*fanfare playing* Tararara! UPDATE! *cheers* Here it is, hope you like it.

You lot are all too quick for me! *Grin* In answer to your ponder, Sweetlee, I left out myself telling Bevier on purpose precisely because I thought it made it more exciting...and also because I forgot to put it in, but anyway! Also, Songwind, you're probably a lot braver than me, but if a crazy scary guy appeared and smashed in my window I know that I would probably just sit there terrified. Heart of a lion, me.

Metamorpheus....NO! NOT THE BRANDY SNAPS! NO! I'LL UPDATE, I WILL! KEEP YOUR CRAZY AUNT AWAY FROM ME! XD

So, uhh, thanks to everyone that has reviewed, I would like to do a whole list of shout-outs, but I would probably miss out someone by accident and then they wouldn't review any more, so then I'd get depressed and wouldn't update, and then crazy aunts of readers will force feed me brandy snaps and chocolate and, well, it would all just deteriorate from there. So I'm just going to say to all of the reviewers, I love you all! Thank you so much!

Also, I don't own David Eddings (darn...) or Bevier (DARN!) or anything that does not belong to me. Well, I've rambled enough. Enjoy.

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I didn't answer, couldn't answer. I just stared at the man in terror.

This can't be happening. This can't be happening.

He gave me another leer, just for good measure, then took a step towards me. I continued to stare wide-eyed at him. He looked a little puzzled, then took another step, obviously expecting a cry for help or something. A cry for help would have been the sensible option, but my vocal chords were out of order. From stress related injuries.

He grunted menacingly. Maybe if I screamed and ran about that would make him feel better and he'd let me go. Or maybe I could distract him by pointing in mock terror at the window then find a weapon. Or maybe..... if by just not moving or speaking...... I could confuse him enough that he would leave......

After a few more seconds of confusion his piggy face contorted into a sadistic smile.

"I like a girl with spirit!" he drawled.

Darn...the confuse-him-by-not-moving-or-speaking-plan had failed. And now I was really in trouble. Maybe I could make a break for it and lock myself in the bathroo- no, nevermind. That hadn't worked with Bevier, and although I would be the first to admit that Bevier had a heck of a lot more in his favour than this fellow (Like good looks, intelligence, charisma, hand-eye co-ordination...), Piggy here had good old fashioned brutality to fall back on, and he would kick down the bathroom door. He just looked the type!

"Uhhh...." I managed to mumble quietly, my voice cracking a little with fear. That seemed to make Piggy feel much better. He puffed himself up and his eyes glowed malevolently. Before he could make use of his newfound purpose, however, something struck him on the back of the head and he slowly toppled over, hitting the ground with a solid thunk. I let out a huge sigh of relief as I saw Bevier's familiar figure standing outlined against the night. I clambered out of bed and edged around the guy in the middle of my bedroom floor.

"Is he dead?" I asked nervously. Bevier shook his head.

"No, just unconscious. I took out the few scouts that were sent and chased off their horses, but more will probably come as back up. Get dressed quickly, I'll stand guard." He vaulted lightly back out the window, and I blinked a few times before going and obediently pulling out a pair of trainers from the wardrobe.

"Get dressed quickly, I'll stand guard!" It was all right for him! He was used to this! Where would we go, anyway? And I had a Physics test tomorrow! With a parting sigh and a tug on my laces I went over to the window, now dressed in jeans and a T-Shirt, and called out in as loud a voice as I dared.

"Bevier! I'm done!"

He re-appeared and gave me his hand, and with a slither and a few small shattering noises from the leftover shards of glass, I landed on the ground outside. The clouds were really building up, and the air was positively solid. Now what?

"Now what?" I asked, and Bevier shushed me.

