've had it coming…"

"You poor, witless fool," murmured Brenna, patting her on the head before removing the chicken from the grill onto a platter. "Come on, let's get all this out there for the rest of them. Are your hands going to be alright, or do we need to take you to the doctor?"

"They're fine," replied Kaitlin, taking the oven mitts and after making sure she was using the right side grabbed the pan of rolls and knocked them off into a basket with a flick of her wrist. "Ok, let's go!"

"You know, the way you just recover like that really makes one wonder just how human you really are," said Brenna thoughtfully, setting the table as everyone trickled into the room from whatever they'd been doing. Cheeks from his room, Libby from the barn, and obviously Brenna and Kaitlin from the kitchen.

"Um, Brenna, you set one extra place," said Cheeks as everyone sat down, one place left empty.

"No I didn't!" replied Brenna indignantly, counting on her hands. "There's five of us, remember? You, Rupal Libby, Kaitlin, and me. And there are five plates. See? One two three four five."

"Then who's missing?" asked Kaitlin. "Cuz there's five of us and five plates and there's still one spot empty…"

"I'm home, everyone!!" called a familiar voice from the front, then the sound of someone taking off their cape and setting some bags on the floor.

"Oh, Rupal went to the market today, that's right!" said Kaitlin, smacking herself in the forehead. "Sorry, I forgot to tell you guys…"

"You guys won't believe it," said Rupal somewhat calmly, taking her seat as she filled her glass from the pitcher of water that sat on the table. "We made a fourth more than I predicted we would at best!" She said all this while hardly raising her voice more than normal, and while a normal passerby would assume she was saying it like it one would say what time it was. But the others saw her small grin and the light in her eyes and knew it was fabulous news.

"How did you get the prices that high?!" demanded Libby. "There's no way it was the sheep we sent in, I checked with the other shepherd fellow and our animals were exactly the same."

"It was the produce," replied Rupal with a nod. "Apparently it was the best there was. I set our prices even with the others there, then people started offering more than I was asking, and I just lifted the prices little by little and people were more than glad to pay. Had I known that, I would've started them higher to begin with!"

"That means we can afford to expand the rabbit coup and add on to the hen house!"

"I vote we get some more horses, strong ones who can work in the fields. That way I'm not pulling a plow instead."

"Lazy Cheeks…"

"Hey, I don't see you out there doing it!"

"I want the kitchen redone! That, or add another wing to the house, so we'll have more room."

"No, let's higher on some helpers so we can expand our gardens and fields, then bring in more produce next year!"

"WAIT!!" Everyone stopped arguing as Rupal stood slowly, and for once looked down on them since she was standing and they were sitting. "We CANNOT spend the extra money we made."

"But-"

"Stop," cut in Rupal, waiting for the murmurs to vanish before continuing slowly. "We need a nest egg. Something to fall back on in hard times. I said we made a fourth better than I best expected. So, we take what was best expected, use that for what we need, and set the extra fourth aside for later. That way, when we really need to have the hen house expanded or the extra wing added, we'd have the money to do it. Right now, it's not imminent that we get those things done. What if a storm comes and takes the roof off or the crops fail next year? We don't have any sort of insurance here, so we have to make our own."

"I agree," said Cheeks after a few moments of silence. "The horses can wait, I don't mind pulling a plow for another season or two. Besides, it's great exercise."

"And I suppose we really don't need to expand quite yet," added Brenna slowly. "It is our first year and all. I just really wanted this place to take off…"

"Yeah, she's right."

"I suppose, though having a bigger kitchen would've been nice…I wanted a huge oven that I could cook a whole Cheeks in at once…" She gave Cheeks an evil look and licked her fangs, at which Cheeks took off at a dead run with Kaitlin hard on his heals yelling for him to come back and be roasted like a good Cheekums.

"HEEEELP!!"

 ~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Amanda and Ben walked arm in arm under the trees, the sun setting to their side as they left the gate of Summersea far behind them. "Are you sure we can't make Winding Circle tonight?" asked Ben tiredly, leaning on his sister for support.

"No, but we'll get at least partially there tonight so we can get there first thing tomorrow morning," replied Amanda with a grin as she ran an affectionate hand through her brother's hair. He held in his hands his new hat that she'd bought him today, dark blue and black with silver bells at the end of each peek, it was a joker's hat and it suited him well.

#Hmm…zzz….acorns…more acorns…zzzz…no!! Don't take my…. Zzzz… acorns…#

"I swear, she keeps turning more and more animal all the time," joked Amanda as Lyssa continued to sleep on her shoulder draped over it like a piece of cloth as she blissfully snored away.

"How much longer do you think we'll have to keep lying low like this?" asked Ben as they turned off into a set of fields owned by a shepherd and his family and they'd run into awhile back.

"Just a little way," she replied with a smile. "Don't worry, Ben, whatever happens, I promise I will always be here protect you."

He hugged her tighter around the middle. "I know…Momma Manda."

"I'm not your Momma," she replied, giving him a gentle cuff on the side of the head. They saw the family through the hut's window eating their meager meal and veered off to the side, content to sleep in one of the haystacks for the night. "Come on, we've slept outside before and it'll be a warm for a few days yet before it gets to cold to do so. Let's take advantage of it while we can."

"But I wanted to see Brad," replied Ben with a frown. "He's my age, you know, and he said he'd teach me how to whistle with grass next time I saw him…"

"You can go see him in the morning, then," promised Amanda as she sat with her back to the hut on the other side of a haystack out of the sun. "Come on, we've got enough with us to make a decent dinner without pillaging some of their meager fair. I'd rather not take from them, they're so large it must be nearly impossible to keep everyone fed at the same time."

"He's only got six kids, his wife, and both sets of grandparents," Ben reminded her with an offhand shrug. "That's not so big."

"Not so big?! That's 12 people under the same roof!!"

Ben frowned again. "Really, I don't get it." He counted them for a moment on his fingers. "That's only twice our own family…"

"Just let it go." Amanda brought out the bread and cheese, plus a few withered apples she'd saved from before. Flicking Lyssa's tail, she woke the squirrel easily and soon all of them had polished down what little they had left as far as food.

"I really hope we make it to Winding Circle tomorrow," said Ben as he sorrowfully looked down into the empty haversack. "Dedicate Gorse always gives me honey buns and blueberry tarts whenever we visist…"

#You're making me drool, kid!# moaned the squirrel girl as she curled up in the haystack. Amanda had already lain down, her things all packed away expect for her cape and lay buried in the straw beside her. Ben lay down next to her, curled up to her side as usual while using her stomach for a pillow. #Man, now you've got me going, with the sunflower seed cakes he gives me without the husks and the candied nuts…hm…# The squirrel drifted off to sleep, drooling slightly her tail pulled around herself like a blanket as she burrowed under Amanda's hair for warmth for the night.

"G'night…Momma Manda…"

"Grr…night, Ben."

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Nicole sat on the edge of the sip, playing with her winds as they dipped in and out of the surf, scooping up bits of water and spraying them around in patterns and designs that Nicole had them hold for a moment, then let them drop back into the sea.

"Hey, you're getting pretty good at that," commented Trevor as he came to stand beside her, something hidden in his hands under the railing of the deck.

"Yup," she replied, as pleased as a child who'd just been given a bit of candy. "Watch this one…" She manipulated the winds with her fingers as if they were attached to strings, the bits of spray and water weaving themselves in and out of each other to create a small dragon. It blinked at Trevor for a moment before she let it go and the whole thing disappeared.

"That…that's amazing," whispered the Trader, whistling in appreciation. "Anyway, I brought something for you." He hoisted the package above the rail, whisking it's cover off to show a small, stout bird that was obviously rather strong but somewhat docile as it allowed the Trader to scratch it on the head.

"What is it?" asked Nicole as she turned from the winds and sat before the cage, her and the bird staring back and forth at each other quizzically. It was gray with a black tail, the tail feathers long and rounded and the wings rather short compared to the other birds around there.

"A shrike," explained Trevor with a nod. "A predatory song bird. Thought you might like it, as the ones around here are known to be particularly intelligent and easy trained. After all, having your own way of getting around would not exactly be the worst thing in the world, would it?"

"Is it a he or a she?"

"A he. A gelded he, you couldn't have him running off after every cute female shrike that flies by, right?" He winked at the minigirl in a friendly manner. "Just ask if you have any problems, he's already been imprinted with me so if he ever gets away from you he'll probably come find me, ok?"

"Ok, thanks!"

"No problem!"

The bird and human/nymph started at each other for a moment, the one in a cage and the other sitting on the rail before it.

"You're not going to eat me are you?" asked Nicole carefully, cocking her head to the side.

The bird just whistled back and cocked its head to the other side as well.

"Is it like looking in a mirror?" asked Jack from the other side of the deck. "But, really can't be. Because from what I can see, the bird's the more intelligent one of the pair, and if it were a reflection you'd be exactly the same."

"JACK!!" The unlucky black boy found himself scooped up from a sudden gust of wind and bowled over the side of the ship, getting a good dunking in the freezing waters below.

"YOU STUPID NYMPH!!" He went silent as the waves pulled him under again, then managed to force his way to the surface again.

"This really isn't helping things, you know," said Gwen as Tanner hauled the cursing Trader back on board. "If I have to keep hanging clothes out to dry because you're throwing them in the sea, I'm going to make you use your breezes to dry them faster instead of playing around all day. It's been 3 months since we got here, you'd think you two would've learned to tolerate each other by now."

"And how are you planning to do that?" demanded Nicole. "It's not my fault I'm not allowed off the ship, and he won't leave me alone! Besides, you have no way of making me work!"

Gwen held up a cookie.

"Ok, maybe you do…"

Giggling to herself, she gave Nicole a tiny piece and ate part of it herself. "That's a good little mini person…"

Nicole glared up at her as she ate the cookie anyway. "I don't like you no more."

 ~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

"Are you ready?" asked the mage across from her, holding his hands in front of himself so his thumb and first finger touched about a foot from his chest.

"Uh, sure," replied Olivia, holding her hands palm up in front of her.

"Ok…go!!"

