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!

17.

*Hides as a barrage of weapons/books/stuff is thrown at her* Yes, I KNOW I haven't updated in awhile! Here's chapter 17, ok? Just put down those blades...*relaxes as the angry mob slowly dissipates* Whew....well, here's 17, as I said, and cuz you waited so long there's an extra-special surprise at the end. Thanks!

♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦

"Rupal, time for breakfast..." Kaitlin sleepily peeked her head into the group's math-expert's room, tilting her head in confusion when she didn't see Rupal in her bed in the corner. "Eh...? Rupal, you in here?"

"Zzz...."

Kaitlin turned quickly, stumbling over her own feet clumsily as Jem suddenly appeared to steady her from behind. "Ahh! Gees, can't even walk right....thanks, Jem."

"Oh, you're welcome. What's wrong, though?"

"Rupal's not in her bed, and usually....oh..." Kaitlin let her words trail off as she saw the desk in the other corner, the young woman sprawled over it with one arm hanging over the edge, the hand grasping an open ledger book, and the other holding a pen whose ink had long gone dry. "Hehe, awww....she looks so cute like that."

"I wasn't sleeping, I swear!" said Rupal suddenly as she jerked herself awake, roused by the presence of the other two in the room. "I'll never do it again, Mrs. Kestner, just don't-....oh, hey."

"Senior English dream?" asked Kaitlin as she recognized the name of that particular teacher.

"AP," added Rupal with a shudder. "She made it harder on me, because I was the valedictorian."

"Ah..."

"What are you two talking about?" asked Jem as he tugged on Kaitlin's sleeve. "What's 'See-nor English?'"

"Don't worry about it," replied Rupal as she gave the younger boy a quick smile, standing to stretch out slowly. "Mmmm...."

"Did you find anything?" asked Brenna as she suddenly popped her head in the door, brushing her ebony locks out of her amethyst eyes. "Even a small copper...?"

"Nothing," replied Rupal with a shrug and a frown. "Sorry...it's all gone."

"Shoot..."

"What's wrong?" asked Kaitlin as she covered Jem's ears. "Brenna, what's she talking about?"

"The money we had left over? It's all gone," replied Brenna with a weary shrug. "All we have now is the bread I was able to trade for the other day and what's in the cellar..."

"That's not going to last until spring," said Kaitlin hesitantly as she turned rather pale.

"I know," replied Brenna as Rupal just sighed.

"So...what's going to happen?"

"I don't know."

♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦

"There's not a breeze in sight," sighed Jen as she stood with Tanner at the head of the ship, holding her hand up to shield her eyes from the glare of the sun.

"No, it lasted just long enough to get us to the outside of the port, though," replied the present helmsman as he adjusted their coarse slightly. If they let the tide carry them in, they'd make it in a few hours, but they would block the mouth of the port for awhile while waiting for it to pull them through, and Jen doubted the other Shipmasters there would like that very much. "What now, Captain?"

"Down to the galley with all hands on board, unless you can think of something else," replied Jen with a sigh, imagining how much her muscles were going to hurt already. "Unless you can think of something else, that is. Nicole can't help us unless she's already going some sort of a breeze already going..."

"Stay in there, already!" cried Nicole as she wrestled with her pants, firmly holding one pocket shut as she cavorted about in the air. "Stupid little wisp..."

"Whatcha got there?" asked Ty as he jumped down from one of the masts, sliding part of the way down using a rope. "Another little rouge?"

"Yeah, I was gonna try and tame him later, but he won't even settle down enough to stay put for more than a few seconds at a time," replied Nicole as she suddenly let go, something the others couldn't see springing free and roving around her restlessly as she laughed and told it to stop because it tickled. "Ah, go on if you want...no, you can't stick with me if you won't let me tame you...oh, don't give me that, you little snip..."

"What are you talking to?" asked Jen in concern as Nicole continued to tease and play with some little...thing that couldn't be seen by the others.

"Just little Wisp," replied Nicole as she rolled her eyes as if it was obvious. "My new pet breeze!"

"Could this breeze of yours, say, move us into the harbor?" asked Tanner hopefully.

"Hm...maybe...you wanna try, Wisp? Oh...sure. Ok."

"What'd he say?" asked Jen in amusement, hiding her smile behind her hand.

"That he's going to give it a few false starts, then go at it with all he's got."

"Oh, ok..."

Everyone sat around and waited as Nicole continued to call encouragements to the little twist of wind none of them could see. Despite her efforts, though, it appeared they were going nowhere for the sails still hung slack and the tide the only force that slowly dragged them on.

"Come on, now, you can do it, Wisp! Just a bit further...no, you may not. Keep that tongue of yours clean, mister! Yes, I know you don't have a tongue, you know what I mean..."

"Perhaps we should just get the crew down to the galley," suggested Tanner under his breath. "I mean, all the best docks are going to be taken if we don't get in there soon...there may not even be one left!"

Nicole sighed, as if resigned to her fate somehow. "Alright...you go ahead and do it, little Wisp. They don't think you can do it otherwise...yes, I know. We'll just get you a new one later..."

Everyone paused as the air seemed to tighten around them, and then with an audible *SNAP* a might wind blew over the deck and filled the sails with ease, bringing them into the port faster than any other ship had dared. Just as they reached a free space the winds reversed, bringing them to a steady stop.

Nicole just smiled and nodded as the strong wind came and played about her merrily, doing something with her hands that looked like she was spinning something until at last, she stopped and the wind had died completely, leaving only the hyper little Wisp of wind that played about her like a pet.

"...do I want to know how you did that?" asked Jenny as she looked at her little (literally) friend quizzically.

"Wisp is a big sea breeze that took a liking to me, so I twisted him up over and over again until he was nothing more than a little Wisp that could be with me always," replied Nicole with a sweet smile. "Though, as you can see, it doesn't take much to get him back to his old form..."

Jenny backed away as Nicole let out a maniacal laugh, one that seemed way too out of place with her small form. "Strange little thing..."

♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦

Kristen paced the room as she usually did during lessons, letting Cam lead from the front as she went and inspected each and every person's form. Briteyes sat contentedly in a corner, watching in amusement her sister and cousin at work while she rested. It was nice not to have to go out and play and perform all day just to make a few coppers, but it wasn't going to last forever and she was going to take every bit of rest she could get while she could.

"Class," said Kristen as they ended another kata, pairing up for their usual sparring rounds. "Today we have a bit of a treat, I suppose...a friend of mine has come to visit from her home town, and hopefully will give us a demonstration of what she knows...?"

Briteyes frowned in confusion, Kristen hadn't mentioned this the night before. "You don't mean...?"

"Why not? You're probably good enough, I won't be able to even lay a hand on you, so what could it hurt?" asked Kristen as she jerked her head towards the cleared space where they were to fight.

"I don't know..."

"She's probably just scared," taunted one of the students, sneering at her down his long nose. "Look at her, she's hardly even as big as Cam. Bet I could take her..."

Briteyes sighed and rolled her eyes. "Ok, then...I'll fight someone, but not you, Kristen, or you, Cam. Who wants to go first?"

The same young man stepped forward confidently, flashing his friends a smirk over his shoulder. "Watch close, guys! I'm about to beat a supposed Master, and I'm not even considered a man by law yet."

"Shut your mouth and get ready," ordered the performer, narrowing her eyes slightly. Arrogant brat, she'd make sure he wouldn't forget this match...

The young man fell into a cocky stance and charged at her, proving he was quick on his feet by pulling a sudden pivot and leaping up to do a roundhouse kick at her chest, but not quick enough. Briteyes just leapt back out of the way and then darted in, grabbing his wrist and kicking his other leg out from underneath him in a sweep, using the hold on his wrist to then flip him over to the ground.

Even on his stomach and panting, she gave him no quarter. On him in a flash, she had his arms back and a knee on his spine, glancing up at Kristen calmly.

"Do you give?" asked the instructor with a mischievous glint in her eyes. That particular one had been giving her problems for some time now, and seeing him like this improved her spirits greatly.

"I give," he gasped as she dug her knee a little deeper, suddenly letting go and skipping back to stand by Kristen with a small grin on her face.

"I didn't earn the scars that I have for nothing," Briteyes said simply as she looked over the other students with a wry smile. "Anyone else wanna go?"

The were a few shook heads, the rest just watching her numbly in surprise. Small people like her weren't supposed to be that strong, supposedly.

"Ok, then...class dismissed."

"My dearest rose, the light of my life, how good it is to see you!" cried a noble looking fellow who came dashing across the room, about to grovel at Kristen's feet as the students dispersed when he suddenly realized Briteyes wasn't leaving. "Uh...excuse me, but I believe the dearest Mistress Kristen and I are busy, if you don't mind..."

"Actually, I do," replied Briteyes with a hard glare. "And you had better have one heck of a reason why you're touching my little sister...?"

