A/N Okay, I lied. I guess I will be updating pretty soon. lol. I just couldn't take a break from it. Lol. So, to clear up some confusion from last chapter, they knew she was a girl cause she was dressed like one so in the off chance she was caught she wouldn't be found out as Torick. Let me explain. The original chapter fifteen was one long chapter with nothing but Lee in it and a small section on the end with Tori asking for a day off and dressing as a girl. And then chapter Sixteen was the chapter fifteen that you read. But I didn't like the direction that the vision in the original fifteen was taking Lee, so I cut it out. And in the editing I forgot to mention the Tori was dressed as a girl. Sorry for the confusion. Now, thanks to...

Cheeryfearie: Lol... if you're still confused, just ask and I'll explain.

Sammey: You're welcome

A Dragon's Rose: I think some things will be explained in this chapter.

...: Maybe maybe not. It might be someone else who puts it together

demented-dreamer: lol. Evie isn't that powerful. It was something else that made her able to see all of it, and she understands that. So yeah... more mystery. And yeah... I kinda made Jon seem older, and then younger. But he was trying to be older at first to show Tori that he didn't need a babysitter. lol.

cloverluck11: If you pay close attention to this chapter you just might get it.

Zerrion: Hehe... I answered your questions in an e-mail. lol. So, yeah... check there. lol.

Mage Light: Sorry about that. But yeah... she was dressed as a girl so if she happened to be caught she wouldn't be found out as Torick. And the Own did catch her, but since it was the Seridian Prince that was kidnapped, they gave her over to them for questioning.

Chapter Sixteen:

Ciem shuddered as he saw the person on the roof. He screamed out a warning to the guards even as he saw long tendrils of dark hair catch in the wind as well as the skirt on the dress.

A woman, he thought even as she turned to face him and drew on the arrow. He let out a shout as she was shot and the arrow loosed into the air. He scrambled to block his wife's body even as he braced for the pain.

But there was none. The second it hit his shoulder he felt a pull, like a hook behind his navel. When he opened his eyes from a blink he was standing in a cave and the screeching men from the crowd were surrounding him.

As he watched their shrieking stopped and their eyes returned to normal. He hadn't noticed it before, but their eyes had been completely green, not even the whites remained. But as the green faded they became more and more human until they sank weakly to their knees, kneeling in the dirt of the cave.

"What the hell was that?" he demanded, staring as the men shook their heads. Most seemed unable to gain their strength back and fell into faints, but one man managed to rise to his feet and lean weakly against the wall.

"It was the witch. She was using her powers, calling to us. She was trying to get us to turn away from the Master, but we will never do that. We will steal her powers and take over the throne as the Master has ordained," His voice was eerie, almost a chant. He was staring off into space, almost as if he didn't know Ciem was there.

"What witch?" Ciem asked in a quiet voice. He didn't want to wake the man from his concentration. Maybe if he stayed like that, Ciem would be able to learn something, find something out.

"The witch on the roof. She thought she was so clever, coming back as that girl, that girl the Master's assistant couldn't kill. And she tried to kill us, just like before. But she won't succeed. She'll never succeed. We're always stronger then her. Always!"

"What girl?"

"That one that Master tried to find. He said her name was Torianna, but we all know she's truly that witch with her evil power. That power that none of us can control. That power that is poison," as if to prove it, the unconscious men on the ground began to shiver in their sleep. But they weren't asleep for long. Soon they woke, vomiting and coughing up blood. It wasn't until their skin started to melt from their bodies that Ciem looked away, shuddering.

He covered his ears with his fists when the agonized screams started, the sound of people dieing around him. The smell of burning flesh crowded his nostrils, making him gag. Heinous images entered his brain, taunting him even as he fell to his knees, sick and going insane when suddenly it stopped.

The only sound in the cave was his ragged breathing as he knelt facing the rock wall. He sucked breath into his lungs and shuddered with relief when he found it free of the stench that had been there seconds before.

"The witch uses her powers even now to steal away my companions. She has taken even their bones to use in her vile rituals," the haggard voice whispered from somewhere behind him.

With flagging courage, he slowly turned, preparing himself to view the disgusting images that he knew would meet him. But when he did look, there was nothing there. Absolutely nothing. The only evidence that what he had just seen had really occurred was the memories still lodged in his mind, the images so fresh to the surface, and the vomit he had left at his own feet.

"What… what happened to them?" he whispered, wiping his mouth with his arm and stepping away from the evidence of his fear and leaning weakly against the wall of the cave, much like the man across from him.