The mage brought together a ball of energy before she could even react, sending it at her as she quickly threw together a wall of ice between herself and the projectile heading towards her. The wall shattered on impact, the mage shaking his head as he came over and observed her work.

"Still too thick at the bottom," he chided roughly. "You can't spend all your time on the base if it won't protect you… Besides, it does little good as it is because a fight with a mage doesn't stand still, and what might've protected you at first could be what kills you later on if you're unable to move it."

"The what the hell am I supposed to do?" asked Olivia, looking extremely annoyed with the Mage Master. "Ice is Ice is Ice, it's a stationary object…"

"Now that's where you're wrong," replied the mage with a slow grin. "You're letting the boundaries of your mind create boundaries for your magic. Even a hedgewitch can create wonders because she can stretch and bend her magic to her will, working it to it's fullest because she does not allow herself to have boundaries with it."

"What do you mean 'boundaries'?" replied Olivia, looking fairly confused. "It's a solid, it has to have a base for it to reach up here, and it has to be moved physically in order for it to move! Those are basic laws of physics…"

"Ah! Physics!" He tapped the crumbled ice shield that still reached up to his waist. "Now, by the rules of physics, is it possible for this structure to have been made? To just appear there?"

"Um…no," replied Olivia carefully. "Because matter is neither created nor destroyed, it merely converts itself from one form to another."

"Therefore, why should rules like gravity and weight have to matter either," added the Master Mage with a nod. "Now, see this energy?" He created another globe in his hand. "I want you to do the same, but don't touch it! Let it rest just above your physical self. And don't think of it in a solid sense, because that's when the rules of physics you've learned apply. Think of it as a ball or globe of your power, all structured together to appear solid but being nothing more than magic, because that's what your ice structure really is."

"I see…" Olivia created the ball of ice hovering above her palm, watching it for a  few moments before trying something else. She began to float it in the Master Mage's direction, taking it from ice into a ball of snow and sleet.

"Very, very good!" said the Master Mage, giving her an approving smile before turning to look at some texts. "Now…" *plop* "AH!! COLD!!"

Olivia laughed to herself quietly as the mage wiped the snowball off his head as fast as he could, the icy mixture having landed right on his bald spot.

"I would say good aim," he called over his shoulder as he dried the last bits of it out with a towel. "By I'm balding so quickly that the spot is quite easy to see…"

"I know."

"Do you see what I was getting at, though?" he asked, creating a shield of his own as he came to stand beside her. "See how it moves with me? It's just of magic energy, same as yours only yours will take on the physical form of ice. See how it's structured to deflect, not meet head on? It's all about strategy when it comes to protecting others, girl, about playing mind games…"

"You don't need magic to play mind games with someone," muttered Olivia under her breath as she created the shield, letting it hover before her as she began to give it it's physical properties, but still kept in mind that it was only energy and weighed nothing at all.

The Master Mage heard her and shrugged. "With another mage, you do. Now, on to projectiles of magic…"

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Mike wandered into the band room, grabbing random school books he found there that people had left the year before. "And elp book…I hated that class…oh, here's a nice psychology book, that should be good fuel…and a pre-cal one! Yes, just what I needed to finish things off…oh, hello there!" Mike picked up the leather bound book that was lying behind the pillar, reading the title to himself. "Hm…Circle of Magic…probably some witch text book, because I know there's a few in the school, and it'll add just the topper I needed for the burning. Let's go!"

He walked out the door, whistling to himself with all the books tucked under his arm.

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Kristen and Chris stepped out of the truck from opposite sides, a skinny little kid hopping out of the back as well. They were in the student parking lot of Providence High school, with a special secret mission left up to them.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Cameron?" asked Chris for the fifth time, scratching his head as he looked at the huge high school before them. He was a huge guy, standing over six feet tall and with thick arms and legs that made most think twice before messing with him. And while he might be a little imposing to some, with his serious expression when he was thinking to himself, he was really just a bid teddy bear at heart. Dark chocolate colored skin and dark eyes, he was more noticeable than normal by both his companions who were a pale white.

"First off, it's Cam, not Cameron," said the boy, scratching his nose, which was sprinkled with orange freckles. His orange-red hair stood up in all directions, though it was cut close to his head. Pale white, skinny, and with glasses perched on his small nose, and braces on his teeth, he obviously wasn't an athlete and probably could only run fast enough to lose the bullies who often times picked on him at school. "And yes, I'm sure. Her mom said to, so come on!" His green eyes flashed at him dangerously, daring him to defy him even though Chris was three times his size.

"Leave him alone, Chris, we're just gonna grab her and go," replied Kristen, tucking her long, straight brown hair back into a low ponytail. She wasn't much taller than Chris, and her long legs had earned her several nicknames in the past that weren't exactly complimentary even though she looked great in short skirts. Her green eyes caught his and dared him to defy her as well. "I know you can hold her, and most likely Jon will help us if we ask him to…"

"Jon will help you with what?" asked a familiar voice behind them, a tall, strongly built fellow coming up behind them. He was just a tad bit taller than Kristen, but not quite as tall as Chris, being fair well in between. Spiky brown hair covered his head, short because he'd just gotten it cut, and clear blue eyes that gleamed mischievously as he smiled at them. "Hey, what are you guys doing here?"

"Hey," replied Kristen, nodding in his direction. "We're here to kidnap this little guy's cousin."

"And who's that?" Jon looked at Cam, titling his head to the side. "You do look familiar, especially with those eyes…"

"Amanda," replied Cam pertly. He opened his mouth with the usual 12 year old innocence. "Chris said you know lots of ways to immobilize her quiet efficiently, but that he couldn't demonstrate how they're done. Can you teach me?"

Jon went beat red as Kristen coughed to hide her fit of laughter, Chris just turning the boy around and leading him into the school.

"I think that's enough of that…"

"So, Jon," said Kristen, giving him a look. "You going to show him those methods?"

"Whoa there…" Jon laughed nervously. "I don't feel like visiting the stratosphere right now, thanks, which is where she'd send me if I dared."

"Alright, alright…"

"HEY GUYS!!" yelled another voice from beside the school, a figure beckoning them to the practice football field. "OVER HERE!!"

"Who is it?" asked Cam, covering his eyes from the sun.

"It's Matt," said Jon with a grin. "And it looks like Mike's with him. Come on, they'll probably know where the others are."

"Ok."

They walked over to the practice football field, where Mike had a huge fire going full of textbooks. "E.L.P.!!" He yelled as he tossed the book into the flames, his fairly long hair flying about wildly as he continued his crazed dance. A long, hawkish nose and large, intelligent eyes, he was freakishly smart but too lazy to actually do anything with his brain. Tall and skinny, with his arms and legs akimbo, he looked more like a monkey right then than a human being.

"What's he doing?" asked Kristen as she drew even with Matt, Jon and Chris standing on either side of her as Cam stood directly in front. "Some sort of ancient dance?"

"Um, trying to lay a curse on the school by burning a book from each class," explained Matt carefully. He was about as tall as Jon was, with sort of long hair, so it fell to his ears, with a widow's peak in the front. Pale as the others, he had green eyes and a fairly strong body build from being an active fencer. "He found a set of keys to the school and had been searching through all the rooms for the past week…"

Kristen paused, and watched him dance. "Uh, impressive. Though I wouldn't be hanging around if I'd already graduated, like some loser!"

Jon quirked an eyebrow in her direction. "Hey…!"

"PRE-CAL, BE GONE!!" And in went another book.

"More like extremely weird," said Chris, shaking his head as he turned to walk away. "Anyway, we have to go find Amanda…"

"AND FOR THE CROWNING TOUCH!!" Mike held up a leather bound book, throwing it into the fire with a leap, before landing on his butt to watch it satisfyingly burn away.

It didn't go quiet as planned, though.

The whole group hit the deck as the pile of burning textbooks exploded, bits and pieces of burning math, science, english, and other courses raining around their heads. The leather bound volume landed neatly in front of Kristen, not a mark on it except for a bit of ash.

"Ok…" She picked up and sat down, reading the title to herself. "Hey!! I have these books, but it's supposed to be an eight part series not one book, and certainly not this nice…where did you find this, Mike?"

"In the band room!!" he called back

"How did you do that?!" demanded Matt as Mike came running over to look at the book as Kristen started to leaf through it. "The thing is practically untouched, it should be at least fairly scorched…"

"Oh no…" Jon, took a hold of it, trying to take it from Kristen's hands. "Let me have it!"

"What?! No! I want to see it!" cried Kristen indignantly as she tried to take it from his hands. "This has got to be the neatest copy I've ever seen."

"You don't understand, it's dangerous…"

"It's a book Jon!"

"Please, just let me have it, I have to show it Amanda or Brenna or something, they'll know what to do!"

"Ok, now you're not making sense, Jon." Matt put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Are you sure you didn't have just a leetle bit too much to drink this morning??"

"I don't drink and you know it!"

"Smoke? Inhale? Snort? Inject?"

"I don't do drugs either! Matt, listen to me!!"

"Hey, you kids there!" called a deep voice as someone took a hold of Mike, who was standing closest to the school. "What's going on, first the fire and then something exploded, and what's that you're looking at?"

"Nothing, Mr. Payne," said Jon quickly as Kristen shut the book automatically, the light flashing as they all disappeared…

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

"Uh oh…" said Devan as he looked at the group. "This won't do."

"What?" asked Grendal as she watched from beside him. "Oh, the old geezer? Simple, all you do is this…" She sent him back with a flick of her wrist, setting him with an altered memory back at his desk in the band room. The practice field was still burnt, but they'd leave the rest of the public to puzzle it out later on.

"Oh…thanks!" He paused for a moment, then added, "Why didn't we do that with the rest from the start?!"

"What fun would that be?!" Grendal grave her brother a look like he'd grown two heads or something.

"Oh, I get it…thanks again, then!"

"No problem! What about the rest, though? You gonna take care of them now?"

"Eh, leave 'em in limbo place for awhile. It's going to take awhile to find a place suited for them."