"Sister?" The Baron rose, glancing back and forth between the two many times in confusion as he muttered to himself. "She looks nothing like the fair one of my heart...how could it be??"

"Now, if you don't mind, leave," added Briteyes as she turned him none too gently and propelled him towards the door with a mild push. "My sister and I have things to discuss." She looked up at Kristen, who had her mouth set in a line with a tick forming in the corner of her eye. "Like who the heck is he...?"

"A bloody pest that won't leave me alone," muttered Kristen through her clenched jaw.

"Oh...want me to break his nose for you?"

Kristen glanced at her friend in shock. "AMANDA!!"

Briteyes looked back at her with a wink. "What?"

♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦

Ben sat down beside Artor after their free time was over, sifting nervously on the hard bench as the master who was to teach them stalked into the room. He resembled a heron, with his monstrously long legs and nose, and two beady little eyes set in his bald little head that seemed to take in everything at great detail.

"I do know what the Master Baron was thinking, wishing to educate a commoner, but I will put up with his antics none the less," he muttered to himself as he set several large and dusty tomes upon the table that served as a desk for the two and went over to erase the slate board of the previous lesson. "Now, seeing as you're obviously already up to Master Artor's level in both the Sums and Writing and Reading, we shall see how you are in the Sciences..."

And so began a long series of questions concerning many everyday things, such as the different states of matter, why some animals were carnivores and others herbivores, how plants grew, how animals grew, how heat and cold were transferred and many, many other things. Finally, the teacher was satisfied he had a good enough account of the extent of Ben's knowledge (though he was curious to know how a commoner knew so much) and began the lesson.

"Now," he stated imperiously, writing a few numbers on the board. "On to figuring how much to use on buying supplies to feed and stock a summer ranch for a minor noble..."

♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦

Alyse and Revlis knelt side by side over the map of the place they'd bribed out of one of the servants. All that worked there were mutes, and unable to read or write, but that didn't mean they couldn't see or trace what they had seen on a scrap of parchment with a stick of coal. And even if the servants had planned on turning them in to their masters, they were so saturated with Unmagic that it had left the trio little choice but to terminate them after their usefulness had ended.

The gathering was happening in an old mansion similar to the one they'd blown apart originally, and that just made their job all the easier. Landon worked at packing a gray powder with a special mage-trigger set at the front in small tubes, tying together six at a time and then setting them aside on a special cloth to keep the damp of the night off of them. Once he was finished, they completed the blood-link from the mage trigger to him, sealing them in a special wax that would disable the entire explosive from going off should it be tampered with.

The two otherworlders dressing entirely in black, Revlis dropped into her panther form and let them place a harness on her holding the carefully wrapped and packaged magesticks, filled with the precious boom-powder Revlis had gotten her hands (or paws) on through a black-market vendor. Like shadows, they slipped through the dead of night to the mansion, easily evading the sleepy guards and dodging the mages traps Alyse only had to scry a bit to see.

Leaving a nervous Landon to wait for them just inside the main wall, the pair padded their way into the house itself. Setting a package at the key points they'd agreed upon earlier, the two hurried as much as they dared and were soon outside again, repeating the same procedure around the base of the structure. Wordlessly they worked, the same thought on both their minds. Please don't let Landon get caught, please don't let Landon get caught...

No matter what, if he was found before their return the young man had been charged with the task of setting the explosives off immediately, thus terminating every life within a one hundred foot area, including their own. Not that they necessarily feared death, but it'd be nice to have a little bit of warning before their lives were snatched from them completely.

Alyse suddenly paused as they rounded another corner of the house, reaching back to stop Revlis, but not soon enough. The large panther stepped into the light, gaining the attention of the guards before them as they both immediately drew their blades.

"Get them!" cried Alyse under her breath, as one raised his hands to his lips to whistle for help as she instinctively reached for her fan and threw it as hard as she could. His head rolled to the feet of his partner, who stood there gaping at them as Revlis leapt at his throat in a single, mighty pounce. Time seemed to slow down as a third assailant appeared, throwing daggers faster than either could count as he yelled for help.

Alyse had her second fan out instantly, batting the flying blades away as fast as she could with only one to use while jumping at the vulnerable Revlis at the same time, who had her side open to the man. Every dagger she hit aside, all but the very last as it hummed through the air and punched itself into her arm.

"AHHH!!"

Revlis roared in fury and leapt at the man, tearing out his throat before circling back next to the kneeling Alyse. [GET ON!]

Gathering her strength, Revlis easily carried Alyse along the walls of the place, jumping from shadow to shadow as her passenger dropped one of the packages every time they passed one of their marked spots. Coming upon Landon's hiding spot, Alyse reached over and grabbed him by the arm as the huge panther sprang up into a tree, going from there to the top of the wall and then down into the forest below in a single, powerful leap.

"Don't stop!" gasped Alyse as Revlis suddenly slowed her pace, glancing back at her bleeding companion with concern. "Revlis, GO!"

Landon latched his arms around Alyse's waist as Alyse held on to the harness with her good arm, the other dangling limply from the shoulder. Once they reached their appointed spot, they stopped, Landon jumping down and drawing his short sword. Plunging it as hard as he could into the ground, he focused all of his attention on building as he triggered the magesticks with a burst of power, then using the vortex of physical energy from the collapsing building as a medium through which to cleanse the entire structure and the surrounding areas.

"Nice," murmured Alyse as the report of the explosion, and then the shudder of the land as the magical energy rushed through it reached them. "Couldn't...hm...have done it better myself."

"She gonna be ok?" asked Landon as he came and knelt beside the pair, Revlis human once more and binding the would with strips she'd torn from her own clothes.

"Yeah, it was just a small one," replied the dark warrior as she nodded to a small dagger at their feet. "No poison, a clean cut...it shouldn't take long to heal."

"You seem to always be the only one to get hurt while we're doing our job," sighed Landon as helped the young woman to her feet, giving her a concerned once over.

"Amanda would laugh at me if she heard you say that," muttered Alyse with a shake of her head. "I used to tease her about being the only one hurt, and she said someday it'd be my turn, just for saying it..."

"Let's get you back to the camp, and then get out of here," said Revlis as she looked back towards the mansion, seeing several others scuttling about it, trying to put the roaring flames out. "If we didn't get all the mages, well...I'd rather not stick around to find out for awhile, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah, let's go."

♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦

Olivia drove the cart as Bryanna and Randy slept in the back through the night, using the light from a lantern to see the way as the moon had deserted them for once. Stopping the donkeys at a crossroad, she jumped out and brushed off the years of growth from the road markers, comparing the signs to the ones on the map until she figured out where they were. If the map was right, they'd reach their destination before dawn.

Hoping back up, she drove the beasts on a little faster than before, partaking of some of their meager stores to keep her awake for a few hours yet. The road passed endlessly beneath their worn wheels, seeing no one else on the lonely path and passing by a few small villages they could see to the side but never actually passed through.

Cresting a tall hill not even an hour before sunrise, Olivia stopped the cart and roused her two sleeping companions. "Come on, get up! I think we're here."

"Let me see," yawned Bryanna as she crawled up beside her, taking the map and checking it for herself. Below them lay a fair sized town, not big enough to be considered a city yet, but bigger than the farming villages from earlier. On another hill above the town, just barely visible through the trees, sat an old manor with a high wall around it, a little shoddy-looking but with signs of life and movement about it in the pre-dawn twilight. "Hm, so we have...do you think we'll be able to-"

*KA-BOOM*

All three young people just stared as the one place they'd put all their hopes on finding the master at suddenly went sky-high, leaving only a mushroom-cloud in its place and a  few bricks scattered about when it was done with. They could hear the alarm as it was sounded down in the town itself, swarms of villagers racing to see what had happened armed with various tools and weapons.

"Oh, hell no..."

"That didn't just happen, did it?" asked Randy faintly as the flames appeared, there was almost no way ANYONE could have survived that blast.

"Yeah, it did," groaned the healer with a sigh. "I swear, it was never this hard in Tortall..."

"Then again, you weren't exactly trying to clear your name with the law, you just avoided the law at all costs," pointed out Olivia with a shrug. "But that was the place, wasn't it?"

"Yep."

"And that means...the guy we want is probably dead, right?"

"Yep."

"Damn. This place is so screwed up. So...what now?"

"Dunno."

"Great."

"Yep."

"And we're still being hunted by the law."

"Yep."

"And we have no idea who else is here with us, or how to find them."

"Yep."

Silence fell between the three as Olivia shook her head and moved to the back of the cart. "Go where you like, I don't care anymore...I'm gong to sleep. This sucks far too much for me to be awake anymore."

Bryanna took the reigns, Randy climbing up beside her as they set out along the road once more. "Yep."

♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦

Cheeks woke up suddenly, fumbling about in his bed as he tried to locate exactly what it was that had dragged him from his restless sleep. Hearing another soft cry come from the other occupant of his small room, the young man rolled out of bed and stumbled over to the hammock slung in the corner.