"The poison. The witch, she poisoned them and now they are dead. The Master has lost even more of his bowers then before," he whispered, his eyes solemn and filled with pain as he stared down at the spot that his companions had rested.

"But… where did they go?" he still couldn't fathom how everything, even their vomit was gone. Something of them should have remained, anything.

"The poison turned them into dust and blew them away. Even their ashes are stolen from us. She is truly a witch," a single tear slipped down his face, leaving a trek in the dirt that had clung to his cheek when he had fallen to the ground before.

"Did you know them?" Ciem asked, his voice compassionate, empathetic. He had learned so much from Evie including this and he used it now to comfort the man.

"They were my Brothers to the Master. We bowed together for many years. I am tired, I would like to rest," with bowed shoulders he lay on the ground of the cave, his back to Ciem and became silent, but Ciem was certain he wasn't sleeping.

Once the man was asleep it donned on him that there was light in the cave and he immediately sought out where it was coming from. Placed in intervals along the walls were torches. And at the base of the wall at each torch were more torches and spare things of fuel and matches incase the other torches ran out. Curious, Ciem wandered the boundaries of the cave to see what else had been left behind for them. In a bag near the back of the cave he found food and water bags. There was enough there to last him weeks. Obviously that "witch" had been prepared to bring them here, by whatever means it had been.

A sudden yawn caught him off guard and he realized that he was tired also. He lay down to rest and all though he didn't think he would be able to sleep, he found himself doing just that.

It was the screams that woke him. Several of the torches had burnt out so there was little light left in the cave, but it was enough for him to see the man wreathing on the floor, clutching at his head and screaming, much as he had before in Pirate's Swoop, but this was different. He could make out words.

"It's the witch! She's come to finish us off! Run, save yourself!" he floundered for a few more minutes, his arms and leaks twitching as his back went spasms. Ciem, started over towards the man, but even as he took a step a woman suddenly appeared before him, running as fast as she could until she slammed into his chest knocking them to the ground.

"You witch!" the man screamed. She stiffened on top of Ciem, staring confused down into his eyes, questions in her own, so clear he could read them. She had no idea what that man was saying.

The man, however, was viciously angry. He snarled as he climbed to his feet and grabbed the girl's foot, dragging her off him, or trying too. She screamed as if in pain and dug her sharp fingers into his shoulders and clung. He had to admit she was the strongest little girl he had ever met, for really she looked no more then twelve, her face beautiful but scared beyond reason.

He stared into her lovely emerald eyes and watched the change overtake her. Even as the man began to scream again her eyes glazed over and she stared past him not seeing him, or the cave. Possibly seeing nothing. He could only fathom what was hidden within the depths of this "witch" that looked achingly familiar to him.

Lee scrambled for purchase on the slightly sloped battlefield even as the sword was kicked from her hand. Her first battle and this is how it had turned out. Her breath hitched as the man leered down at her, her hair wild about her face as her helmet had come loose hours before. He had tripped her to the ground and now he would kill her.

Or so he thought. She had more tricks up her sleeves and more moves then he realized. With a hiss of triumph he stepped into range. She smiled evilly up at him as she hooked her foot behind his sending him toppling forward. As he fell towards her, she called the knife into her hand by saying it's name, Mumina.

As it slipped into her hand she used the sharp edge of the blade that never dulled to slice the man's throat. Never would she be defeated.

Tori gasped, her fingers relaxing on the man's shoulders even as she was pulled backwards. She assumed the man she landed on was Ciem, as he looked like the man she had seen on the dock, or what features she could make out in the dim light did.

"You vile witch, you killed them!" he pulled her completely off Ciem and then jumped onto her stomach, holding her arms down with his legs even as she struggled to get away. She wasn't exactly puny, but she wouldn't be able to throw him off easily.

"What are you talking about? The bandits? Are you related to the bandits?" she gasped, her breath leaving her. She stared up at the crazed man and saw his eyes. They were completely green, the whites included. "You, you, you're a… a…"

"I'm a bower and I'll kill you and bring your head back to the Master!" He screeched and slammed his fist into her jaw.

"You… you… you killed Robert!" she gasped, trying to regain her breath but the man was now sitting on her chest. She huffed for breath even as the anger rose in her chest. "You… you know… who… did it. Tell… tell me… who it was!"

"It was Zahib you vile witch and now you shall die, just as you killed me companions!" he lifted his hands and clenched them around her throat, squeezing but before he cut her off completely she whispered out the word, "Mumina."

The man screamed as the knife that appeared in her hand sliced through his leg. He screamed and screamed and screamed until she threw him off and rolled onto him, holding the knife to his quivering throat.