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Mr. Payne looked at his desk, a dizzy feeling coming over himself for a moment. "Uh…"

"Are you alright?" asked  his new partner, giving him a worried look. "You look tired…"

"Um, it's nothing," replied Mr. Payne as he looked around his desk. "Now…hm…what was I doing?" He looked at the papers before him. "Man my age must be catching up to me faster than I thought…"

"Well, when you take one of your old students as your assistant director, you know you've had several years as a teacher…" The man laughed lightly, remembering Mr. Payne more as his high school director than as his partner.

"Hush you."

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Libby bit her tongue as she looked at the goats in front of her, a few young kids and their mum who they'd been offered a wonderful price for that morning.

"But she looks so cute there…do we have to get rid of her?" she said to Rupal who sat next to her on the fence.

"We don't have to," replied Rupal with a shrug. "If you want to keep them, we can, I was just asking because of the price offered…"

"Though, the question is why this one," observed Libby as she looked over the rest of the herd. Two rams and six females, plus all the kid goats they hadn't sold thus far, it was quite a flock.

"Um, Libby, it's your only female goat that had triplets," Rupal reminded her slowly. "Remember? Then there were the two sets of twins and the rest just had one or none at all."

"Oh! That's right. Never mind, then, don't sell her. If she'll increase the flock by three each year, and her kids do the same, well…that's four this year…and if they each have three cuz they're all girls, that makes twelve kids plus the original four…that's 16…and if they're all girls and even if they all only had twins at best that's still 32 new kids, plus their mums… That's 48 goats from just four. No, we're keeping that one, I'll never get rid of her."

"Yeah, if she'd give triplets every year for sure I'd sell the rest right on the spot except for the rams," added Rupal lightly. "My goodness, within four generations we'd have over 50 goats. And it all started with one."

Libby nodded, then fell silent as she watched the sheep for a moment. Her eyes took on a vacant look, which wasn't that strange so Rupal left her alone for the moment. Sitting up suddenly, she looked around herself in surprise. "Um…Rupal?

"Yeah?"

"…why are we out here again? I must've lost myself there for a moment, because I really can't remember why…"

Rupal just gave her an odd look and walked back to the house. "The goats?"

Libby gave her a lost look, her eyes completely and totally blank."…what about 'em? They're fine, aren't they?"

"Oi…"

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

The moon rose and fell overhead, all three of them in a dreamless sleep as the hours passed. Amanda woke just after the moon has passed its zenith, something disturbing her light slumber as she sat up slowly. Reaching for the two daggers beside her in the pack, she brought them out slowly and waited.

Footsteps. To their front and right.

"Silven…" She woke the squirrel with a quick flick of her fingers against her tail, bringing her brother around as well by gently shaking his shoulder. "Ben…wake up…" Her voice was barely above a whisper, but seemed loud to her ears in the stillness of the night.

#Something wrong?# asked Lyssa when she saw the blades, not bothering to argue as Amanda placed her on Ben's shoulder.

"Don't know…but stay with him. Ben, stay behind me." He nodded silently.

#Right.#

Ben didn't say a word, remaining huddled in the straw after Amanda had given his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. He stayed behind her as she poked her head forward, seeing a lone figure coming towards them from the front at an easy walk, dressed far richer than they'd ever been able to afford before.

"Hello there," said a musically whimsical voice that practically floated to their ears, one that seemed to put them entirely at ease. "Please, I mean you no harm, see?" He held up both his hands and pulled back his cape, which was of rich plum velvet, so show he was unarmed. His violet eyes seemed to take them in kindly, his golden hair cascading down his back. "My fire, is over there." He pointed to a glow Amanda hadn't noticed before back the way they came. "There's room for all, if you wish to join us, I figured you might be cold with no fire of your own."

Amanda started to stand, not seeing anyone else and was about to accept when she heard something crack behind her and turned to see a spear butt coming in fast aimed at her head. That's when it happened.

She threw one of the daggers out of sheer hope, making a lucky shot in the guy who was holding the weapon's throat before tearing the spear from his dying hands and using it to fend off the armed figures that surrounded them quickly.

"Oh, how precious, the little kitty wants to play with a borrowed set of claws," mocked the original fellow, holding his hand to his mouth as he looked at them down his nose. "How pathetic. Get them, boys, they'll certainly fetch a price from he who asked for them.  Though I don't know why, the one's surely a slut who earns her money by selling herself and the other no better than a beggar. Go on, boys, get to it. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can get out of here, and the sooner I can go back to letting the ladies fawn over me again…ah…"

Two of the fellow circled around as Amanda stood there with the spear in one hand and the dagger in the other, keeping them back with feints and thrusts of the pole arm. Ben stayed put, forced to keep silent from the claws Lyssa had flung over his lips even though he wished dearly to defend his position as well as his big sisters.

One of the men came at her, leaving his face wide open as she threw the dagger in a desperate attempt to stop him before he even reached her. She missed this time, as the man dodged out of the way, but it was not entirely lost. The leader of the gang, who was standing and laughing with some others in the back wasn't paying attention as the dagger whizzed by, cutting his face across his left cheekbone.

"AH!!"

Amanda just smirked, having driven the charge back anyway and still stood her ground. "Would a slut or tramp have ever been able to do that?" she asked saucily, holding the weapon at ready with both hands. She didn't have her fighting magic back, but her instincts had always been fairly good and she knew she was their only hope of getting out this situation as it was. And she'd do it, too, if it was the last thing she ever did. The charge hadn't left her untouched, as the blade flicked under her guard and sliced open her side, blood running a red river down her leg. Ben cried out, but she pushed him back into the haystack, Silven faithfully staying beside him and growling at those who dared come to close.

"You…you cut my face…my beautiful face…" The man held a hand to his cheek, bringing it back to let the scarlet drops of blood fall to the ground. His expression suddenly changed, for horror to wild blood lust. "He did say if we only brought one back as long as there were others it was acceptable, and this one just sealed her own death…get them!"

Three others charged at once, leaving Amanda hard pressed to fend off their blows as attacks as they came in from three directions. She was decent, but between the three they found holes in her defense and with them put holes in her. One to the collarbone, another to her arm, her body screamed in pain as she forced herself to fight on. She'd forgotten how much it could hurt, and how much her powers and abilities had shielded her from before. Amanda wanted to curl up and die, to push this on to someone else's shoulders, but she'd promised Ben she'd always protect him, keep him safe, and never leave his side, and she'd keep that promise if it killed her.

She was caught unawares as one of them grabbed the end of her spear and broke it's head away, the other rushing over her guard and smashing into her face with the hilt of his blade. She reeled back, dropping the weapon as two well-timed arrows from the archers waiting in the background hit her in the shoulder and below the knee. She didn't even register it as they grabbed both her arms and tied each one with a rope, holding them out tight so she was forced to knee before the blonde leader with her arms spread out wide.

Ben rushed forward as he grabbed up the spear, tears of rage pouring down his face as he tried to stab one of the guards holding his sister's arm by a rope. Another easily caught up from behind and tied his hands together as well, bringing him around the front so the two faced each other. Silven had jumped from his shoulder and leapt at the nearest man, biting into the first patch of flesh that wasn't one of her friend's with all her might and strength. Tearing and clawing away, she drew blood from several before one of them managed to hit her over the head with his fist and toss her to the side.

"Crazy animal…must've been possessed or something!"

"Aye, it nearly took me ear off!!"

"Part of it was gone already, wasn't it?"

"Aye, but I'd like the rest to stay, if y'know what I mean. I only got one lug on that side, might as well keep in the best shape I can."

"Quiet!!" demanded their vain leader, holding a silk cloth to his face as he watched Amanda fight and struggle from her bonds like an enraged animal, entirely intent upon forcing them to let her brother free. Her arm, chest, and side bleed freely, and she was barely able to even see straight from the loss of blood.

"Miserable creature," murmured the vain fellow as he went over to their packs, picking up her lute and bringing it around again. "Is this yours? Well, I suppose it is since you probably stole it from someone, so I won't feel bad doing this…" He hit Ben over the head with it, breaking the instrument in half as her brother was knocked out cold. Two of the men hauled him up and over one of the saddles like a piece of luggage, tying him there for the time being.

"GIVE HIM BACK!! GIVE HIM BACK TO ME, OR I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU!! I'LL KILL YOU!!!"

Amanda's words were cut off as he took hold of her throat, holding her so she forced to look into his face only inches away. The sky opened up overhead and it began to rain, soaking everything instantly, but that didn't stop the nightmare from continuing it's course.

"Do you see what you did to me?" he asked quietly as he held up a dagger with his free hand, her dagger, and used it to trace a line along the slice. "I believe I shall return the favor." Before she realized what he was doing, he placed the tip at her hairline centered above the left eye and forced it down in a straight line to her jawbone, her head snapping back as it registered the new pain that flooded her senses. Blood filled her mouth from the whole in her cheek, and she couldn't see out of her left eye from the scarlet flow that covered it.

"I…don't care…" she choked as he let her go, hanging on the ropes as they forced her to stay up. "I'll…kill you…give me…my Ben…"

"In our world, the penalty for striking a noble is death," said the vain man, continuing as if he hadn't heard her at all. He pulled both arrows from her body, taking satisfaction as she writhed in agony as he slowly removed each one. "Hm, however, I shall do everything within my power to make sure your death is as slow and agonizing as possible…filthy wretch. I do feel sorry for you, in a 'because your not as rich or as beautiful as me' sort of way, but now that you've taken it upon yourself to ruin my wondrous face, I'm afraid it's gone and I shall now deal with you in the best way possible. Ren?"

One of the guards handed him a whip, which he circled around her back slowly with before taking aim and lashing her as hard as he could with it. The rawhide was embedded with bits of glass and metal that tore at her clothes and ripped into her back, making her mind shut down entirely. She couldn't feel the ground underneath her knees turn to mud, nor the rain as it ran down her face and mingled with the blood. Pain was all she felt now, and pain was all she knew, her world had become nothing but the fires that burned across her body and made her wish she were dead. Screaming threats at first, then cries for help, and finally pleas for it to stop, her mind almost shut down entirely as the back of her shirt was reduced to shreds and the skin ribbons.