"Jem...wake up Jem. Come on, it's Cheeks...wake up, kid."

"Ah!" Jem sat up quickly, with such force that he overturned his bed and fell face down on the floor. "Ugn...Cheeks?"

"Right here, bud." The elder knelt beside the younger, helping him sit up in the pitch dark of their room. "You ok? Have a bad dream or something?"

"Real bad," replied Jem, still shaking slightly as he tried to regain control of himself once more.

"Wanna talk about it?" offered Cheeks as he settled himself against the wall, taking Jem's blanket from his bed and handing it to him so he could wrap up in it and sit beside him without getting cold. "You don't have to if you don't want to..."

"It was cold," murmured Jem as he huddled into his blanket. "Cold and dark, that's all I really remember. There were screams and shots, perhaps some pain, but it was soon numbed by the cold and I couldn't feel anything at all. Not love, not kindness, not even hate...all was lost to me, I was just numb like that forever..."

"That wound be nice sometimes," replied Cheeks tiredly as he rested his head back against the wall. "Just to go numb, and not have to feel anything for awhile...but not forever. I mean, it'd be a nice break, but it'd get boring after awhile."

"Yeah..." Jem rested his chin on his thin arms, looking up at his older companion imploringly out of the corner of his eye. "Cheeks, you're not going to leave me, are you? To the cold and the darkness...would you?"

"Course not," replied Cheeks incredulously. He winked, and added, "First off, Kaitlin would have a fit and refuse to feed me anymore she'd be so upset for losing you like that. And second, I'd have to put up with Brenna's morning grumpiness by myself, and what fun would that be?"

"Yeah, and you need someone to keep you in line when Libby's not around," added Jem with a weary grin.

"Absolutely," said Cheeks with a chuckle. "So, no Jem, I wouldn't let you get away like that, not without a good fight first!"

Jem curled up closer to his best friend in the whole world, huddling into his side for protection and warmth. "...thanks, Cheeks."

"Erm....anytime."

♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦

Jenny sat on the railing of the deck, giving out the assignments for the day's bartering and trading so they could restock the ship off the list she held in her hand. "Trev and Nicole, off to the weaver's guild, see what you can pick up there. Nothing but their best silk, anything less and we won't be able to make much off it. Granny and Jack down to the farmer's corner, get as many fresh goods as you can with the bit I gave you. I'm not expecting much, just enough to put a little variety in what we've got on board. Tanner and Ty, restock our repair supplies and hire workers for anything we can't do ourselves. Just the basics, mind you, nicks and dents that won't hurt the handling of the ship I don't mind, just make sure she'd as seaworthy as she was when we got her. Talia and Gwen, off to the jewelers with you, you know what to do there..."

Gwen chuckled to herself as she pattered along beside her Trader friend, clearing her throat before trying out several high-pitched, tear-laden voices that dripped with sugary sweetness.

"Please, mister, for my aunt's sake....no, that one didn't work to well last time. Hm...sir, it's very pretty, and I'm sure  you understand my mother will beat me if I make less than a certain profit, and the misery beast I bought it from cheated me out of every copper I had..."

"I can't believe that actually works," sighed Talia with a grin as they sidled up to the first jeweler's stand, the elder Trader remaining in the background as Gwen moved towards the front with a wink.

"Regardless, it still does," she replied flippantly as she composed herself for a moment, turning to the stall keeper a moment later with big, round, teary eyes. "Sir, if it wouldn't be too much trouble..."

*thirty minutes later*

"How much?" asked Talia as they walked away from the stall with the empty box, stowed away under her arm.

"Four a the big, double-heavy gold ones, majas I think they're called, a couple regular gold astrels, and some silvers," replied Gwen with a big grin. "Jenny-kins is gonna be SOO happy with me..."

"Jenny-kins?" asked Talia, looking rather confused. "Wait...you mean the Captain? Why'd you call her that?"

"Same reason I call you Tali-kins when you're not around," replied Gwen with another grin. "Just cuz I can."

"Oi."

♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦

Chris walked in from work to find Briteyes tending a pot of soup over the stove and watching a loaf of bread as it browned in the oven at the same time, Cam setting the table with Kristen's help and the other guys nowhere in sight.

"I can't believe you're letting her work when she's a guest in this house," said the trader woodworker with a mock glare at the other two. "Guests aren't supposed to have to do work, you know."

"She's not a guest, she's family," retorted Kristen with a grin. "In more ways than one, really..."

"Which is all the worse, seeing as she's been on her own for a couple a months at least, and you can't even find it in you to be nice to her for a couple of days," replied Chris in an admonishing tone of voice. "Tsk, tsk..."

"I offered to make dinner, Chris," cut in Briteyes before the argument could go on, cutting off Kristen with a look. "Come on, you can carry the pot over to the table for me since you're so insistent that I limit the work I do around here."

"Hey, I wasn't referring to myself, you know..."

"Who cooked dinner?" asked Mike as he suddenly stuck his head in the kitchen from the side corridor. "The soup and stuff, I mean."

"Amanda," replied Cam with a proud grin.

"Oh, ok, then it's safe. Come on guys! They're not giving her the chance to poison us again!" Mike walked the rest of the way into the kitchen with Matt and Jon right on his heals, all of them taking their places at the table in a heartbeat.

Briteyes looked at Kristen, who's eye had started to twitch. Uh oh...

"Now, I KNOW that wasn't some sort of lame reference to the last meal I made, was it?" asked the lone regular female resident to the house as she sidled up between Mike and Matt with a hand on the back of each of their chairs.

"It wasn't a meal, it was a pile of toxic waste formed into food-shapes," replied Mike around a bite of soup and bread as he had immediately served himself and was digging into it like a starved man. "Mm...not bad, though it's a bit too salty."

*THWAP*

"OW! Hey, what was that for?!"

"Idiot..."

"Play nice, you guys," warned Chris as he picked up the package he'd set aside when he'd first walked in the door. "C'mere lil sis, I got something I want you to see."

"Coming...what is it?" Briteyes watched as he unwrapped her lute, handing it back to her with the crack so firmly sealed you couldn't even tell it had been there at one time.

"Here you go," he said proudly as he watched her check it over for herself. "Good as new."

"I'll say...Chris, I can't even tell where it was!" Briteyes quickly tuned it up again and played a few chords, marveling that the sound hadn't changed in the least. "Thanks, man...how much do I owe you?"

"Nothing," replied Chris as he sat down and served himself from the pot into his own bowl. "Having you here with us is thanks enough. Besides this little fella, that is." Chris smiled as Silven suddenly appeared from nowhere, scampering up his shoulder onto the table where she could get at the bread and soup.

Briteyes just sighed and rolled her eyes indulgently. Chris still didn't seem to get the fact that Silven wasn't a PET, but a human in animal form. Strumming a few more chords, she settled easily into a familiar pattern and let the melodies carry her for awhile in a way she hadn't been able to let them for the last few days. Her flute and panpipes were fun to play, but it wasn't quite the same...

She paused to roll up her sleeves as the length of them was well over the tips of her fingers as they belonged to Kristen and not her. Cam paused in his eating as most of her forearms where opened to view, calling to his cousin softly.

"Amanda...?"

"Yeah?" She looked up at him questioningly, following his gaze back to her arms. "What's the....oh." She felt her lips twist into a slight, wry grin. On the front of her right arm was the long scar from the battle she couldn't remember. Both were marked across the back above the elbow as if she'd been whipped and it had missed its intended target a few times. There as another across the back of her right wrist, and a final one that suggested her left hand had once been punctured in someway. "Life leaves you with marks from time to time, kid, it happens..."

Jon studied her for a moment. "Some of those...the one in the middle of your left hand, that's from Tortall, isn't it?"

"I'm surprised you remembered," admitted the performer with a shrug.

"How could I forget? The stories they told about that afterwards...and they say I'm an idiot! Why the hell you went after her, and ended up with an arrow through your hand..."

"Oh, shut up..."

"Went after who?" asked Matt as he looked up curiously.

"No one, don't worry about it..."

"Oh, come on."

"I wanna know, too," added Cam.

"You are a guest, and it would be fair repayment," said Chris with a teasing grin.

"Besides, Jon already knows, so it has to be safe to tell us," added Kristen.

"Hm...fine. So, the Scanrans attacked our home one day when I wasn't there..."

♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦

Ben sat beside Artor on the roof one night, their teacher muttering to himself as he adjusted the knobs and dials on a tube of wood with a mirror at one end and several glass lenses placed along its length on the inside. Earlier, the master had taken apart the whole contraption and allowed them to help him put it back together again that they might understand how it worked. Finding himself satisfied at last with the imaged in the viewing-hole, he beckoned for the boys to come forward with an impatient wave of his hand.

