Warning

Thea was about to go onto the platform to sing, the next morning, when she first felt it, hundreds of footsteps and vibrations shaking her bones. The footsteps were coming from all directions and they were yet miles away but since there was so many, she could feel it. She somehow knew, instinctively that the mysterious footsteps destination, was the small town of Dragon Box and that they weren't coming to wish everyone a good life. It was quite the opposite actually.

She looked around for Pete to see if he had sensed the danger with his battle gift, but when she finally spotted him he was, he was talking to the King and Prince Roald, with his big goofy smile on his face. The danger was out of his range, which Thea took as a good sign.

The Baron stepped off the platform after his rather long, dull speech and Thea stepped up breathing heavily, her head spinning in slow nauseating circles, and it wasn't because she was getting sick again, it was because, for some reason, she could not hold back the vibrations and beat of the footsteps like she normally did in crowds. Thea stared out at the crowd at odds about what to do. Singing was defiantly out of the question, because when she sang the vibrations would just get worse. Thea knew this because when she and Pete had been out hunting a herd of hurroks, who had been terrorizing the village, they had been attacked by a large band of bandits. Thea had felt their footsteps and sung to herself to calm down but her head nearly exploded with pain and she had had a migraine for weeks after. It was that attack, that Thea had found another aspect of her "Musical Weirdness". If she sung really high, she could do serious damage to other people ears, though she never tried to do it again because it also had left Pete almost deaf for months. He still hasn't foully recovered and Thea didn't expect him to.

She dropped the spelled stick that amplified her voice and walked slowly down from the platform. A murmur rose up from the villagers, for they had never seen her walk away from anything, especially a performance. The Baron stood up, his scrawny face in, what Thea thought was a scowl, though she could never really tell. Hilence, who was standing by his father (He had some big bruises on his face, neck and there was probably more under his cloths, most likely from his father after his little fire stunt) was smirking, thinking that she was making a fool of herself. But then his smile disappeared and he visibly shivered, because he had seen her eyes, even though he didn't know what it meant, he knew it was not normal even for her to have one yellow eye (alertness) and one light blue eye (disturbance).

"What the Hell do you think you doing?? Get back..." The baron stopped in mid sentence when she walked right by him, not even sparing him a glance. His face grew a cherry red and he reached out to pull her back, but before he could a hand caught his arm in a death grip. Pete had come to see what was wrong with Thea, because he knew what her eyes meant. He pushed the Barons Arm away roughly and then let go to go catch up with Thea, who hadn't stopped walking towards the nearby bluffs that overlooked the village.

"Thea! What the hell is wrong? What do you feel?"

"There's a lot of them Pete, hundreds of them, all over the place, all coming here." She said this in gasps while holding her head in her hand in an effort to stop the pounding. When they reached the bluffs she went to her knees, dizziness overwhelming her.

"What coming" this was said by the King who had walked up behind them with Jason, Roald, Gabi and Alanna. Lance and Dylan were not far behind.

"Footsteps, people, danger" That was all she could get out before pain once again erupted inside her forehead, it was as if the people had stared marching. The King looked confused, Thea was in no condition to explain as she tried to lessen to pounding, so Pete was left to explain about her "ability".

When he was finished Roald was the first to comment. "But that's impossible, our mages scry every morning, and the jewel would have warned my father." It was Thea, who finally was able to stand up, who answered. "There are many ways to block scrying and I do believe it was the King who told me his power with the jewel was wavering because he was turning it over to you, it's the perfect time for an attack, and like it or not, we are going to get one." With that she went on to explain the position they were in, they were surrounded, and the mysterious persons would hit at the next dawn. Thea also estimated about 500 hundred in all. "The only break we are going to get is from the east, because the. Footsteps are going around the forbidden forest."

"It's daylight, you'd think someone would see 500 men trespassing on there land, and is it really going to take them until next dawn for them to get here?" Dylan asked impatiently.

Pete looked at him with annoyance that he didn't even try to cover. "The magic that stopping scrying I most likely hiding them from sight, and unless they decide to hit in the dark then yea they will be here at the next dawn." Pete turned to look out at the village. "Time to Prepare." He had a slight smile on his face that only Thea could see, he was excited for he would soon be back where he belonged, in battle.

Thanx for the reviews,

Rainmage- Hmmm I wonder? Thea and Jason?

Warrior of Tortall- you read my mind, i don't like hilence very nuch either, of course I made him
that way, but something will be arrange, have no worryies

Heeheehahoo- Sorry but i can't tell you, that would just spoil it, but you'll find out soon.