"Drop her," said the man when he'd finished, grabbing the back of her neck to hold her up for a second and face where her brother still lay over the saddle near by. "Do you see him?" he whispered in her ear with glee. "He is now mine. Stupid, witless moron, you were too strong spirited for your own good. I like breaking such a spirit, but only when it has not been meddled with more. I don't take others castoffs. So now you must die, and for your own comfort, know it was I, Constantine, who sent you on you way to hell…"

He let her fall forward, face first into the mud.

"Come," he ordered as a fine stallion was brought out of hiding with the rest of the mounts and those who were left. "Throw the bodies in the haystacks, douse them with oil and burn them, now. Except for the girl, leave her there to die among the mud as she as fit too. Even being burned is too good for her. Take their horses and weapons with us. Ren, cut off all magical connections with the boy now if there are any, and cover our tracks for the next several miles. No one will ever know the true fate of this pair…hehe. Has the decoy been set and are the rest ready to go?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Let's move out, then, as much fun as this was I cannot catch a cold and disfigure my face even more than it is now." He galloped off into the night, unaware that his tortured victim still lay on the ground with blood pouring from her wounds.

"Ben…" murmured Amanda as she slowly succumbed to the growing darkness, her limbs refusing to move in the least and the pain blessedly diminished to nothing but a warmth in the background. "I'm sorry…"

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

"Devan…" said Gredal as she looked in one of the mirrors he was scrying with. "Devan…Devan wake up now!!"

"I'm up, I'm up…" he said, sitting up suddenly as he slowly opened his eyes and rubbed them on the back of his sleeve. Still in child form, he glared at her. "What's going on? It's the middle of the night, nothing happens then!"

Grendal motioned to one of the mirrors, two very still figures lying there in the mud with rain water and blood pooling around them slowly. "And that is nothing? Think again, lil bro…"

"Oh my gosh." Devan stared at the mirror for a moment. "I…holy cow. Go get Trystan!"

"What? I thought you said you could handle it," said Grendal, raising an eyebrow slowly.

Devan was sending out spells as fast as he could. "Get her NOW!!"

"Alright, going."

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Nicole slowly opened the cage of the shrike, having dubbed him 'Butch' because shrikes were often called butcher birds for the way they eat. Spearing their food on a twig or thorn first and then tearing it apart…well, let's just say after Nicole had gotten a descriptive narrative of what it's like from Trevor, she wasn't in the mood for lunch any more.

"Hey, Butchie boy…" she murmured gently, leaving the door open just enough so that she could slip out fast if she needed to but he shouldn't be able to escape. "It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you…" She suddenly realized how stupid she was seeing as he was well over twice her size and stood straight up to point a finger at him accusingly. "Stop stealing my brain, Butch! Believe me, I need it a lot more than you do…"

That wasn't the wisest thing to do, as he snapped at her waving arm and she screamed as he caught her shirtsleeve and lifted her off the ground quickly. Trying to find something to spear her on, the bird continually slammed her into the walls of the wire cage over and over again.

"HHHHEEEEEEEEEEELLLPP MMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Trevor watched in surprise as Butch tore from his cage and wheeled overhead, dangling one very angry Nicole from his hooked beak. Landing on the Trader's shoulder, the bird dropped the girl into Trevor's outstretched palm, crowing proudly as Trevor's shoulder's shook with contained laughter.

"Get down here!!" demanded Nicole as she dusted herself off and stood there waiting impatiently. Trevor brought her up even with his face instead, and just smiled as she pummeled him on the nose as hard as she could. He hardly felt a thing, but didn't say anything, as it was better than being shoved and dumped overboard into the cold ocean waters below.

"I'm sorry," he said apologetically as Butch just sat patiently on his shoulder, watching them with bored interest. "I didn't know he'd try to eat you…I'm really truly sorry." He moved Butch to his wrist, than held the shrike and the nymph girl even with each other. "Butch, this Nicole. DO NOT eat her. Do you understand? She is NOT food, alright?"

Butch seemed to look uncertain, shifting back and forth from foot to foot as Nicole prepared to run for it if he decided to snatch at her again.

"It's like this, bird brains," said Jack as he suddenly popped up beside them. "You eat her, she'll poison you real bad. Maybe even kill you, got it?"

The bird nodded firmly, leaned down to look at Nicole, then turned away as if in disgust.

"JACK!!"

*WHOOSH*

*SPLASH*

"Man overboard!!"

"You really should stop doing that," said Trevor as she took off with the winds to gloat at him over the side of the boat. He put Butch back in his cage, then placed the cage back in the hold. When he got back on deck, he added, "You must be nearly indestructible if you survived that sort a beating with only a few bruises, though…"

"Great, just more work for us who want to get rid of her," growled Jack from where he was toweling himself off at the edge of the boat.

"Jack!!" whined Gwen as she came into view. "I just mopped the deck!"

"Nicole's the one who threw me overboard!"

"Nicole!"

"He said I was poisonous!"

"Jack!!"

"Well…um…she as born!!"

Gwen just fell backwards on the deck, Trevor leaning over her to make sure she was ok.

"I have this urge to go over and gut them both, then string the entrails in the wind as some new form of sail decorations, but I have no idea why," she said in reply to his questions, looking over at him with a blank face.

Trevor helped her to her feet with a grimace as he listened to the pair get into it again. "I think I do to."

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Bryanna sat across from the Master Mage at his work table, charts and diagrams spread out between the two of them. "This one you use if there's a ball of power coming at you and you can't dodge or get to cover because of speed or size," said the man, scratching his bald spot as he showed her a picture of one using their inner powers to shield at least the inside of their body up to the last few layers of skin on the outside.

"So, it'll keep me alive…" offered Bryanna, attempting to create such a shield within herself and finding she could even get most of the layers of her skin in it.

"And at best, it'll keep all but a bit of your skin and your hair out of harm's way," explained the mage slowly. "The skin that is left might be tender and red, but it'll keep you alive. At worst, you'll have barely any of your skin but still alive. It's a gamble, but at least you're assured your life in the end…"

"It's just the amount of damage that varies," finished Bryanna with a nod. "Um…what about this one right here?" She pointed to a diagram showing three people standing in a circle where one was supporting the structure and the other two were powering it.

"That's a group shield," replied the Mage quickly. "See, the healer completely molds around them the tightest shield possible, and the other two go and feed it. This only can happen if the mages are all healers, are all blood related, have created blood links between them, or have created magic links between them."

"You mean, like tie our power together?" asked Bryanna carefully.

"Yes, similar to that," agreed the mage with a nod. He turned his hand over, showing where the middle of it had been scored with a slash mark. "Me and my two partners were blood bonded when we were mage Mercenaries together. Rest their souls, they were killed in a battle 5 years ago and I've given up such a life since."

"Uh, right…" Bryanna gave the man a minute, then held up the diagram. "Me and my two fellow students will not be expected to do this, will we?"

"Of course," replied the man rather promptly. "All healers are set with two or more others on their journeymen courses, and it is required for you to learn this in case something happens in the future before you're allowed to move in status."

"In other words, I'm going to have to convince them to make some tie with me they'd both rather avoid due to my educational requirements," said Bryanna flatly, resting her head on the palm of her hand.

"Yeah…pretty much," admitted the Master Mage with a sigh. He stood up and pulled her from her seat before pushing her out the door and shutting it behind her firmly. "Good luck."

Bryanna looked behind herself at the closed door in surprise, and then annoyance.
"Well, that was uncalled for."

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Kristen found herself sitting across from a young child, who fidgeted nervously as if he had something else on his mind.

"Uh, can I help you?" she asked, leaning forward slightly as she studied him carefully.

"Yeah, I need to strike a deal with you," he replied quickly. "Um, I need to lay a spell on you so you can't interfere directly with characters in a book, nor would you have the wish to."

Kristen raised her brows slowly. "Are you crack? What the heck are you talking about?"

"I'll give you anything you want, too," he said quickly. "Anything at all."

"Um, I don't know since I have no idea what's going on," countered Kristen. "How about an explanation, here?"

"No time. Uh…how about this. I grant you unlimited hand to hand combat abilities and senses as long as you work at it, in exchange for what I mentioned and I get to meddle with your mind a bit so you don't remember this," said the boy, holding out a contract with a pen.

"Um..ok!" Kristen just assumed it a dream an went along with the ride.

"Sign here."

"Done."

"Nice doing business with you," said the boy with a grin as he disappeared from sight in an instant, leaving Kristen to fall through space…

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Jon found himself sitting on a bench in an uncrowded tavern, Matt sharing a bench with him and Chris and Mike sharing a bench to his right. Kristen and Cam sat directly across from them, a table in between all of them on which their drinks rested.

"No," he said aloud, shaking his head. "For the love of God, no, not again…" He let his head fall with a thump, waking the others from their trance-like states.

"Where I am?" asked Kristen, holding her head as it slowly stopped spinning on her. She glanced down, and was in for a shock. "Oh my gosh…my clothes…" She sat up and looked at the others, her jaw hitting the floor. She was wearing a light green tunic with a darker one underneath, both made of linen, plus a set of dark green leggings and boots that came up to right under her knees that were decorated with a fringe. Her brown belt matched the boots, on which there hung a heavy pouch. She wore a single silver ring of twisted wire, and no other decorations.

Cam sat beside her inspecting his new clothes with a happy sigh. Wherever it was they'd been taken, it was some place medieval and that was just fine with him. As long as they got back in time for Amanda's surprise it didn't matter to him in the least. He wore long loose forest green pants, a gray tunic of roughly knit material, and a light shirt with sleeves that came to his elbows under it. His thin leather belt matched the sandals that were on his feet, simple things that tied around his ankles.

"Wow…" he whispered, then looked at the others.

Chris was wearing a leather jerkin, a dark orange shirt under it with the sleeves tucked into the soft leather gauntlets that he wore. Beside his arm was a rolled up leather skin, which was actually a half apron that held wood working tools and such. His heavy leather boots were the same dark brown as this jerkin and his belt, and a Trader staff leaned against the table next to him. His hair had grown longer and was in cornrows that ended right at the nape of his neck.

"I…whoa…something's not right here," he said, looking around at the others in surprise, especially at Jon who was the only one who seemed to have some idea of what was going on. "Since when does closing a book change your outfit and stick you in some medieval place?!"

