Hours later, all of the castle soldiers had been disbanded, and now the Four Chosen, Bowen, Kara, Brother Gilbert, the dragons, and a whole bunch of villagers were alone on the roof when Sir Eryk appeared.
He showed up in a flash of black smoke, smirking and smiling.
"So, Princesses, I see that you have survived my curse!" he cried.
"Your curse?" Qwen asked.
"Lord Frityr!" Zara cried, shock apparent all over her face. Qwen glanced at her as the words that Draco had said floated back to her mind.
"Crap," she muttered under her breath.
Sir Eryk/Lord Frityr laughed. "That's right, Zara! I have taken over this body, and I once again will defeat you!" he cried.
"Fat chance!" Qwen cried.
He laughed again and clapped his hands. From all around them black smoke men showed up, wielding weapons. One snatched Zara and carried her over to Lord Frityr.
"Zara!" Andy called and started to go after her, but all of the smoke men jumped on him, holding him back. He threw punches and kicks, but the men were made out of smoke—he couldn't hurt them. All he could do was struggle.
And now Zara was being carried to Lord Frityr, who smirked as he grabbed her in a steel-trap grip. He held her tightly to his frame and whipped out a knife to press against her neck.
He leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Welcome back, Princess," came the steely voice of Sir Eryk.
Zara looked at him in cold hatred.
"Let her go!" Andy yelled.
Lord Frityr turned Sir Eryk's body and he laughed again. "Oh, sure, boy. I'll just let her go."
Zara felt his grip loosen a little as he laughed and she took her chance. She brought her foot up quickly and hit the man in his face. He backed away, causing a small line of blood to appear on her neck. Zara turned to cut him, but the smoke men grabbed her and dragged her back to her friends.
Sir Eryk/Lord Frityr stood back up, angry now. "Kill them!" he cried before he disappeared.
The smoke men charged again and everyone fought them off, to no avail.
"It's no good!" a villager cried. "They're made out of smoke! They just keep coming back."
Zara turned the hilt of her sword in her hands. It flashed and shone in the pale moonlight. Her neck was throbbing from where Sir Eryk or Lord Frityr or whoever the Hell he was had cut her neck. She knew the blade must've been magic or something, and the constant throbbing making her angrier and angrier at every throb.
She fought numbly, her thoughts not in her actions. She knew they were doing something wrong, but what?
"You okay?" Andy asked as he fought his way to her side. Zara nodded absently, the action sending shivers of pain up and down her neck. "You're not okay," Andy said. "You winced. What's—ow! Ha, ha!—wrong?" Andy asked, a smoke man getting past his defenses and delivering a blow to his side before he clubbed him over the head with his sword's hilt and ran him through.
"Nothing. Just the blade that jerk used must've been magical. The cut's kind of throbbing a little."
Something orange glittered in her peripheral vision and Zara looked over to see Andy's sword, brightly shining though the moon's light wasn't very bright. Over to her right she could see Josh's blue sword, glowing the way Andy's was. Suddenly it hit her.
Andy and Josh were their protectors, which meant that they fought the battle while Qwen and Zara went and fought the main bad guy—that's how it was cast in the spell. That meant that Andy and Josh would have the power to defeat these smoke guys.
"Andy!" Zara called. He looked over at her.
"What?!" he asked.
"I figured it out!" she cried. Zara ran another smoke guy through and chopped another's head off.
"Figured what out?" he asked.
"How to defeat these guys!"
"How?" Andy asked.
"You and Josh have the power," Zara said as she kicked one guy in the stomach and dodged a blow from another.
"What?" he replied, confused.
"Only you two can do it," she said again.
"And how are we supposed to do that?" Andy asked.
Zara shrugged. "I don't know. That's not my job. It's yours."
Andy sighed and nodded. "Fine. Cover me."