"Come, you two, haven't got all night..."

"Yessir," they replied as one as they trotted towards him obediently. Not that either one felt like being that well-behaved, but they'd learned early on the Master was quick to anger and slow to forgive, much to the chagrin of the backs of their hands which he regularly struck with fresh sticks cut from the bushes outside the room.

"Look there, Master Artor," he said as he stepped aside, Ben waiting patiently for his turn as the noble boy took in his fill of the huge moon now looming so close in his view he felt as if he could touch it. "Easy now, don't bump it off where I have it set..."

"Wow..." Artor felt his heart thud deep in his chest as he blinked in surprise. "It looks so...big, sir."

"The moon is even larger than it appears to you now," replied the learned man a bit snobbishly. "Some have calculated it to be at least a third the size of our own planet, young master."

"A THIRD? How can that be?? It could not be more than the size of my father's lands, if not only the size of his house."

"Perhaps in your eyes, young sir, but say day you shall things are rarely what they seem...if you would move aside, now? This lesson is also for your fellow student, as little as it may assist him later in life."

"Yessir."

Ben stepped forward eagerly, carefully putting his eye to the viewing hole and gasping in wonder at the glowing globe before him. He could see the craters and the dark patches that were scattered about at random, some larger than others. He blinked as a flash of gold suddenly blew by, jerking back to stare up at the sky in surprise. "Whoa!"

"What was that?" asked Artor as he pointed to the dying trail of light that had zoomed across the sky only seconds before.

"A shooting star!" replied Ben excitedly. "Close your eyes, and make a wish!"

"What? Why would I do that?"

"Cuz shooting stars are the tears of an angle trapped across from her lover forever, and for every tear she sheds, she shall grant a wish to a mortal that they may be happier than she," replied the servant quickly. "Hurry, sir, before it's too late..."

"Where did you hear such a ridiculous tale?" asked the teacher in a bored manner as he studied the sky indifferently. "An angel that grants wishes...what rubbish..."

"It's not rubbish!" replied Ben stubbornly. "My sister told me so!"

"And is your sister always right?" drawled the teacher as he turned his back suddenly, picking up the contraption to transport it back inside. "I doubt so. Class dismissed."

"What did you wish for?" asked Artor with a conspiratorial wink as he sidled up to his friend on the way back inside.

"Can't tell you, otherwise it won't come true," replied Ben with a shrug. Inside, though, he felt his heart twist as he remembered his wish. I wish to be free...

♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦

Alyse lay back against a tree as Revlis knelt beside her, bandaging her arm once again after having a knife slung into it just a few nights before. The three of them rested at a campsite about a day's ride from the unmagic mage's mansion and town. All scans and searches had led to the same conclusion: none had made it out alive, and the entire area had been effectively cleansed of the taint.

Still, after resting long enough to catch their breath and make sure Alyse wasn't in any real danger, it was time to move on and find something to do once again.

"How're you feeling?" asked Landon as he sat across from her, putting a bowl with some chunks of meat and toasted bread in her lap and laying a raw leg bone with the meat still on it from a deer next to Revlis.

"Not funny, Landon," she growled, barring her fangs as he quickly took it back and replaced it with a dinner much like Alyse's. "Giving me raw meat, like I'm some kind of animal..."

"I'm fine," replied Alyse so as to cut off Landon's ready retort, giving them both scolding looks as they bowed their heads like naughty children caught with their hands in the cookie jar. "Though, really sore. Could you make me some of that special tea stuff that numbs the pain?"

"Coming right up."

"Whipped to a T," murmured Revlis as she leaned in a little closer, a teasing smile on her face. "How ever do you do it, Alyse?"

"For one, by being relatively nicer all that time, rather than growling like some panther," replied the mage girl with a wry twist of her lips. "Though, I wonder who in the world that could be..."

"Not a clue. I wouldn't asked Landon though, he can be a rotten liar about things like that."

"Riiight..."

"So, where to next?" asked Landon as he came over moments later, his own plate in one hand and Alyse's mug in the other. "South, I hope, I hear the north gets a bit nasty in the winter times..."

"Hm...I'll have to do a scan first, and then we'll take it from there," she replied lightly as she sipped at the steaming mug. "Elck...never will get used to the taste of this stuff."

"Honey's good for sweetening it a bit, but we don't have any," said Revlis regretfully as she moped up the last of her gravy with her toast. "Mm...not bad, Landon. Though I still say you should have added more pepper..."

"No!" replied the two off-worlders at the same time, pained expressions on their faces. Revlis had a taste for the hot spices that were common to this area, and needless to say there were few who appreciated that taste.

"Fine, fine, don't bite my head off..."

Alyse settled back against the trunk of the tree to start her search, largely ignoring her companions as Landon teased Revlis about her cooking skills (or lack there of) and the panther woman in reply threatened to tear his throat out several times over. Carefully she searched for an indeterminable amount of time, weaving back and forth until she fell a tug not far off from where they were. Not entirely active, it wasn't passive either, and she decided it would be their next target from there.

"Found one," she murmured as she opened her eyes again, picking up the cup Landon had set by her knee as usual and sucking down the water until it was dry. "Ah...much better. We're going north."

Landon groaned as Revlis just laughed at his plight. The poor boy hated the cold, nearly as much as he hated unmagic. "Come on," she gasped as she wiped a tear from her eye, still chuckling some at his dismayed countenance. "Get some sleep, we'll have a long ride ahead of us tomorrow.

Grumbling to himself, the young man collected the dishes and rinsed them off before doing as she said. Life just wasn't fair.

♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦

"Man, that was our only hope!" wailed Randy as he laid on his bed, curled up in a little ball like a child. "What are we going to do now?! There's still a bounty on our heads, and more than a few people who want us dead more than they do alive..."

"While I'm not so sure about that last part, you do have a point," muttered Olivia in frustration. "We were so close...just a few hours earlier, and we might have been able to pin him down completely."

"Wishful thinking doesn't help," pointed out Bryanna bluntly. "And it's not the point right now. We can't stay here more than tonight, and after that we're going to have to make ourselves scarce around towns and villages again for awhile. With our shrinking supplies and almost empty purses, I'm wondering what the heck we're gonna do once that's all gone."

"You were a thief once, right?" prodded Randy immediately. "Steal some stuff for us, and we could live off of that."

"Ok, first off, we're already wanted by the law and if I'm caught, that would mean instant death sentence," sighed Bryanna tiredly. "Second, I was with professional thieves at the time, not some half-rate mages who are wanted for something they didn't do. Believe me, I might still be able to pick locks, but that's about it. Something about when you go to these places...you can only used the skills they grant you here, plus some of the skills you bring with you from your home world. Visits to other worlds and skills gained there...well, most of them don't stick with you too long."

"Sounds pretty useless to me," muttered Randy under his breath, rolling his eyes. "What good is it to go to other worlds, then..."

*BANG**BANG**BANG*

"OPEN UP, THIS IS THE CITY GUARD!"

"Holy crap," growled Olivia as she quickly shoved the dresser in front of the doorway, grabbing the sack she hadn't yet unpacked and heading for the window as quickly as possible. "Come on! Unless you want your butt dragged back to jail again..."

The door splintered behind them just as they managed to make it out onto the roof, Olivia leading the way as she quickly, but carefully, skirted along the edge until she came to a drainpipe at the corner. They could hear other guards scrambling after them, calling to those on the ground, and only ran all the further.

Dropping to the ground first, Olivia froze two who got too close in place and sprinted towards city streets with her two companions in tow. Through the alley ways and down deserted streets they ran, doggedly chased by those behind them who refused to give up.

Grabbing their arms, Bryanna hauled them into a dark nook just as they lost sight of their pursuers, motioning for them to remain still and silent as the guards passed them by at a full charge. Waiting until the sounds of thudding boots and jingling weapons were completely gone, they finally relaxed after what seemed like ages, Olivia taking the lead once more.

"Come on," she whispered as they crept back out into the open, sticking to the shadows as much as possible. "We've got to get out of here, and now."

♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦

Brenna tried to move about as silently as possible as she dressed herself entirely in the black over clothes she'd been putting together for the better part of a week. If everything went as planned tonight, it wouldn't matter anyways. All they needed was just enough goods to start over completely in a new place far away, or enough to restart the farm here somehow. Not that either amount was small by any means, but she was the ex-queen of thieves in Corus, and that should  count for something indeed.

And in reality, even should her conscience actually decide to bother her for once about it, she didn't exactly have a choice. The farm, and those living on it, were dying. It was a very slow, gradual decline, but it would lead to an eternal sleep in the end. Cheeks was having a relapse with his lungs trying to be coughed from his body, Libby was nearly mad with grief over the loss of her bunnies, Kaitlin's patience was wearing thing with the grief she continued to get over the state of the meals, and Rupal was driving herself insane trying to find just one last copper that wasn't there. If they didn't find a way out of it soon...Brenna shivered as she slipped her sandals one, covering them with a special black wrap as well.