"This way." he murmured, moving across my front garden to the gate.

~~~

"Okay," whispered Bevier, as we both stood in the door of the stables, "Ready your horse, then wait for me. I'm going to look for any reinforcements!"

I gave him a nervous smile, and, wondering what on earth Bevier was planning, I made my way up the pitch-black stable yard and started tacking up Zita. I'd just put on her bridle, when I heard the creak of the yard door opening. I eagerly stuck my head out the stall to tell Bevier I was almost done, when I froze. It wasn't Bevier. It was Piggy. He must have had a harder head than Bevier had anticipated. And he had spotted me!

I ducked back into the stall anyway, and listened, heart thumping, to the sound of his footsteps as he swaggered up the yard.

"I'm coming to get you this time, Girlie!" he called out loudly (What a stupid thing to do!), and I hoped that Bevier, where-ever he was, heard it. Sure enough, when I peeked around the door, I saw a shadow creeping stealthily along behind Piggy. Bevier's face was illuminated in a shaft of moonlight falling in through the ceiling, and he mouthed a message at me.

"Distract him!"

I was about to nod, but then stopped myself just in time, and, confident now I knew Bevier was there, opened the door and walked out. Piggy leered at me (Yet again! Maybe his face was always like that and it took an effort to put it in any other expression....) and asked in what he probably thought was a dangerously dark voice.

"Aren't you goin' to run, lass?"

I shook my head happily.

"Nup!"

He paused.

"You a witling or sumfin?"

I gave him a bright smile.

"Of course not!"

"Then....why don' you run?"

"Because..uhh...." I tried to think of something to keep him talking and confuse him (Not a hard task!).

"Yes?" He demanded.

"I..uhh...am a great warrior and I can defeat you in combat easily!"

He immediately started sniggering amusedly.

"Tell me another one, Girlie!"

"No, really!" I protested, "I am!"

"Then where's your weapon?" he asked, through snorts of merriment.

I looked around, then grabbed Zita's leadrope from the wall.

"You're gonna kill me with a piece of rope?" he asked dumbfounded.

"Mhm." I started swinging it around nonchalantly, the metal clip making a quiet whistling noise as it spun through the air.

"Right!" he grinned "Let's see it then." he drew his sword with a horrible sliding noise and started walking towards me.

Oh. Bugger.

I backed away a little bit, then saw that Bevier was almost directly behind my attacker now, so I summoned up my courage and gave the man what I hoped was an expression on cool defiance and not desperate terror. At that point a horse further down the yard whinnied suddenly, and Piggy stopped.

No! Don't look round! If you look round you'll see Bevier! Ack! What do I do?!

"Ho, Lavvy Heid!" I suddenly shouted, causing Piggy to glare round at me in anger. I didn't know whether he knew I'd just called him a toilet head or not, but he looked pissed off anyway.

"What?!" he snarled.

"You're gettin' it!" with that I leapt forward and introduced the leadrope clip to his face. There was an audible crack and he immediately let out a howl of pain, dropping his blade and bringing his hands to his face.

"B'ou b'oke b'y b'oody b'ose!" he screamed, "B'ou'll b'ay b'or b'at b'ou BITCH!"

He never got any further, because at that point Bevier's axe connected with his neck and caused his head and shoulders to part company. There was a soft thump and his head rolled away into the shadows. I blinked at it in shock.

".....he's dead." I said numbly, staring in surprise at the headless corpse lying there in the moonlight.

"Indeed." said Bevier, coming over to me and looking me up and down, checking for any injuries, breaks, cuts, bruises, rushing fluids, fainting, concussion, amnesia, decapitations etc. etc.

"Are you alright?" he asked concernedly.

"Yes."

"You're not hurt?"

"No."

"He didn't injure you?"

"He didn't touch me."

"Good." there was relief in his voice "Have you finished readying your mount?"

"No, not yet, I just need to-"

I was interrupted by several shouts from outside and running footsteps. Bevier immediately pulled me closer towards him.

"No time for that," he muttered, "the reinforcements are here. We'll need to go now."

"Go where?" I demanded, as he led Zita out of the stall and lifted me up onto her saddle-less back. "Why are they after us anyway?"

"I don't know." He answered.

"What are we going to do?" I asked, as I saw torched flickering through the double doors at the bottom of the yard.

"Escape."

"But how?"

"Trust me!" Bevier said, vaulting up behind me and digging his heels into my pony's side. She took off with a clatter full tilt down the slippery stone floor of the yard, and I let out a frightened squeak. Bevier wrapped his arm around my waist to steady me and with a leap we flew out through the large doors and into the group of men assembled itself outside the stables.

It was almost like a dream. I shut my eyes against the glare of the flaming torches reflected off rusty blades and chain mail. I felt and heard more than saw Bevier's axe cutting a path through the fighters. I heard screams and yells and was pretty sure that the warm sensation that splattered up my right leg was one of the unfortunate's blood. I suddenly wondered why there was no one else around. Surely this should have woken up my parents, or my neighbours, or someone? There was a bloody battle going on in the stable car park, for goodness sake! Suddenly, Bevier spun my terrified pony around and she took off at a flat-out canter along the road, skidding as she turned left and bolted up the hill. Just then the heavens opened, and within seconds I was drenched with torrential rain.

Bevier's arm was still holding me in place, but Zita wasn't used to carrying two people, and I could already feel her faltering and slowing up. I tried to look round to see if we were being followed, but it was so dark I couldn't see a thing, and the rain was stinging my eyes. The skies above us rumbled, and suddenly there was a lightning flash, that lit up the whole countryside around us.

"Just hold on!" Bevier shouted in my ear. "We're almost there!"

"ALMOST WHERE?!" I bellowed back, but Bevier didn't reply, he only tightened his grip round my waist.

There was another deafening rumble, and another tremendous flash of light, it felt like the whole world was tearing apart. Suddenly, though Zita was still running, we weren't moving forward, it was as if we were suspended in mid-air. Time slowed down, and there was another flash of light, but it didn't go away this time. It morphed and flowed all around us, pulling us forward. I realised that it wasn't white light at all, it was purple, and, inexplicably, my ears popped. With another final crash from above and an awful ripping noise that made my brain hurt, we were suddenly propelled forward as if released from a bow, and the world was plunged into screaming darkness.