Jon was wearing a loose blue shirt with a collar, the sleeves ending in simple button cuffs and the neck down to the middle of his chest held together with a string laced back and forth between the holes. His pants were black and loose like his shirt was, belted at the waist under the shirt with a sash. His boots were the same as Kristen's, except a darker brown, but just as soft and movable.

Matt and Mike were nearly dressed the same, light violet shirt with sleeves that gathered at the wrist leaving plenty of room for other moments. Their black leather vests hung open the buttons of some wood polished bright and off set with brown stripes at the armholes and around the neck with pockets in the front. At their black belts hung rapiers, their pants the same black as the vest and their boots coming over their knees in the same black leather as the vests.

"Beats me, though I feel strangely like calling for someone to bring me some ale and a wench," said Mike after he observed himself and his surroundings. The serving girl came by and refilled his mug, leaving after giving him a slow and suggestive wink. Mike about died. "I'm in heaven," he declared, starting to get up. Matt grabbed his shirt and dragged him down.

"Oh, no you don't! Not until we figure this all out!" Matt stood and drew his rapier, a beautiful work of art with graceful curves of steel to protect his hand coming from the hilt and a bone handle that seemed to fit his grip like a glove. He kept on a hand on Mike's collar as he gave it a few experimental flicks. "Amazing blades they've given us, though…wherever it is that we are."

"Please, please she's asking me to come after her…" Matt gave him a look as Mike sighed. "Oh come on!!"

"Ok, Jon," said Matt after Mike had sat down again. "Spill. Now."

Jon sat up and looked at them idly. "You're in another realm, you're not going home for several years, deal with it," he said curtly, then laid his head down again. "Maybe I'll be lucky and I can sleep right through it…"

"Wait, what realm?"

"What you mean a few years?!"

"We can't just deal with it when we don't know what's going on…"

"Up you go," said Matt, hauling him upright by his collar. "No sleepy time now. What the hell are you talking about? I wanna know why I'm sitting here with wenches walking around, wearing a medieval swordsman outfit and carrying a rapier. Now."

"Look," said Jon quietly, spreading his hands before himself helplessly. "The best I can do is explain what happened a few years ago to us. Well, Sarah, Amanda, Elizabeth, Brenna, some others, and me. You know the book? The leather one that you recognized the title on, Kristen? Yeah, well, it's got a spell on it and when you open and then close it you're sucked in…"

"Wait, wait, wait," said Kristen, holding up her hands with an unbelievable smile on her face. "You mean that I'm in Circle of Magic? The Circle of Magic by Tamora Pierce?!"

"Uh…" Jon scratched the back of his head and nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. Last time it was Lady Knight in some Tortal realm or other, but the others had mentioned something about another series, so…"

"YES!!" She started doing a happy dance in her seat when she realized something. She'd been taken to Emelan somewhere, and that was great, but she wasn't with close friends, or even by herself.  She'd been sucked into Circle of Magic with FIVE other guys. "Oh…no…" She slammed her head on the table similar to how Jon had moments ago. "I get to go to the one place I've always wanted to visit, and what happens? I'm stuck with FIVE MORONIC MALES!!"

"Heh, could be worse," muttered Jon. "You could've been stuck with us plus a den of thieves."

"What are you talking about?" asked Matt. "A den of thieves, why would she be?"

"Uh, because Brenna, Bryanna, and Allie were last time," replied Jon with a shrug. "Yeah, Brenna became the Queen of Thieves and went by Vixen…"

"So that's where that nickname came from!" cried Matt as he slammed his hand on the table. "I always wondered why Amanda gave her a hard time about it…! What about the others, though?"

"Sarah and I were horse herders for the longest time," said Jon ticking them off his fingers. "Jenny was a cook, Alyse was some foreign lady with these flippy fans, Amanda and Elizabeth were nobles, Lyssa was a Commander in the Queen's something-or-others, Libby and Artman were super mages, and Kyle was some outrageously rich noble's adopted son…"

"You're lying," said Chris as he shook his head in disbelief. "No…there is no way this is possible! There has to be some mistake…back me up on this, Kristen!"

"I can't when I'm sitting here in a situation that would be one in the book for no reason at all," replied Kristen with a shrug. "And here's the question of the day, what do we do now and what's going to happen to us?"

"Um, we go around doing whatever it is the mage in charge here set up for us this time, eventually meet up with the others who've been brought here, and go home right back to the same time we left," replied Jon with a shrug. "We were there for, what, 6 years last time? Something like that…"

"So this is your second time turning 20?" asked Mike in disbelief. "That is so cool…and I'm going to get to live my youth twice!! YES!!"

Cam was so shocked he hadn't said anything at all until now. "You…you mean we won't be able to give Amanda her surprise?"

"No, you will," Jon quickly assured him, seeing tears about to well up in the youngster's eyes. "Just, it'll be in awhile, ok? I promise, you will eventually."

"…ok." He leaned on Kristen, who put her arm around him lightly since she figured someone had to take care of him now that he'd brought into all of this.

"Hello," said a woman who appeared across from them suddenly, sitting in the empty bench. "I'm Grendal, and for my idiot brother I'll be your replacement mage assistant for today…"

"Are you related to Trystan?" asked Jon, seeing some strong resemblance between the two.

"Older sister," replied the girl with a nod. "So, you're the vet this time?"

"In a way…I guess." Jon shrugged. "Ok, so what's it going to be this time? I'm guessing no horses, which I'm very glad of…"

"Yeah, you're luck wasn't too great with those," observed Grendal with a grin as Jon turned red from embarrassment. "Anywho, my moronic, idiotic little brother Devan is supposed to be the one helping y'all. He's a little busy with an emergency, though, because he screwed up big time and left me to do it instead…her face faltered for a moment, and then she went on and spread some documents on the table. "This is the deed to your new home, which is in the little lady's name." She ignored the glared Kristen gave her for calling her that. "This is the little lady's fighting degrees from three different schools. This is your vet's certification from another fighting school, Mr. Vet. This is you fencing fellow's certificates of learning and the ability to teach others. And this is your certification of woodwork, Trader. Here's a map of the city, the red dot is where you live and work, except for you Trader and that's at the blue dot. The lady knows everything you need to know about the book, and the vet knows everything there is to know about finding the rest. Have fun." She disappeared with a wink. "Bye."

Mike's and Matt's eyes were whirling as Cam just clung tighter to Kristen's side.

"She was scary…"

"Man, I am so lost…"

"Yeah, I'm right here with you…"

"Let's go," said Jon, gathering up all the parchment and letting Chris herd the two fencers out the door as he left some coins on the table for the drinks and had Kristen and Cam walk with him to their new home. He picked up on several differences between this visit and his first one, and wondered what possible hidden surprises this might hold.

"This is going to be interesting."

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Brenna and Kaitlin bent their backs over the massive vats, one of peaches and the other of carrots. Rupal sat beside them on a stool, reaching from an ancient book that let up a flurry of dust every time she turned the page.

"Bring the sugar and fruit concoction up to steady boil, but DO NOT over boil…watch those flames, Kaitlin, you almost got your skirt in them again," said Rupal, glancing back and forth between the book and the two farm workers.

"I know, thanks," came the tired reply as Kaitlin backed up a bit and hitched her skirt out of the way. She continued to stir the vat of slice peaches, even though her arms felt ready to fall off.

"And the carrots?" asked Brenna as the sweat poured down her face, wiping it out of her eyes on her already soaked sleeve as she continued to stir as well. She was in a little better condition than her counterpart, but not by much. While her arms didn't feel like they were ready to fall off, they were quickly turning something akin to lead.

"Keep them below a boil, so make sure that fire's not too hot," replied Rupal after flipping back a few pages. "A few minutes more and we should move it off the fire and begin to put them in the jars prepared for them." She looked at Brenna and cocked her head to the side. "Flip your hair back again, it's longer now that it's not curly and you're about to dip it in the vat."

"Eh…ok. Thanks."

"I just don't want really long hair in my carrots," replied Rupal with a grin. "That's the kind of hair you could choke on and it would kill you. Hey! It's no longer curly and it's still killer hair…"

"What can I say," panted Kaitlin with a tired grin. "She's a dangerous beast to be around…ow!!" Kaitlin rubbed her arm where it was whacked by a spoon that happened to have been on the counter last time she had checked.

"Careful," warned Rupal as Brenna stuck her tongue out at Kaitlin and swung the giant cauldron from the over the fire to closer to the counter. There, she carefully began to ladle the chopped vegetables into jar after glass jar before sealing the top with melted wax.

**three hours later**

"I never wanna see another peach as long as I live," murmured Kaitlin where she lay next to Brenna on the floor.

"We did it, though," replied Brenna quietly. "Every single peach and carrot we couldn't fit in the bins to be used soon were canned for later this winter…" They looked at the proud row of glass jars that lay on the counter. "And to think, we only have to do this for the peas, squash, and pears now…"

Kaitlin fell back as she started to get queasy. "No…!!"

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Amanda slowly opened a single eye, the other covered some bandage of sorts. Her back hurt, she knew that much in a distant, foggy sort of way. Her vision was dazed and clouded, and the room seemed to move around her as she tried to focus on the face above her.

"Briteyes…can you hear me…"

She tried to say something and found she simply couldn't.

#Amanda# came a familiar voice as a warm presence, once she knew from before, curled up at her throat.

[Lyssa…] she realized in some remote part of her mind. [And pain…doe this mean I'm not dead?]

"Briteyes," came the voice again, this time choked with emotion. "We found you…and Scamp's body…I'm sorry, but he's dead."

Her foggy mind tried to grasp such a concept and counted. It was like a cloud, just out of reach. […dead? I saw them ride away…and he was alive…] She gave up and let herself drift into the mists again, it was too much for her right now, she'd deal with it later when things made sense again.

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Rosethorn sat beside her new charge, feeling rather bedraggled and tired as the squirrel they'd found at Briteye's sat worriedly on her shoulder. The creature had attached itself to her side immediately upon seeing them, and if she wasn't curled up and the invalid's side she was sitting on Rosethorn's shoulder or accepting food from her hand.