Checking her supplies, she had a few kitchen knives that would do in the place of daggers, a few impromptu lock picks, a padded grappling hook, some rope, and a sack for all her little goodies. That would have to do, even though it was all second-rate compared to her old stuff, for now.

Slipping out of the sleeping house, -except for Jem and Cheeks, who were awake as they were most nights with Jem's nightmares- the one-time mistress of rouges started down the road to the town. Beware, those of even moderate wealth, the Vixen was on the loose again.

Unfortunately, this Vixen had no idea what she was getting herself into.

♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦

Tyler jumped spread-eagle towards the main mast, grabbing the ropes halfway down and racing back up it as fast as he could to get in a more defendable position. Talia followed close behind, managing to land farther up than he did and shortening the distance at the same time. Up and up they went, Tyler finally grabbing one of the ropes and using it to swing on to one of the side-ladders instead. Scrambling down the webbing as fast as he could, he was up another sail only moments later, and the elder girl followed with a will. Suddenly bounding up as high as she could, she touched him on his shoulder before racing away once again.

"Tag! You're it!"

"Aw, man...here I come!"

Nicole watched silently from Gwen's shoulder, her shoulders crossed and a more than slightly annoyed look on her face. "Bloody trader..."

"Which one, there's over a dozen on board, you know," replied Gwen, looking up from the horror book Granny had lent her. Following Nicole's gaze, she smirked knowingly. "Ohh...you know, I think you're just jealous, Nicole."

"Yeah, and you know, I think you're a fluff-brained moron, but you don't see me bringing it up a lot," retorted the nymph sourly.

"Tsk, tsk...is that really the best you can come up with?" Gwen shook her head mockingly, Nicole growing even (if it truly was possible) redder than before as the insult was heaped upon injury. "I'm ashamed to call you a fellow sailor. We're supposed to have dirty mouths and minds you know, not fluffish and jealous ones."

"Speak for yourself," she snapped in reply as she looked back at the pair glumly. "It's not my fault he can't catch me when we play tag. Goodness knows he's tried, but when I slow down too much and concentrate more on letting him win rather than escaping I tend to run into things... It's not fair! She's replacing everything in their lives that I once was. I just don't get it, aren't as I good as her? The only thing she's got on me is the fact that she's normal sized, and I should have enough magic to make up for that!"

"Great, so now we're reduced to a whining sailor that's fluff brained and jealous," sighed Gwen dramatically. "Oh what ever shall we do..."

"Oh, shaddup."

♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦

Briteyes curled up on her pallet in front of the fireplace, content with that as there really wasn't anywhere else comfortable enough to sleep. She and Kristen couldn't share a bed, they'd tried that long ago on one of their trips a few years back and usually spent the night fighting for the covers and such. She wasn't going to even consider sharing beds with anyone else, and as it was the floors in any room were too cold to comfortably sleep on unless they were beside an alternate heat source, so thus here she was.

Silven curled up on the corner of the thin mattress of blankets, her big tail hiding her fairly well from view of the others. In such a way, they slept, undisturbed by either men or dreams for hours at a time

Around midnight, Chris came sliding down the ladder, an exhausted look on his face as he began to prepare for himself a cup of warm milk with honey and cinnamon in it. Though he tiptoed around the place, he didn't worry about waking either one of their guests up as they hadn't so much as stirred since they'd come into his sight. Which in a way, was rather frightening, for if not for their breathing one could easily mistaken their still forms as corpses.

Settling in a chair beside the glowing embers of what was left of the fire, Chris sipped his little concoction and basked in the warmth there. He'd had trouble sleeping for some reason, and when that happened he usually set himself up as he was now. A cup of warm milk, a blanket, and the fire at his feet until he got sleepy again. It was nice, being free like this and with no one to answer to, really. And while he did miss a lot of people from back home...well, he'd get to see them again someday, so he couldn't complain.

Feeling his eyes get heavy, and the warmth of the fire sinking deep into his bones, Chris was about to fall asleep when something not quite right jerked him out of his dreams. Sitting up quickly, he shook his head to clear it of the fogginess of sleep and stumbled to his feet. Looking around, he could see nothing out of the ordinary at first glance, but still...

He moved closer to Briteyes, glancing down at her in puzzlement when something caught his eye. She had gone completely rigid, her hands spasmodically clenching and unclenching handfuls of her blanket as if in great pain while a single tear rolled down her face. She made not a sound, hardly even breathing through her clenched jaw.

"Amanda...?"

Silven had awoken and was now frisking around her dearest friend worriedly, attempting wake her and glancing up at Chris beseechingly in intervals. Kneeling down, still rather shocked, he took her shoulders by the shoulders and gave her a gentle shake, calling her name as he did.

"Amanda...come, 'Manda, it's Chris, wake up...."

The small performer suddenly jerked herself awake, breaking out of his hold as she rolled across the floor and came up in a crouch with a haunted look on her face. "NO!"

"Amanda...??"

Briteyes blinked a few times, then sighed as she slumped over where she sat, the horrific sights and sounds she'd witnessed in her nightmarish dreams fading from her memory as quickly as they'd come upon her in her sleep. "Chris...is that you?"

"Yeah, are you ok?" He came and sat beside her, hesitantly putting a hand on her shoulder. Silven was already around her neck, crooning softly in her squirrelish voice.

#Briteyes, just relax, it was only a dream...#

"Heh, only a dream....except I can never remember what it's about," replied Briteyes gruffly, reaching up towards her face as she felt something warm and wet slide across her skin. Encountering it with her fingers, she brought them back in front of her eyes. Blood. Her scar from the corner of her left eye out had split open again. Sighing, she steadied herself and answered her Trader friend lightly, though her face was shielded from his searching eyes with a curtain of dark brown-streaked silver hair. "Don't worry about me, I'm fine, Chris. Just go back to sleep, ok?"

"You're bleeding, though! Amanda, something's got to be wrong..." protested Chris as he saw her wipe it up with her sleeve. "What's going on??"

"It as just a dream. Nothing more." The performer turned her back to him completely, wrapping the blanket around her shoulders tightly. "Please, Chris...don't go get the other or anything, I'm fine. I just have strange dreams. A lot."

"Well...if' you're sure..." the trader wavered indecisively, slowly standing once more.

"I am. Just promise me you won't say anything about it later."

Chris paused, even more confused than ever. "...why?"

"They might worry, you know? And ask me about it a lot...you get frustrated after awhile when people start to fuss over something you can't even remember."

"Oh."

"So...do you promise."

"Yeah, I guess."

Briteyes watched her friend ascend the ladder as Silven curled up in the crook of her arm, a slightly accusatory look on her face.

#You shouldn't have made him promise that.#

"He'd have told Kristen otherwise."

#I don't see what the problem is there...I could just as easily tell her in the morning, and you'd never know about it.#

"Except I would, eventually. She'd come asking questions...I can't even remember them, Silven! I don't know what I'm so afraid of..." Briteyes sighed in frustration, laying back down and snuggling into her warm nest once more. "I just can't remember..."

♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦

Artor followed Ben up and down the halls of the mansion, pestering him over and over again as the servant boy carried out his chores for the last half of the afternoon. Just because he had a few special privileges being connected with the Master's son, that didn't mean he could slack all the time and often times more was expected of him because of it.

"Come on, there has to be something you're not telling me," went on Artor as Ben scrubbed the floor at his feet silently. "Commoners, especially servants, do not have access to the kinds of knowledge you have managed to attain."

"This one did," came the short, simple reply.

"But really, where did you come from before here? You've never talked about your life before becoming my father's servant, so you had to start somewhere, right? Where was it? Somewhere to the south? That would explain why your skin is a little darker than everyone else's here, but supposedly all southern lords are loath to educate their underlings, so that wouldn't make sense. And I doubt you're from the north, you're not pail and blonde like most of them are." The boy paused in his monologue, looking at Ben expectantly. "Well?"

"Well what?" replied the servant with a shrug. "If you'll excuse me sir, I have a lot of work to do, so if you'd kindly step aside...?"

"Oh no, you're not getting off with this that easily," replied Artor with a defiant shake of his head. "There's something you're not telling me? Servants should always obey their masters in everything, and so I ask you as your master where is it you learned all this?"

"If it was to put on any one person, it'd be my sister," replied Ben with a shrug after a moment's thought. "She used to sit with me most nights and help me with anything that I got stuck on in school work. Mom was too busy with her work, and dad never got home until late, so she helped me most of the time."

"You make it sound like you were free or something," muttered Artor under his breath in puzzlement. "Say, Ben...where are you from, again? Or, how did you get here, rather? If you were free originally, how did you end up as a servant? Your dad didn't owe mine a lot a money, did he?"