~~~

I came to, wondering if I was dead. Then I realised that if I was dead, it was pretty crap because I had a splitting headache and it was absolutely freezing. I forced open one of my eyes, and the painfully bright light only made my head feel worse.

"Are you awake?" Bevier's voice filtered down through my mind from nearby, and I managed to mumble an incoherent reply before rolling over and curling up into a shivering ball.

"Come on. Get up."

I slowly opened my eyes again, ready for the light this time. Without rising, I looked around. I couldn't see anything but a very close-up view of some grass. I shakily pushed myself up into a sitting position, totally disorientated, and Zita looked up at me with mild interest from where she was devouring greenery.

"What......happened?" I asked, my voice sounding muffled and quiet after the deafening experience beforehand.

"You should be able to stand in a few minutes, but you'll feel dizzy and tired for a while. The headache should go soon as well." explained Bevier evasively.

"Yeah.........but what......happened?" I asked again.

"You've been asleep for all of last night and most of this morning. The jump must have taken more out of you than of me because you're smaller."

I looked around. We were in a damp, muddy clearing surrounded by trees. It was wet and cold. And totally unfamiliar.

"Where are we?"

Bevier hesitated.

"Well," he began eventually, "I would make it a few days travel north of Cimmura, near where I was when I was attacked."

"Cimmura?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Yes, the capital of Elenia. The home of Queen Ehlana and Prince Sparhawk."

"...Oh. Okay." I eventually managed. "So, we, uhh....when..last night...we....that storm was..."

"Yes. That storm last night was like the storm that brought me to your world in the first place. We are now in my world. Eosia."

"Oh. Well....great...." I said, not sure how to respond.

"But who were those men who attacked us?" muttered Bevier, more to himself than to me.

"Yeah, I know," I yawned, "I almost got a heart attack when I saw that guy at my window, but where was the other guy?"

"What?!" asked Bevier sharply, "You'd seen that curr before last night?! When?! Why didn't you tell me?!"

I immediately felt so stupid that I wanted to ground to swallow me up.

"Sorry," I said miserably, "I forgot. And besides, I thought they were just wierdos from town, junkies or something. And then -"

"Wait, slow down!" said Bevier, getting up and beginning to pace, "Tell me from the beginning."

So I did, but in the end I was more confused than when I had started.

"Do you have any idea who they were?" I asked hopefully. Bevier shook his head thoughtfully and my heart sank.

"However," he said, "I think it best if we travel to Cimmura as fast as we can. Hopefully my friends will be able to answer some of our questions."

I nodded, hoping he was right. Cause if Aphrael didn't have any idea what was going on, we were pretty screwed.

And I was going to miss my Physics test!

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Yay! Read and review, peeps! (And did you know that miniature marshmallows are called "peeps"?)