Andy closed his eyes and tried to drown out the sounds of the fight around him. He had no idea what he was doing, but he hoped that it would come to him soon.
He held his sword loosely in his hands. The fight died around him, and soon the only thing he could hear was his heart beating and his breath coming out, steady and sure.
He opened his eyes and spun around, a war cry escaping from his lips. He could feel something warm rushing through him; his pocket watch was burning against his skin through his shirt.
From his pocket watch shot an orange light, bright as the sunlight and as he ran his sword through the smoke men, they too turned orange. They hissed as they vanished in a whiff of smoke.
"You did it!" Zara cried. Andy looked at her.
"I did it," he repeated, hardly believing what he had done. Zara flung her arms around his neck and quickly and briefly pressed her lips against his. She backed up and shoved him a little way away from her.
"Now go tell Josh and kill all of these windbags," she said.
"Where are you going?" he asked. Her neck wound had started to turn bright red, and it was creeping up her neck. "Heal your neck first," he said.
Zara smiled. "Don't worry, I will. I've got to go and find Sir Eryk or Lord Frityr or whatever."
Andy reached out a hand and held her there. "Not without me!" he said.
Sunfire landed beside them. "You're not meant to fight that fight! Only Zara and Qwen are supposed to."
"To Hell with the prophecy!" Andy cried.
"What's going on?" Josh asked as he stepped up beside them, Qwen behind him.
"Qwen, you and I are going to go find Sir Eryk," Zara said.
"And I'm going with you," Andy said, his eyes narrowing and growing dark.
Sunfire shook her massive head. "No, you and Josh must stay here and fight Lord Frityr's army. Zara and Qwen must face him alone."
Now Josh spoke up. "I don't think so! Qwen's not facing that jerk by herself!"

Qwen looked at Josh—was he worried about her going alone?
"They have to!" Sunfire repeated, urgent this time. "The prophecy states—"
"I don't give a damn about the prophecy," Josh snapped. "They're not going alone." His tone was serious.
Andy's arm moved protectively around Zara's waist. "She's not going into that fight with that bastard by herself."
Now Sunfire's eyes grew deadly serious. "The prophecy states that only Zara and Qwen can face Lord Frityr and come back alive. Everyone else will fall before him." Everyone grew silent as Sunfire's words penetrated them. "If you go before him," she told Andy and Josh, "you will not come back. You will die."
"You're staying right here!" Zara cried, turning to face Andy. "Besides, you and Josh are the only ones who can kill these smoke things."
"What's she talking about?" Josh asked Andy.
Andy shook his head and said, "I'll tell you later." Then he turned to Zara. "I can't just stay here and leave you to go off and fight that guy alone."
"She won't be alone," Qwen piped up. "I'll be with her."
Josh turned to face Qwen. "And I don't want you to go alone." He put his hands on her face. "I love you, Qwen, and I don't want to lose you."
Josh's eyes burned into hers. "I love you too," she replied, her breath almost taken away, "but I have to fight him."
Westwail landed between them. "What's the problem here?" he asked, annoyed. "The Princesses have to go and fight Lord Jerk."
"The Protectors won't let them go alone," Sunfire explained.
"All that time in that slumber thing they were in and they still love them?" Westwail asked. "They wouldn't let them go the last time, and look what happened!"
Sunfire nodded. "I know, but there's no convincing them."
"Wait a sec. Are you telling me that this is what happened before that caused them to die?" Andy asked. Westwail nodded.
"So you're saying that if they don't go now, they'll die?" Josh asked. Westwail nodded again. Josh turned and kissed Qwen. "Good fight," he said.
Andy and Zara kissed as well. "Come back," Andy said.
Zara looked at him. "You know what I just realized?"
"What?" he asked.
"You promised me you'd come back, but you didn't. You broke your promise," she teased.
Andy smiled and wrapped her into a bigger kiss. "Just don't break your promise. I don't know what I'd do without you."
Zara kissed him. "I'll come back. If I die, then I wouldn't have you, so I have to come back."

"Isn't that sweet?" Qwen said, rolling her eyes. Josh turned to her.
"You're going to come back too, right?" he asked. Qwen caught his intense look. He stepped forward and kissed her like he had never kissed her before—it was quite like Andy and Zara's first kiss.
He stepped back and held her face in his hands. "Come back to me."
Qwen could only nod before Sunfire ushered the girls away. "Go on, get out of here! No more wasting time, as romantic as all that is. You've got a culture to save."
The girls fought their way to the western tower's door, leaving their hearts back with Andy and Josh.