Briteyes lay in Rosethorn's bed, half her face and half her body covered in the bandages that held some of the worst wounds Rosethorn had ever seen in her life. How that girl was still alive was beyond her entirely. By all rights, she should be dead many times over not just from the wounds themselves but from the fever and inflammations that had followed. The strangest part was how it all started, though…

Rosethorn and Frostpine had been in Summersea on some errand for the Duke, having been specifically asked for to deal with the problem. It was something any mage could've done that was of their magic, but they didn't question it and went anyway. Without any students around, it was nice to have a break from the usual, mundane schedule they held. The pair was supposed to have spent the night at the Citadel with the Duke, but both had been awakened by something just an hour after the moon had reached it's peak, a calling to return home that neither could ignore.

They returned immediately, galloping on horses they borrowed from the stable and would return later on. Halfway there, the plants on the side of the road stopped Rosethorn. There they found Briteyes half dead, and in the hut nearby the abused body of a young boy whom they assumed was Scamp. The head was gone, and beside it was a brand new hat with a silver bell on each of its peaks. Frostpine had galloped back to the temple with all due speed, Rosethorn right beside him carrying the things they'd gathered from Briteyes half-buried bag. Or at least that which was left of it. Moonstream had met them at the gate and insisted she be taken to Discipline Cottage. While she wouldn't explain what was going on, Rosethorn did know it had something to do with the Honored Dedicate following a certain set of directions of sort. The Healer Dedicate worked Great Magics through the night on the poor girl to keep her alive, something that was only done for someone of true importance or when the gods demanded it. That had been a week ago, and things hadn't improved much since then.

A group had gone back and retrieved the body, and it was now buried on the temple grounds with a young oak over it. She'd seen to the planting personally, since there hadn't been any ceremony for his burial in the least. Now she and Lark traded off sleeping and watching her, whoever was awake at the time getting Moonstream at sunset and sunrise to come and poor her power into the girl's body. Otherwise the woman slept like a dead creature in the other extra room next door.

Most interesting had been the hallucinations thus far. Though Briteyes couldn't move much, she was perfectly capable of speaking and some of things she'd said and that they'd found in her bag made Rosethorn curious to say the least. One was the silver chain with a pendant with a strange symbol on the back and signet ring on it that they'd found around her neck. The name, Lyxn Mountain, had come up multiple times in her visions, but no one had any idea where it was.

One hallucination she'd thrashed about for thirty minutes demanding to be let to rescue someone she claimed as her sister, who was called Elizabeth. Another she was rounding on some fellows for fighting and destroying a storage room, and while Rosethorn couldn't tell what the other two were saying she got the impression Briteyes held some sort of power over them. Yet another, she was crying and promising something to someone she called 'Grandfather' on what Rosethorn assumed was his deathbed. So many people she mentioned, so many names, even a King and a Queen in there somewhere along the line as she refused to dress up for some ball and then underwent some torture for it. The plant mage didn't know what to think.

Silven climbed from Amanda's neck and jumped to Rosethorn's leg, tugging on the dedicate's shirtsleeve gently.

"Hungry?" asked Rosethorn, too tired to care that she was talking to an animal as small as her fist. She glanced at her charge, who was sleeping fitfully for once. "I suppose I could use some tea myself…come along…"

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Gwen pet Butch on the head, scratching the rather docile shrike and feeding him tidbits of meat so as to keep him occupied while Nicole attacked a leather harness around his body. It was only around the neck and under the wings, which would hold a small pad on which she'd ride and a hand strap with which she could direct his movements.

Tyler and Trevor had helped her make it the night before, directing her movements while she braided and tacked the thin bits of leather together herself with the small nails and hammer they provided.

"Ready?" asked Gwen, preparing to remove herself from the shrike in a fast manner.

"Ready," replied Nicole, setting herself in the air above the bird. "And…now!" She let herself fall into the saddle, Gwen ducking out of the way as Butch took off to the skies to try and rid himself of his burden.

"AHHHHHHH!!!"

"Don't die, Nicole!!" yelled Gwen as she watched from the deck as the bird did gyrations in the air that Gwen didn't even think were physically possible. "If you do, Jenny'll kill me!!"

"THANKS FOR YOU CONCERN!!!" screamed Nicole sarcastically as she held on for dear life. "PLEASE, OH PLEASE, OH PLEASE WILL YOU SSSTOOOOOP!!!"

Butch, as if he'd heard her, braked with his wings so hard that she flew from the perch, so incredibly surprised that she was no longer sitting on something that she forgot to ask her winds to catch her and fell into the sea below.

"NICOLE!!" Gwen stood over the edge of the railing as Trevor came up to see what the trouble was, Butch landing on his arm the moment he did.

"Blech!!" Nicole bobbed up and down in the water, spitting the salt water out of her mouth like whales spout water as she wiped her eyes clean. "I hate the taste of sea water…AHH!!" She shot out of the water and scrambled up the side of the boat, aided by the winds, as she dodged the fish that suddenly flashed out of the water to try and turn her into an evening meal. "NOOOO!!!"

"Gotcha!!" Gwen caught her as she flew up higher than the rail, holding her in her hands so she wouldn't fall back into the waters below. "You was almost fish bait there, my soaked little nymph."

"Are you ok?" asked Trevor, putting Butch back in his cage. "My goodness, be more careful next time!"

"Dun…like…water…" chattered Nicole as she began to shiver, huddling down in the hollow of Gwen's hands for warmth.

"Aww…you poor little thing. Let's go get you cleaned up." Gwen walked down into the hold as she acted like she'd found a new pet to play with rather than saved a friend who was six inches tall.

"I should've named that thing Devilspawn, not Butch," growled Nicole, too tired to care as they disappeared from sight. "Stupid bird."

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Randy sat by himself in the tent that he slept in, the rope curled neatly before him on the ground. "Ok…" He held his hands before himself and went through the sequence again, calling the light to the rope but keep a barrier between the heat and the rope itself. Opening an eye to survey his handy work, he about jumped for joy. To all appearances, the rope burned as brightly as it would as if it were actually on fire but it never moved past the spot he had set it on. And taking it in his hands, he found it to be perfectly cool and able to be handled even though it continued to 'burn.'

"I…am a GENIUS!!" yelled Randy, getting up and doing a dance as he waved the rope around his head. Gaining confidence, he pointed to the quill that lay on his desk and cried, "BURN!!" The feather pen burst into the illusionary flame, and didn't scorch him in the least as he picked it up with a smile.

"YES!!" He then turned to his bed, holding up both hands as he yelled at the top of his lungs. "BURN!!" The whole thing burst into flames. But he had one itsy-bitsy problem…he forgot to put the barrier up between the flames and the bedding itself. It took a moment before his drunkenly happy mind registered the fact that the fire had spread along the wall and roof of the tent and all that was left of his mat was a charred heap of fabric.

"AHHHH!!!"

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Matt watched as the rest came and went with their usual morning schedule, Kristen still asleep, as her first class didn't start until noon, before he went off to his wood working shop. The building was on the corner where two streets met, a high wall around the whole thing that marked the boundaries of their estate. The place where four of them worked was on the corner itself, the house where they lived connected to the left of it with other houses all around.

The warehouse had been divided into two rooms, one with a two story ceiling and the other a one. The partition between the two had a gigantic fireplace in it to warm the place during the winter; skylights lined the roof with thick glass in both rooms for light. The floors of polished wood paneling and the walls lined with weapons racks that they apparently owned, it looked like the multi-dojo it was supposed to be. There was even a cleared space outside covered in sand that could be used as a practice ring. Swords, pole arms, axes, any type of weapon you could think of they probably had one of and someone who could use it.

A door went from the court, as it was called, to house, which shared a wall with the warehouse. It led straight into the main hall, which also connected to the front door of the place. If you turned right you'd head straight back outside again. If you went straight you'd find the kitchen.

The kitchen was big enough for all of them to be in without feeling like you wanted to kick someone out just for the sake of having more room. The fireplace, which also served as a stove and oven, was in the middle of the house and warmed all the room, when it was cold. There a huge, round table with seven or eight chairs and beyond the fireplace a pump with a sink and drain with plenty of counters to set things on when making meals and plenty of cabinets to store things in as well.

Their only bathroom in the whole place (which they were lucky to have an indoor one) was set in a corner of the kitchen. The pantry was beside it, and there was almost something already made to eat in there if anyone ever got hungry.

Back to when you walked in from the dojo-place, if you turned let you'd go down the hall and hit Mike and Matt's rooms. They hadn't had a choice in the matter of where they lived, and it had just turned out this way that their stuff was already set up for them with a room that was perfect for each one. Mike's room even had a door that led to the alley behind the house that couldn't be opened from the outside unless you had the keys and knew which side of the door frame to push on when you entered.

The stairs went up beside the chimney between Mike and Matt's room's walls, branching off into four other rooms up there. The second floor didn't cover the entire first one, so they weren't as big as they could've been, but it was all worked out in the end. On right side of the hallway as you came were Kristen and Cam's rooms, Kristen's windows opening up right onto the roof of the warehouse and Cam's on the house next door. Chris and Jon were straight across from them, Jon's directly across from Kristen's and Chris's directly across from Cam's.

It was interesting, the way they were living now. He got to fence as much as he wanted to, and taught others to fence as well. So far he had two classes, one on Monday's and one on Thursday's for two hours after lunch. He pitied Kristen, though. They happened to live on the same street as every other family who had worked as the Duke's guards for generations on end, and she was now teaching all their young darlings as well as some of the rich merchant's sons hand to hand combat. At least everyone in his classes were at least 13 or older, she had some as young as 8 or 9 coming for lessons.

Jon taught an advanced class which also specialized in random weapons like the staff and dagger work. How he knew to fight with such things, Matt didn't bother questioning after Jon had told them a little bit more about their last stay and how people had picked up on skills they'd never had before in their life and performed them like they had done it since they were born.

Chris worked not far from them in a little shop on the craftsman street, apparently one of the highest wood workers in demand by the number of orders he got per day. Leaving early and coming home for dinner only, he worked the hardest of all as it was right now, though Matt had a feeling this lull in their business wouldn't last long.