"No, my dad doesn't even know that yours, or this place, exists," replied Ben dryly, rolling his eyes as he did. "It's not simple like that ok? So...just let it go."

"But I wanna know! If your sister's so smart, where is she now? If she's anything like my father says most young girls are, I'll bet she left you and became a whore. Bet you haven't even seen her in years, and she's dead in some ditch along side of the road..."

Ben stood up abruptly, knocking over the bucket in his haste to get away before he pummeled the other young man to death. Time had taught him, though, that harsh words and physical reactions to the Master's son's caustic and brutal words would only earn him a sore face or back, depending on which the boy decided to strike at the time for his punishment. Anger continued to color his vision red as he rushed to his room, throwing himself onto his bed and punching the thin pile of blankets for all he was worth.

"She's wasn't a whore!" he muttered to himself as he breathed deeply, trying to gain control of himself once more. "She was an honest person! One that cared about everyone, and laid down her life for me! She would never ever do something like that, she'd never leave me if she could help it..."

Feeling the tears begin to fall down his face, Ben buried his head in the blankets and cried until he could cried no more. But in the end, he was still alone and had no way to get home.

He wanted his sissy back.

♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦

Alyse and Landon continued along at an easy canter, Revlis riding behind them for once as she continued to keep an eye out for any who might decide to follow them. The farther they went, the dryer it became until they could no longer find small sources of water along the roads or in small streams that had once run in the woods. Everything was bone dry, and Alyse could tell just by looking that one spark and the whole place would go up like a torch.

Coming upon a large group, they slowed they pace and moved to the side of the room, going at a fast walk so as to pass them more quickly. Revlis suddenly spotted something, though, and veered off into the woods.

"Be back later, guys! Don't worry, I'll be able to find you!" she called as she road out of sight in the blink of an eye.

"Wonder what that was about," mused Landon as he turned to watch her leave before facing front once more. "Crazy cat-girl..."

"She said she'd be back, and she always is, so I wouldn't worry about it," replied Alyse simply with a shrug. "Come on, there's the head of the group up there, we'll be around them in just a moment..."

"Ho, there!"

The pair turned to see a familiar man riding at the head of the column, waving to them lightly as Alyse turned her horse and approached cautiously. "Good evening, sir!"

"Good evening to you, too!" he replied with a polite nod. Suddenly the mage girl placed him as the man Revlis had spoken with that one time on their journeys not long ago, her eyes widening slightly as she smiled. Looking back over her shoulder, she quickly spotted the young red-head that had been with him as well and nodded to herself. Yeah, it was him alright. "So, you do remember me. Incase my name was not in that memory, I'm Nikolaren Goldeneye."

"We remember you quite well, Master Nikolaren," replied Landon with a slight bow in the saddle, coming to ride at Alyse's side as the few dedicates riding with the man as well as a few wealthy-looking individuals listened to the conversation with interest. "What might you be doing here this time of year? Surely not for pleasure, sir, with the forest fires we have heard of as of late."

"Actually, we come to find a way to hopefully put an end to them, as well as bring an end to the drought that plagues this area," replied elder mage with a nod. "And yourselves?"

"A hunt," replied Alyse, looking him straight in the eye.

"You don't say? What sort?"

"Small game," she replied with a slight shrug. "Nothing dangerous in the least."

"I see. Duke Verdis, sir, theses are two acquaintances of mine from some of my travels, and as it would be beneficial to catch up with them for awhile, do you think her Ladyship would mind too extra guests for just on evening?"

"As it is just for one, I do not see why not," replied the Duke with a gracious nod as he look in the pair curiously. "Though, I am wondering how two such strange mages, as I'm assuming that's what they are, came to know you, Niko?"

"Merely a touch of luck," replied the mage enigmatically as he turned back to the two who now rode beside him at the front of the column. "Where's your third companion, young Revlis?"

"Around close by," replied Alyse with a shrug. "She goes off on her own when she feels the need, but she'll be back. If not before we leave your presence again, then soon after that."

"I felt something rather recently, a trembling of all magics and several lives that were squelched at once as a great darkness of decimated in one fell swoop," went on Niko in an even lower voice, making sure no one else near them could hear. "You wouldn't happen to know what it was, would you?" The two glanced at each other, a knowing look passing between them as they did. He was referring to their most recent adventure, or at least the end part of it.

"Of course not," replied Alyse with a wry grin. "However, if I did, I imagine it should be something like this..."

♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦

Olivia huddled with Randy and Bryanna under some dense bushes, the last signs of their pursuers having died off hours ago, but still not being confident enough to check for sure yet. They'd been spotted a couple miles out by the tower guard and had been trying to outrun the rest since then. That was six hours ago, and needless to say the ex-mage students were exhausted.

Greedily gulping down the last of the water from his water skin, Randy wiped his mouth on his shirtsleeve and looked at the other two imploringly. 

"No," said Bryanna firmly, but quietly as she noticed his gaze. "You sucked it down, so you can do without until we find more."

"But I'm thirsty..."

"Shh," warned Olivia with a weary glare. "I think the coast is clear, though..." Glancing at Bryanna, they both nodded at the same time before seizing Randy by the arms and tossing him out into the open.

"Please don't shoot!" he cried, hunching over in shock....only to find he was alone. When the cries of pain or shouts of victory didn't come, the two women stuck their heads out slowly to find an indignant Randy waiting for them.

"Gee, thanks guys," he said mockingly as he pulling some leaves from his hair. "Didn't know you cared."

"What, did you think one of us was going to be the first to check?" asked Olivia lightly as she dusted herself off. "You're the expendable one."

"Expendable!"

"Hush, we need to get moving," said the healer girl, hanging Randy a set of saddlebags to carry, leaving one haversack for her and Olivia each. "It's hard to say, as we didn't exactly stick to the road last time, but I bet the next place isn't more than a few days ride, or a week's walk, from where we are now."

She motioned to the map they'd followed in the first place, a clearly marked spot not far from where they were that obviously bore some sort of importance. Olivia took it from her and studied it for a moment, nodding to herself as she let the other take the lead once more.

"Sounds good to me."

"Hush, someone's coming!" They all dove back under cover again, the road beside them suddenly filling with a rather substantial group heading down in the same direction they were. "Hey...is that Master Niko?" murmured Randy quietly. "I bet he could-"

"Shut up!" hissed Olivia, clamping a hand over his mouth roughly. "I don't care if we know them, they're still on the mage's council and probably know we're wanted by their Justice System!"

"She's right," murmured Bryanna, starting to worm away from the caravan backwards through the brush. "Let's get out of here while we can."

"But, Master Niko-"

"I. Said. No." The firm look in Olivia's eyes made Randy sigh and nod slightly. "Good, let's get going."

♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦

Cheeks sat on his bed as he did most nights with Jem, working on attempting to mend some old harnesses by candlelight until the boy would drop off for a few hours around dawn. It was around that time when there came a pounding at the front door, the elder one scrambling to his feet and stumbling down the stairs to meet a sleep-dazed Kaitlin at the bottom of the stairs.

"What's going on?" he asked as he paused there for a second.

"I don't know," she replied with a shrug. "Just woke up, you know."

"What's all the noise for?" called Libby from the top of the stairs, she and Rupal sticking their heads out of their rooms at the same time.

"We don't know!" replied Kaitlin loudly, yawning behind her hand. "Do you?"

"Why would I be asking if I did?!"

"Oh, right...sorry!"

"Whatever..."

"I'll go check," offered Cheeks as he turned with a shrug.

Shuffling to the front, he opened the door to be confronted with a few townsfolk, all bearing lanterns and looking solemn-faced indeed. Jem peaked around him curiously, a bit of fear evident on his face as he drew back in his bigger friend's shadow. "Ah...can I help you sirs?"

"Yar, we be wonderin' in that black-tressed farmer gal belongs to ya," replied one while chewing on a stub of a pipe. "Got eyes a violet, 'bout yea tall. She live here?"

"You mean Brenna? Yeah, she does, let me get her real fast..."

"No, don't bother," replied one of the others with a sneer. "She's in town right now, on trial in fact."

"On trial?!" Kaitlin appeared at Cheeks side in puzzlement. "For what, not being able to grow her crops? Good lord, people, everyone has a bad year every now and then..."

"For attempted thievery," cut in the second one with a triumphant look on his face.

"Thievery? You have the wrong person then," stated Rupal as she appeared beside Cheeks, rather rumpled in her sleep clothes, but firm none the less. "Brenna is one of the most honest people I know."

"She was caught in the act," replied the first one with a shrug.

"An' ye want to know what her sentence will be?" added his rude companion with a malicious glee. Libby, who'd finally made it downstairs, glared at him impotently. She really wanted to smack that smirk right off his face and into Lower Earth Orbit.

"What?" asked the resident chef with a worried look on her face. "Please don't tell me you're-"

"Death," he said simply with a leer, tilting his head to the side and holding up his hand as if he were suspended in midair by his neck. "By hanging."

♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦

Nicole boredly twirled her winds around herself as Jenny and Trevor took part in some major trade negotiations for some mage items they were going to transport back south. She, once again, was excluded due to her size and the fact that 99.9% of the human populace didn't realize creatures like her existed. It wasn't her fault she was so freaking tiny, the bloody mage who was in charge, whoever it was...she's strangle him, if she ever got the chance.

Or try to, anyways. She doubted her hands, or even her arms, would reach.

Glancing down at the water below, the little nymph got an idea, scooping up some of the water with a flick of the wind and mixing it into the winds themselves with a few well-turned revolutions. Then spinning it carefully, she brought it up onto the railing and played with it there, etching out designs in the salt-stained wood. When she'd used up the available space, she moved on, moving them around again and again until she got bored with that and moved them to the deck of the ship.

There, she added another two or three, setting them against each other in some messed up version of gladiators, using mini-waterspouts instead of people with weapons. And while it was a lot less bloody, and no one technically died, it wasn't all that interesting either. After they crashed into each other for a while they kind of lost momentum and after awhile would either need a boost of some sort or they'd die out. Deciding to let most of them go, she kept the original one and continued to pull it idly in circles around herself, merely to pass the time.

"What the hell happened to the deck?!"

Nicole looked up to see Jenny, Trevor, and another crew member come back on board, the wood flooring obviously a lighter shade than it had been before they'd left. Guiltily remembering her waterspouts, Nicole quickly got rid of her last one over the side of the ship and tried to look at them innocently. "Well, I..."

"Someone scoured the deck," said Jenny after a moment, looking up in surprise. "Look, you guys, it's the natural coloring off the wood...who did that?"

"Me!" replied Nicole quickly with a grin when she realized her random wind-times had done some good for once. "Though...that wasn't exactly my intention...that's not a bad thing, is it?"

"Nope, not this time," replied Jenny with a grin. "Come on, I'll show you what we got."

"Yay!"

♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦

Cam stood in the slight crouch he tended to favor when fighting, facing off against some of the elder students in Kristen's afternoon Advanced class. It was a defensive position, but one that he could easily counter attack from as well as long as he relied on the speed he'd honed as well as he could.

Skipping back from the first attack, he let the fist swing by and grabbed it with his hand, using it and his opponents momentum to turn and flip him over his shoulder. Stepping back quickly out of range, he waited for the elder boy to get back up patiently.

"Do you yield?" asked Kristen simply as the other boy shook out his clothes.

"Nope," he replied, giving Cam and steely glare.

"Then continue."

Cam waited for him to attack again, a full charge this time that he wouldn't be able to dodge left or right from. So instead he spun on the balls of his feet at the last minute and dropped to his knees, grabbing the guys fist and the front of his shirt to sent him flying over his back. Rising quickly, they both traded a few light blows back and forth, more testing the other for a weakness rather than trying to dominate each other.

That didn't last long. Cam's opponent suddenly caught his arm and locked it in place with his own, forcing him into close-range combat, which he wasn't as good at. Blocking as many as the hits as he could, Cam watched and waited as he'd been taught. Despite the sore stomach and dizzying blow to the head he received, the other boy suddenly drew his arm back to far, leaving himself completely open and that's when Cam struck. Straight down, his head, neck, shoulder joint, chest, and stomach with a final blow to his hip with his knee (Cam wasn't low enough to hit him where it would really put him out) he managed to free himself before darting back in for one more blow to the chest and effectively ending the match by knocking the wind from the elder boy.

"End," said Kristen simply as she waved forward her usual assistants, each bringing the two contestants a dipper of water and a rag. "Good match, Cam. I thought he had you there for a minute."

"So did I," replied the boy with a lopsided grin. "I'm just lucky, I guess...if he hadn't pulled back like that I'd never have had the time to get him well enough to get free."

"In other words, don't get cocky next time, Joel," she told the other boy with a slight grin as he nodded in reply. "Nice hold, though, you almost had him."

"I wouldn't have let him win, it was for my dearest cousin's honor!" said Cam nobly as he bowed to Briteyes, who stood beside Kristen with a slightly raised brow. Unmasked for once, her scarred face was not so out of place here, where fighters and warriors were supposed to be trained, so it didn't bother her as much as it usually did.

"Oh yes, I'm sure," came her dour reply. "My thanks, little cuz, though I can take care of my own honor, you know."

"Enough, you two," said Kristen as the class began to lose focus. "Hey, eyes back over here! Ok, any more challenges for today?"

♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦

Ben sat with his blanket wrapped around his shoulders in front of the fire in the servant's main hall, ignoring the rest as they talked and laughed amongst themselves with their cards, dice, and bottles of rough liquor and wine. Usually he was among some of the younger ones a few years older than himself (he was the youngest boy on the staff) watching in fascination as they did their slight-of-hand tricks or told stories of their latest pranks the Master had yet to notice, or with the oldest men as they played their strategy games with old, hand made boards and game pieces of chips of wood and nut shells.

But tonight he was alone, sipping the mug of weak tea he had left over from dinner staring into the flames desolately. A warm hand slid across his back as someone crossed behind him, the creaking of old joints audible as the same someone sat down with a sight.

"What bothers you, lad?"

"The Master's son, Artor," he replied softly, knowing who it was without even having to look up. "He's so different, Nana...I know he doesn't understand or probably even mean what he says, but still..."

"It just makes you want to smack him, right?" replied Nana with a knowing nod. "Hm, for you didn't think there were any out there that naive, right?"

"Exactly."

"The Master has sheltered his son a great deal, and taught him much that isn't necessarily true, both by his words and actions," explained the old woman carefully. "Like I said, Ben, you can be his acquaintance, his part-time buddy...but never his friend."

"He's a fun guy when we just play," muttered Ben with a sigh. "It's not even playing with his stuff, it's having someone my age to climb and wrestle with for once and not have to think about my duties for awhile. But then he brings something up, his prodding questions..."

"Like how you came to be here?"

"Yeah..."

Nana raised her wrinkled brows slightly. "And what did you tell him?"

"Nothing, really," admitted the young boy with a shrug. "What could I tell him? 'I'm here because your dad decided to have us captured and ended up killing my sister in the process, which is why she's not with me'? Yeah, that'll go over well." Ben gulped, then went up. "And then he said my sister was a...a slut. One that abandoned me and my family, and that's why I'm here now. But that's not true, and I can't tell him any differently because then he'll tell his dad that I know the truth..."

"Hush, lad. Just take it easy for a moment, now." Nana put her arm around him tenderly, offering what comfort she could. "It doesn't matter if he knows the truth or not, as long as you know it deep in your heart and you never forget it."

"It still hurts," muttered Ben, sticking his chin out stubbornly.

"Oh, I know," replied Nana with a wry chuckle. "And it always will lad. But noble's can't control your heart, and that's where it truly counts."

♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦

Alyse and Landon both bowed to Niko respectfully as they stood beside their mounts on the road to the mansion of the present noble that overruled this area for Duke Verdis of Emelan. "My thanks for filling me in on the current situations," said the illusionist mage with a bow of his own. "And do tell your cat friend that Rosethorn has not noticed her presence outside of town yet, and shouldn't as long as it remains that way."

"I take it that's why she fled so quickly?" asked Alyse in surprise. "I'll have to ask her about that one..."

"And she'll probably enjoy explaining it to you," replied Niko with an elegant shrug. "However, I must be going now. Good hunting to you, and you know where to find me should you need anything. The mages High Council has always supported the Unmagic Assassins, albeit secretly, and I will do nothing short of that."

"We'll remember that," promised Landon with a friendly nod as he mounted his horse quickly, Alyse following suit. "Good day to you, Master Niko!"

"And to you too."

It was only a few moments into the woods that Revlis decided to appear, sitting in a tree just off the main road munching on a shriveled apple. "Oh, there you two are! Took you long enough."

"You could have come with," said Alyse innocently as she winked at Landon. "I don't know why you turned down a free meal, bath and bed, that's not like you. Unless of course, there was a reason...?"

"Oh, not really, just that a certain person in that group might not be too happy to see me," replied Revlis hastily.

"Not Master Niko, you met him before openly enough," replied Landon with a shrug. "And the rest were just mages and nobles with a few servants and students tagging along. No one to really be scared of, you fraidy-cat."

"HAVE YOU SEEN ROSETHORN WHEN SHE GETS MAD?!" cried Revlis defensively.

"Actually, I haven't," replied Alyse lightly with a grin. "Why don't you tell me about it?"

Revlis paused, a flushed look coming on her face. "Sneaking little...grrrr..."

"Stop grumbling and tell us," said Landon with a laugh as he dismounted and stood there looking up at her in amusement. "She seemed nice enough last night, if a little rough around the edges sometimes..."