They searched place after place in the castle, to no avail. Zara's neck wound grew redder and redder as they walked. It had grown up into her face now, creeping toward her nose. She walked slower than normal, and she had to sheath her sword.
She clasped Qwen's hand, and Qwen was surprised to find it cold. "Qwen," she whispered.
Qwen found herself putting a hand on Zara's shoulder. "Just heal it, Zara," she said, but Zara shook her head, wincing.
"I can't—our healing powers come from soaking up power all day—or night—and saving it. I've tried healing myself. I—I spent it all on Andy." She leveled her eyes with Qwen's. "Qwen, I think I'm going to die."
A low, evil laugh came from the shadows. They were on another open space on the roof of the castle. The moon hung bright overhead, and Qwen knew that Zara's words were true. She worried for her friend.
The form of Sir Eryk stalked out of the shadows, an evil grin on his face. "You are going to die, Highness," he said with a slight bow. He turned to Qwen. "And you, peasant, are going to die with her."
Qwen suddenly found herself floating toward Sir Eryk, only now Lord Frityr had completely taken over his body. He pulled out a blade from his belt and held it up for Qwen to see. She could see dried blood on the tip. "See that blood? That's the blood of your sister." He gently slid the blade across Qwen's neck, a mirror image of the slice across Zara's. "And now yours joins it."
Qwen winced as the blade's magic bit against her skin. Suddenly Lord Frityr's face winced and he hissed. Qwen was released from his magic and she backed up to see Zara standing there, her sword's blade dripping with blood. She had run Lord Frityr through.
"Qwen, quick!" she said in a voice that was dripping with pain. "Blast him with magic!" she cried.
Qwen pointed her finger at Lord Frityr and she shot him with magic. Now his body glowed with half-sunlight, half-moonlight.
"Now on my count," Zara cried again. Lord Frityr seemed to be immobile. Zara spat at him before she held her sword ready to run him through again. "That was for the blood of my sister," she said, then she spat at him again, "that was for the blood of the ones we love," again, she spat, "that was for me," and here she kicked him in the place where it would hurt guys most. "And that was just for the heck of it."
Now with Lord Frityr bent over in pain, Zara readied her sword over his neck. She looked at Qwen. "On the count of three! One, two—"
Qwen rushed forward and socked Lord Frityr, a blast that sent him flying backward to the edge of the rooftop courtyard. She looked at Zara. "I just couldn't help myself." They shared a smile, then hurried over to Lord Frityr again. Zara placed her blade over his heart, and Qwen aimed for the same spot.
"One, two—" Qwen tensed and she could see Zara do the same. "Three!" the sisters cried at the same time. Zara's and Qwen's magic penetrated the heart of Sir Eryk that Lord Frityr had taken over.
Both girls backed away as Sir Eryk's body was lifted up and a red and black light seared through him. The light brought forth a spirit of a man, and dropped Sir Eryk's body in a heap.
"It's Lord Frityr!" Qwen gasped as the man cried out against the light.
He stared dead at the two girls and laughed. "You may have defeated me, but you will die again!" he yelled, then screamed in pain as the light sunk into him, and he faded and died, a flickering image.
Then a burning white light filled their eyes and once the light had receded enough so that they could look up, they could see the constellation of Dragon Heaven, sparkling and glowing.
Qwen felt something shift and churn inside her, and she knew that the magic that was burning in her was burning in the night sky, and it was bringing the dragons back. All above them, suddenly, dragons appeared, roaring and flying.
Qwen and Zara looked at each other and smiled, then Zara collapsed and fell to the ground.
"Zara!" Qwen yelled. She bent down to her friend's side and held her head up.
Zara looked up at her, eyes hazed over with pain. The redness covered her face and she was weak and trembling. Qwen could see the red traveling quickly all over her friend's body. "Qwen," Zara whispered. Qwen looked back into Zara's eyes. "You're turning black," she said, then passed out.
Qwen looked at her own hands to see them turning a deep black, the very color of the black light that had helped destroy Lord Frityr. She could feel waves of pain sweep through her body. Spots danced before her eyes and she sank to the ground, beside her sister. The last thing Qwen saw were the dragons flying across the night sky.

A/N: Mwuahaha, I shall be evil and cut you off here for now. Chapter ten shall be up soon. It's done, I'm just hanging around to see if anyone will bother to review. cries