Mike didn't teach yet, but soon he'd get his classes too. Cam didn't either, only being 12 or so, but Kristen let him help with her classes and he was coming along faster than any of the other students. He'd probably be as good as Kristen in a few years in just one of her school's of unarmed combat if he'd just stop worrying about hurting the other person and just get into it.

"Hey! Don't you have an interview or something?" asked Jon as he came in the door, polishing rags in hand as he'd just finished cleaning up the weapons again.

"That's right!" Matt shot up and bolted out the door, wiping his mouth on his shirtsleeve as he fled from the house and down the street.

"He's silly like that sometimes," observed Cam, munching on his toast before yawning tiredly. "Am I waking up Kristen again, or do you want to."

"You do it," said Jon quickly as he rubbed the red spot he still had on his face. "It's rather not get a broken nose like she threatened last time.

Cam chuckled. "Hehe, I know."

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Kaitlin and Brenna sat at the table practically asleep as Cheeks came in, whistling in appreciation at the sight before him. Every counter, shelf, or surface in general other than a strip of floor so people could get through was covered in canned fruits and vegetables. "Wow…very impressive girls."

"Thanks," murmured Kaitlin, already drooling as she began to dream. "No…dun want no carrots…please…no more…no peaches…no pares…just want…sleep…please??"

"Poor girl," murmured Brenna, starting to rise when Cheeks waved her to sit back down and picked the resident cook up himself. "Ah, thanks, I wasn't sure I could get her there anyways…"

"I could tell," said Cheeks. "I'll be right back." He walked out of the room, leaving Kaitlin on her bed drooling with her blanket partially covering her before sitting in the chair he'd removed her from moments before. Brenna was casting about herself, her hand on her wrist.

"You lose something?" he asked, looking around himself as well.

"Yeah, this bracelet I got from Libby during the festival thing," replied Brenna worriedly. "I'm not sure if I took it off or left it upstairs…"

"It fell in a vat while you were cooking!" called Libby over her shoulder as she came in the door and went right up the stairs.

"WHAT?!" Brenna was in a heartbeat, and holding Libby by the back of her shirt with a frown. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

"I did," replied Libby with a shrug.

"Did not!"

"Or at least I tried to," added Libby as she turned around and put her hand on her chin. "Hm…oh yes! I tried to tell you and you told me to shoo, so I tried to tell you again and you turned and waved the spoon at me and told me to get lost, so I tried to tell you again as you were ladling the stuff into the jar, and you came over and shoved me out the door and said if I came in again before you were done I'd be sleeping with the cows tonight instead of in my room, so I figured one bracelet wasn't worth it and left." She smiled, turned and heading back up the stairs as Brenna sat down hard and held her head in her hands. "Later!"

"No…!!"

"You have to admit, though," observed Cheeks as he slowly started to inch towards the door. "It was your fault…"

"But…!" When Brenna looked up the kitchen was empty, except for the many jars of canned fruits and vegetables that glimmered at her in the dimming light mockingly. "AAAHHHH!!"

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Ben sat huddled in front of the Mercenary who was riding with him, his hands bound before him tightly and a gag over his mouth so he couldn't call for help. Not that he could have if he'd wanted to, he was so scared and still in shock from all that had happened. He'd woken as they'd stripped him of his clothes and put others on him, which he recognized as belonging to the boy who he used to play with, and then watched in horror as they pulled him out of the wagon away from the rest of his family and slew him in the hut after beating him soundly.

His body, wearing Ben's clothes, was left in the hut where it lay. The head was taken from it, though, and cast in the flames with the bodies of the others who died, the resident mage sprinkling something in it that dissolved the bodies completely before they turned the horses around and headed back east. By day, the guards played as an escort to their 'Master', the vain blonde, and by night they simply galloped to their next point where they stopped for a few hours and then changed horses. Each place they stopped had a black bird painted above the door, a tavern of sorts that was filled with others like them, dirty men dressed in armor and wearing weapons who worked for someone for awhile as whatever just for the sake of getting paid.

Where they were headed, Ben couldn't say. Why he and his sister had been taken, he didn't know. Why the little boy had to die in his place wearing his things, he wasn't sure but he was sorry it had to happen at all. The wagon with the others had taken a different route, and he hadn't even been allowed to see them to tell them what had happened to their son before they had left.

Ben was tired, cold, hungry, and scared. His sister was gone, his friend killed, and these men now holding him as his prisoner. What was a little boy to do?

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Jenny watched Nicole as she sat across from the shrike, having a staring contest with it in a battle of wills.

"I WILL win," growled Nicole as her eyes began to water from being open so long. "I will master this stupid bird…" *blink* "ARRGGGH!!!"

Butch just stared at her and blinked a few moments later.

"That's it!" cried Nicole. "I'm doing it again!!" She gave her eyes a few moments and then opened them wide, leaning in as she and the bird locked gazes even more fiercely than before.

"Come on, you stupid thing, blink already…"

Butch just stared at her with his usual unblinking gaze.

"I said blink!"

He didn't.

"BLINK ALREADY!!!"

If he understood what she was saying, he refused to, and merely looked on her with pity at the sad creature that she really was.

"BLINK!!!!"

Butch just fluffed his feathers and continued to stare.

Nicole's eyes began to be bloodshot, veins popping into view as she clenched her hands in determination. "I….WILL…NOT…" She blinked. "NOOOO!!!"

"Are you sure she's sane?" asked Tyler from where he peaked around Jenny, jumping back as Nicole screamed and shook her fist at the bird even though she was half his size and the boy was far bigger than her than that.

"At one time I was," replied Jenny with a shrug. "Now I'm really now…let's go get something to eat and leave her to Butch, ok?"

"Ok!"

They left the nymph there, ranting on and on as Butch just stared at her in boredom. "BLINK!! I WILL MASTER YOU, YOU STUPID BEAST!! BLLIIINNNK!!!!"

He did.

"I HAVE WON!! I HAVE WON!! I HAVE WON!! MUAHAHAAHAH!!"

Jack looked at her for a moment, then walked away. "Man, and I though animals were dumb…"

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Bryanna stared at the ruins of the tent for a moment, then looked at Randy who had part of his hair burned away and patches of burns all over his skin. "You hopeless idiot."

He paused, then asked slowly, "Does that mean you'll help me?"

She gave him a glare. "No."

"What?! But…I need you to heal me!!"

"No, you did it yourself you go clean yourself up for once," she replied roughly, turning away.

"Hey, help him already!" cried Olivia, who stood on Randy's other side as she'd already used her abilities to freeze the fire completely and save a few of his things. "He's an idiot, yes, and very hopeless, but at least make sure he's alright!"

"He's burned himself, what, two? Three times now?!" cried Bryanna with her hands out before herself. "I'm not going to keep wasting my powers on someone like that! You've only had to put out one fire, I've had to heal multiple fire BURNS!! If the moron can't keep himself in one piece together on his own, he doesn't deserve any one's help."

"He is our friend, you know," retorted Olivia coldly. "And our only other friend from earth, if you have forgotten. Front what you said, you need everyone there to get back."

"He's alive and breathing," Bryanna pointed out. "Therefore, he's fine. He can take care of himself for once. And why do you care, anyway?!"

"I don't care!" retorted Olivia quickly. "I just think we should help him for our own sakes."

"Like how so?!"

"If we don't we have to listen to him moan and complain about his injuries, because he won't know how to deaden the pain."

"So." Bryanna shrugged. "We gag him."

"And we'll have to take over the chores that he won't be able to do because he's hurt." Olivia tilted her head slightly to the side, thinking she'd stumped the other young woman.

"No, he can still do them because it's his arms and back that got burned this time," replied Bryanna quickly. "Not his hands. And besides, none of them were bad enough to cause any actual muscular damage."

"Well…what about your credits," replied Olivia carefully. "If he says you won't heal him because of personal grudges, they may do something for not using your gift properly."

"They won't," replied Bryanna with a snort. "And he won't dare tell, either, because just as I can heal him I could kill him too just by short circuiting his heart with a touch of my power."

"Please?" begged Randy, falling on his knees in the sand as he grabbed onto her legs. "Pleasepleaseplease?? I am so so so sorry, I really am, just please at least give me the pain killers…??"

"I contacted Lightbridge," said the Master Mage as he came back beside them from his tent, a frown on his face. "They said they would send extra uniforms, as well as replacements for the schoolbooks you lost to your next teacher." He suddenly noticed Randy was on his knees at Bryanna's feet, a pained expression on his face. "Oh, heal the poor sucker already, he looks pitiful like that."

"I know," replied Bryanna, brushing her hair from her eyes. Sighing, she touched his forehead lightly and put him out cold with a touch of her magic. "Someone carry him to another bed, I'll go get my bag…the idiot."

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Chris patiently carved the graceful curve on the back of the chair, stepping back from time to time to check his work before going at it again. His tools were simple, and often more archaic that he liked, but having a hand drill instead of an electric one wasn't so bad once you got used to it. Besides, it couldn't die on you and leave you without one, at least. And with how heavy and sturdy his tools were, Chris doubted they'd ever break while he was using them.

He finished out the arch and got some sharkskin that was used as sandpaper around there, using that and the shavings to give it a nice satin finish. It was a good thing the sea was close by and the stuff was easy to find, or he'd have some trouble finding a good enough replacement.

The sun rose and fell overhead as he continued to work, the few sticks of stout wood that he'd started with being reshaped into the beautiful chair that now stood before him. Its legs were steady and strong, but with a nice slant to them, it's arms scrolled as asked for and with little grooves running along the side for looks. It's back was a garden of loops and curls, created just as asked with a space left blank where the cushion would be placed.

"Excuse me," said the tanner, coming in with his order of goods. "This be the right size of leather, you asked for?" He held up a thick piece dyed green and soft as doe's skin when Chris took it from him.

"Well, let's see…" He held it up and tacked two corners down, checking it all around as the man stood there and watched. "It does very well, thank you."

"And thank you." He took his coins Chris pointed out to him on the table and left, leaving him with more work than he had before. Taking off the leather, Chris began to mix the finish he would use on the wood to give it a nice, warm, natural glow. Putting the first coat on carefully, he left it in the middle of the small shop for the night to dry before dusting himself off and walking on home.