"It was an accident, I swear!" sniffed Revlis pathetically as she actually shivered in fear from the memory alone. "I was training with one of the other regulars my first year in, and we made a stop over at Winding Circle. Well, Master let me wander around one night, and I mistook her garden for a nice patch of flowers to roll in. She figured out who it was the next morning, somehow, and about hung me by my paws in the well! Not that she ever saw me in panther form, but she has a keen sense for those she doesn't like..."

"You poor, dumb fool," sighed Landon as he shook his head pityingly. "Oh well, your loss."

"Gee, thanks for you kind words," muttered the cat girl as she slid from the tree.

"Oh, you're welcome."

♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦

Olivia and Bryanna stood guard outside the entrance as Randy searched through the cave behind them, the fourth one they'd stumbled upon this morning that even slightly resembled the one on their map. And while it wasn't the closest match they had seen, Olivia had a queer feeling in the pit of her stomach that they needn't look any further for what they were seeking.

Randy appeared a few moments later, looking slightly green around the gills. "This is it, alright..." He gulped and looked away, his face having gone ashen-white.

"How can you be so sure?" asked Olivia, frowning slightly. "It's not like there was anyone in there, was there?"

"No, there wasn't a person," replied Randy, cringing for some reason. "At least not a live one...There weren't any dead humans either, just a lot of mutilated little creatures that looked like they'd been used for small experiments with blood magic."

Bryanna took a few steps into the cave, immediately backing up and looking extremely queasy. "Holy cow...that place reeks of death and unmagic! This is it, or there's another one around here not listed on the map."

"Why can't I feel anything then?" asked Olivia, puzzled at their behavior. She stepped nearer to the cave, noticing nothing different at all. There was a slight coppery tint to the air inside, but there were copper veins all over this valley, so it wasn't that uncommon.

"Your magic is in ice, which kind of goes along with the stillness and numb darkness death and unmagic brings," replied Bryanna as she made a face and backed up even further. "Our is healing and light, the opposites of that. Of course we can sense it better than you."

"Well, if there's still a person living in there, he's not there now," deduced Randy quickly. "Let's get away from here a bit and wait and see what happens. We won't leave the area entirely, so incase he does show we can maybe trap him somehow and get our answers, but I'd rather not be this close to this place if I can help it."

"Oh, I agree," replied Bryanna, picking up her things and heading off east along a river they could see from there. "Come on, higher ground is this way and we can watch relatively safely from there without being seen by the town folks or travelers on the road."

"Sounds good to me."

♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦

Brenna, bound at the wrists and ankles with just enough leeway so she could shuffle about, looked numbly at her friends as they met her just outside the main hall. "Hey, guys..."

"They found you guilty," blurted out Kaitlin suddenly, tears forming in her eyes. "Didn't they?"

"Yeah," she replied with a slight shrug, trying to make light of the situation though her face was white and drawn with fear. "Kind of hard not to, they caught me completely in the act..."

"What the hell were you thinking?!" cried Cheeks, unable to contain himself any longer as Jem clung to his side, tears falling silently down his pale face. "Pulling a stunt like this...we could have found another way! Why? What the hell am I going to tell Gwen when we go back, she's going to find a way to blame me, you know!"

"I thought I could fix things, ok?!" replied Brenna heatedly. "So...I was wrong, alright? Every thing'll be ok, you'll see."

"How will it be ok if you're going to die?" asked Rupal flatly, numbly unable to do more than that she was in such shock. "Will you be there when we get home? Or do you die there too? What's going to happen now?"

"I don't know," admitted Brenna sadly with a shrug. "Don't worry about me, though, just worry about yourselves..."

A couple of big men from the village came and seized Brenna by her bonds, dragging her after them.

"Hey, you can't do this to her, she's all we've got!" screamed Kaitlin as she dove forward, the entire family suddenly finding themselves surrounded and physically restrained by other men from the village who'd anticipated this problem from the start.

The once proud Queen of Thieves was led over the gallows, merely a rope that hung from a tree a few miles out of town. The group was allowed to follow, but only at a distance and were kept under a constant watch by the others. Gagging her to silence her cries to her friends to take care of themselves, a bag was forcibly shoved over her head and tied so she couldn't shake it off.

Placed upon a rickety old stool, they hung the rope around her neck, the local guard coming and reading her crimes of attempted robbery of large sums of money, breaking onto private property, and property damage that she'd caused when she'd attempted to escape. Found guilty on all three counts, she was charged as a thief and her sentence, obviously, was death by hanging.

The morning dawn just peaked it's first few rays over the horizon, highlighting everything in a rosy pink that seemed in gross contrast to the grave scene before them. The knot was tightened around her neck, the rest backing away expect for a single man who stood beside her, praying a single prayer to the black god of Death before he kicked the stool from under her legs.

With nothing more to support her, gravity dragged Brenna downwards as the rope used up it's slack, someone screaming in the background just as it went taunt...

♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦δ♦

Erm... *hides* please dun kill me, the update will be soon, I swear!!!

Here's something I have to do REAL fast:

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday dear LIBBY and SAMINEE

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!

Yes, our dear Libby and a friend of ours from school, the ever insane Saminee both turned 18 in the last few days. Please wish them a very happy birthday in your reviews!

Because it took so long here's your treat:

Summer Sea Saga: OKAME TIME!!

CONQURE THE WORLD: VIXEN STYLE

(btw: Okame is like the little after-theatre things some anime series does, like Blue Seed. And Chibi means, little, mini or little. Nymph-sized perhaps.)

*Chibi Vixen appears on your computer screen*

CVix: *looks around* No one here...*considers, then a light bulb appears over her head* ...that means, I thus have conquered this land! It is mine! ALL MINE!! MUAHAHAHAHA!!!

*Chibi Libby floats down from above dressed in a scholars robes*

CLib: *superiorly* Do you have a FLAG?

CVix: Well...I....YES!! *pulls out a flag with a fox wearing a crown on it*

CLib: No flag, no...wait, what?

CVix: HA! I win, you lost, so suck it! *Super-mallets Libby off the screen, and you can hear her screams into the distance.*

CLib: EEEEeeeeeeeehhhhhhhh.....

CVix: Now I claim this land for me, and me alone! *Plants flag proudly*

*Chibi Cheeks pops into view*

CCheeks: Ah...hi?

CVix: What are you doing here? another light bulb* OH! I know! You've come to be one of my loyal subjects, right?

CCheeks: *nervously* Well, I...

CVix: Yeah! And I'll make you a squire, and you can follow me around and attend to my every need...

CCheeks: *sweat drops* You see, though...

CVix: Don't interrupt me! Where was I...? Oh yes! And you'll sing my praises in the streets 'cuz you're a big Chorus Guy, and bow before me all the time so everyone else gets the hint...

CCheeks: *talking super fast* IonlycamebecauseKaitlinaskedmeto!! *cringes* Sorrysorrysorrysorry....please don't hurt me??

CVix: *narrows eyes* You're not here to be one of my loyal subjects? *twitches*

CCheeks: Eh...well...no?

CVix: *about to explode* WHY YOU-

*Chibi Kaitlin pops into view*

CKat: *happily* CHEEKUMS!!

CCheeks: Kaitlin! *hides behind her* Save me...

CKat: *confused* Why? *Looks at Brenna and giggles* Aww, Vixie's all red! She looks kinda like a tomato...

CVix: TOMATO?! I'll show you TOMATO! *pulls out mallet*

*a random, big hand appears from above, plucking the mallet from her hands and picking her up by her collar*

Voice From Above: Now now, Vixie-kins, you have to play nice...time to go back in the story for you.

CVix: *protesting* But you said I could have a whole hour!

VFA: That was before you started menacing people with your mallet. Get in there like a good girl or you only get a few minutes out of it next time!

CVix: *grumbles* Fine, meanie...

*Chibi Vixen and big hand disappear, leaving Chibi Kaitlin and Chibi Cheeks alone*

CCheeks: Say, isn't Libby supposed to have off today, too?

CKat: Yeah, I thought so...

CLib: ...hhhheeeeeEEEEEE!!! *thump*

*A dazed Chibi Libby falls to the ground, spirally eyed and with a lump on her head*

CLib: Owies....

CKat: How did you come from the sky, Libby....

CLib: *rolls eyes* *sarcastically* I few, Kaitlin.

CKat: *excited* REALLY?! Can you teach me to do that to, just with a cooler landing, not that I don't like the spirally eyes but I don't think they'd work for me...

CCheeks & CLib: KAITLIN!

CKat: *confused* What? I wanna fly too...don't you Cheekums? Oh!! Can he learn too?? Cuz then he could fly under me, and if I fell or something he'd be there to catch me, or at least break my fall, you know!

*Cheeks smacks self in forehead as Libby simply passes out on the ground*

CCheeks: Oi...

The End

REVIEW PLEASE!!!

~CB~