"They wondered where you'd gotten to," said Cam as he met him at the front, a smile on his face as usual.

"I'm right here," replied Chris as he mussed the boy's hair affectionately.

"Yeah, yeah, let's go. Jon's cooking tonight, and he said he'd make the chicken again," said Cam as he pulled Chris with him through the streets to their home.

"I thought you said guys can't cook?"

"I was wrong, MOST guys can't cook," admitted Cam. "But in this case, I'm glad I am, because if I have to endure one more night of Matt's failed attempts at pizza or Mike's burned steaks, I think I'm going to die."

Chris just laughed.

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Libby sat there stubbornly, a frown on her face as she refused to eat the meat that Kaitlin had put before her on the table. "I won't."

"Libby," said Kaitlin carefully, as if talking to a small child. "It's sheep. Mutton. I thought you liked it last time I made it."

"I did," replied the young woman slowly, tears forming in her eyes. "But…but…" *sniff*

Rupal looked at her strangely and kept eating her meal, knowing it was safe since Cheeks had already finished his portion and wasn't violently ill or rushing for the outhouse as fast as he could run.

"Libby, it's good, just eat it," said Brenna in exasperation.

"But… *sniff**sniff* It was old Tom…" She broke out into tears, crying as she mumbled something over and over about old Tom.

"What's she talking about?" asked Brenna as she leaned over slightly.

"Old Tom is the ram we gave to the Butcher in exchange for slaughtering the other three ewes for us, well, half of him anyway. The other half in is our larder, and part of it in our bellies…"

"Oh…I get it."

"Libby, it's a sheep!!" cried Kaitlin in frustration. "An animal that's not even bright enough to be considered a pet! Come on, it's not like we killed one of the bunnies and turned it into a stew…"

Libby looked up, having only caught the tail end of the comment. "You WHAT?!! I ate one of my BUNNIES?! NOOOO!!" She got up and fled upstairs, everyone just watching her in amazement.

"Well," said Cheeks as he took hers and pushed the meat onto his plate. "Guess she won't be needing this now." He dug into it, not noticing everyone else just staring at him a moment later. "What? Was it something I said?"

"No Cheeks," replied Brenna as she went on eating hers. "Nothing at all."

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Lyssa sat on Amanda's chest with her paws on her face, desperately trying to reach her as the two dedicates came rushing in the door. #AMANDA!!# she screamed, trying to be heard over her cries of pain and anger. #AMANDA!! WAKE UP!! COME ON, WAKE UP!!#

"Get her hands!!" yelled Rosethorn as she latched on to the girl's feet, doing her best not to hurt her in the process.

"GIVE HIM BACK!!" screamed Amanda as she blindly tried to lash out at the dreams that haunted her. "I'LL KILL YOU!! GIVE HIM BACK!!"

"Hold her steady," ordered Moonstream as she ducked in, laying a hand on either side of Amanda's face as she tried to wake her from the fevered nightmare. "Easy…easy does it…" The performer gradually relaxed, her breathing slowing from angry gasps to even breathes as her screams became nothing more than soft murmurs again. Slowly, her right eye opened, the other still covered in the bandage with the rest of her face as the dedicates let go of her gingerly.

"Briteyes," said Moonstream, taking a seat by the bed as Lark and Rosethorn came around to stand behind her. The young woman looked at only the squirrel who loomed in her view, chattering away softly.

#You're awake, and you're alive# she said, knowing by the look in Amanda's eye that she heard what she was saying, and slowly grasping it. #I can't believe you're alright, I was sure you were going to die…#

"Shh…" Amanda reached up with her right hand and laid it on the furry little creature, holding her close in reassurance as she slowly pieced everything together. "It's ok, it's ok…" She looked to the other three standing there beside the bed in surprise. "Lark? Rosethorn?? Honored Moonstream?! How did you…?"

"Relax," said Moonstream, waving her hand for her to be silent as she continued. "You're alright, though it'll take awhile your body will mend and be as good as it was before. Or as close as we can get it, anyway." She emitted an aura of peace around her, and Amanda felt herself calming despite her fears. "Rosethorn and Frostpine found you in the field and brought you here, and we have cared for you since then. That was over a week ago. You can explain what happened later, right now we have something to tell you."

While she processed these words, Lark left the room and returned with something a moment later, sitting on the bed beside her as she laid it by Amanda's hand. "We found Scamp's body, Briteyes," she whispered as she watched the woman run her finger's along it's edge in recognition. "He's dead, I'm sorry."

"No." Amanda looked at them definitely. "I…I saw them leaving, and he was…no, he can't be, I…no, no he's not…he can't be…I saw him!" Her words grew more fevered as Lark simply put her arms around her and held her close. "No…he's not dead…I won't let him be!! He has to be alive!!" She screamed the last part and broke down sobbing, letting herself be gathered up in Lark's arms as she lost it completely and continued to deny out loud that which she feared inside was true. Silven curled up at her throat, and those Rosethorn had never seen such a thing before, and questioned it later on when she thought about it, the squirrel cried too.

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Nicole laughed and did loops around Jack's head, easily evading his slow and clumsy swings. "Haha!! Can't get me, slow poke!!"

"I am gonna tear you appart and feed you to the fish when I get you!!" he yelled angrily, making another grab and barely missing her at all.

"Op, almost, Jack! Might wanna try a little harder next time…"

"ARRRGH!!"

"Teehee!!"

"A copper says he catches her," murmured Tanner to Tyler.

"Two says she'll make him do something stupid," replied the younger brother with a grin.

"You're on!!"

They watched for several more minutes, the rest of the crew ignoring them when Nicole stopped right in front of Jack's face for a fraction of a second.

"BOO!!"

*SMACK*

"Ouch…" Jack fell back with his hand still on his forehead, the sound of him smacking himself reverberating off the boat. *THUD*

"Pay up," said Tyler, holding out his hand.

"Little brat," muttered Tanner as he fished out the coins and put them in the outstretched palm.

"Nicole," said Jenny as she tried to scold her, but had to stop every time she started from laughing so hard. "You really…haha…No, seriously...hehehee…I mean, that is…aahhhahaha!!!"

"I think you killed the Captain of laughter," observed Gwen as Jenny sat down hard still laughing, the rest of the crew joining in as well. "And the First Mate with his own fist."

"All in a days work of being a Nymph," preened Nicole as she strutted up and down the rail of the deck.

"Does that ways work include losing staring contests with a bird?"

"…shaddup."

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Bryanna checked Randy's burns again, taking the bandages off of most of them except for a few and proclaiming him fit to travel again.

"Now," she said as she finished salving and tying up the last of the burns that needed to be covered. "Be good, and don't do this again, and I'll finish this without any scars. Burn yourself again, and you will scar worse with that which you gain that if you had half your body mass burned off. Understand?" she said, slowly, pulling on the last bandage for effect and watching as he winced.

"…ok."

"Say, 'Yes, ma'am.'"

"Yes ma'am."

"What do you know, maybe he is trainable after all," said Olivia from the doorway. "Come on, our Master Mage has offered us horses instead of camels, and if we leave now we can go with this caravan that's heading through and not have to cook for ourselves or camp out alone until we reach civilization again."

Randy adopted his pitiful look. "Will someone please pack my…"

"No."

"But I'm…"

"No."

"What if…"

"No."

"But she…."

"No."

Randy sighed and got up, walking after the two as they went their separate ways to get his things together. Life was definitely not fair.

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

Cam woke up with the sunrise as usual, stretching slowly before hopping out of bed and pouring some water into his basin. It was nice to wake up without your baby brother crawling all over you, or your big brother dumping you out of bed just for the joy of watching you fall. That's why he woke up so early, back home, and while he did miss his parents he had always liked being alone enough and living here with these people didn't really bother him that much at all.

Cam changed his clothes and ran a hand through his hair, opening the door while facing his window one last time when he turned around to the hallway to see several gigantic spiders falling down towards him.

"AAAHHHH!! KRISTEN!!" He ran straight into them, getting tangled up into their threads as he tried to wrestle his way out and just got more and more tangled up instead. Mike and Matt, who had rigged it up, lay laughing on the floor as they watched him slowly fight his way free.

"Hahahehe…oh that great!"

"It was, it was…the look on his face was priceless!!"

"I know!"

They suddenly realized he wasn't tangled anymore and running towards Kristen's room, still scared out of his mind. "KRISTEN!! HELP!!!"

"Oh crap!"

"Grab the kid!!"

Cam opened the door and ran straight in, jumping behind Kristen's slowly waking form as her bloodshot eyes focused on the two males who stumbled in and quickly started to back out as they saw her eyes latch on them.

"What's going on?" she asked in a dangerously quiet voice, Cam still huddled at her back. "Come on, get off the bed, Cam. There had better be a good explanation for this…"

"TheyriggedmydoorandspidersfellandIgotalltangledandwasreallyreallyscared," Can paused for a breath. "SoIranherecuzIwasafraidtheyweregonnascaremeagain."

Kristen looked at the pair, murder forming in her eyes. "You scared him, and woke me up and this indecent hour in the morning. Prepare to die."

"AHHH!!" Mike and Matt ran out into the hallway, only to be met with a very angry Chris and Jon who had been awakened as well. Kristen came up behind them and all three eye's met, one thought on their mind.

"GET THEM!!!"

"AHHHHHHHH!!"

*crash* *boom*

"AHH!!!"

*smack**crack*

"It was an accident!!"

"Don't you ever wake me up this early again!!"

"WE'RE SORRY!!!"

Cam just smiled as he watched the pair get chased all over the house by the murderous trio. "Hehe, that's what I call pay back."

"AAAAHHHH!!!"

~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~

And that's that. A very long chapter, I know. Tops out at 32 pages. Don't expect one like this all the time, it won't happen. As far as future updates, I'm gone for three weeks so I'm going to try to update from my various trip places, but it will be sporadically and possibly nonexistent. Sorry.

Please review, you did get a double dose after all. And it's not like it was two wimpy chapters either, these puppies took me FOREVER to finish!

"If there's one thing I can't stand in life, it's a violent person and if anyone tells me different, I'll smack 'em!!"

~Crosseyedbutterfly~