"Tell me where I can find him! Tell me!" she shouted at him, but even as she saw him begin to shake. His face turned a sick green and she flung herself away. She screamed when she saw his face melting off and then he turned into dust and vanished.

"No… no… NO!" she scrambled to the place he had been, the knife still held tight in her hand. "Tell me where I can find him! Tell me damn it!"

She sank to her knees in the dirt, hot tears flooding her eyes before she could stop them. And she didn't want to stop them. Her head fell into the hands that waited, elbows propped on folded knees.

The sobs shook her shoulders as she wept helplessly. She didn't want to stop even if she could have made herself. She had held it off for so long, tried so hard to be strong, and now, now she just didn't have the energy.

The bloody knife dropped to the ground and melted into the sand before disappearing, but she didn't notice. Neither did Ciem. The sounds of her sobs were breaking his heart. She had had such a sweet innocent face. To see her cry made his heart hurt. He felt a pull towards her, felt a connection.

With a murmured sound of comfort, he gathered her into his arms and cradled her to his chest. Her head hit his shoulder and her arms clutched at the back of his shirt as she sobbed and sobbed. He smoothed a hand down her hair, whispering into her ear. And she wept for what seemed hours.

Finally, far past the time his shoulder had gone numb from her weight, she quieted and fell asleep in his arms. He smoothed back her hair, felt her hot face and saw her puffy eyes. Even in her sleep her face was wracked with grief. He wondered what had happened to her and why that man had found reason to call her a witch. But judging from the way her breathing had evened out, she wouldn't be up to talking for a while.

He sighed and laid her out on the ground and found a place close beside her and returned to sleep himself.

Lee's shoulders shuddered as she stepped into the cool walls of her palace. Hers and no one else's. For years she had wanted that so badly, wanted more then anything to be rid of her mother. But now that she had it… all she felt was a void in her heart.

To think, her mother had been a traitor. And from the depth of the green in her eyes it had been for a very long time. How many years had she allowed her mother to observe plans for the war and the whole time she was relaying them back to the Master?

"What the hell was that?" a hysterical voice shouted from the entrance. Her hair whirled about her face as she turned to face the intruder of her personal thought time. She smirked when she saw the prince.

Answering him in his language she said ominously, "That was a death of a traitor."

"How do you know? You didn't even give her a trial, a chance to explain herself! You didn't give her anything, least of all a death worthy of her title. She was a queen after all. You should have given her at least a little dignity," the arrogant prick crossed his arms over his chest and even had the audacity to look at her as if she was a stupid girl who didn't know anything. Never mind the fact that she had just killed someone.

She would show him. "First off, I didn't need to give her a trial, her eyes spoke for themselves. She had given herself to the enemy and she had done it years ago. I didn't need to hear an explanation for why she gave away her soul to that bastard, it didn't matter. She got the death she deserved. And she wasn't a queen, she was never a queen. Her husband died before he could be given the crown. When my grandfather died, the man that was king, I was the only heir so I got he crown. My mother was never in any power. And as to her public death, she didn't get dignity because she had none. Novellee Nubiano had no dignity so she will receive none in her death. Is there anything else?" she had used her best condescending tone to give him that little speech. Then she mirrored his stance, though his arrogant look had fallen.

"What do you mean by her eyes?" he asked, and she could see the curious light in his eyes. Though she loathed to admit it, because she wasn't all that fond of this man, she recognized a kindred spirit in his curiosity.

"When the Master accepts a person to be his bower he gives them a certain amount of power to counter-act the magic that runs in my family lines. When they use this power their eyes are overtaken with it, turning them completely green. The longer they have the power the darker their eyes grow when they use it. My mother had this power, and she had it for a very long time. She was a bower to the Master," she sighed and rubbed absently at the ache in her head.

Almost as absently, the man lifted his hand and used his Gift to ease away the ache in her forehead. Her eyes widened at the generous move, but he seemed not to have registered it. He chewed on his lip, puzzled. "Who is the Master?"

"The Master is the man we are fighting against. For several years he has owned my country, and though men were given the title of King, they made no moves that the Master didn't ordain. They couldn't. The magic within the Master was too powerful for them to counter-act. Basically, the Master's magic is our weakness. We can't fight against it, and because long ago, my country decided life as a slave was better then death, we allowed the Master to take over us and we, essentially, bowed our rule to him."

"Then…" he paused to gather his thoughts. "How are you able to fight him?"

"I that this would be your next question. I was born with a stronger magic then anyone in years. Some say stronger then the Master himself. At least, it's strong the then the magic he can give to his bowers. He himself will not come to face me and as long as I exist and can shield my people with my magic, he can't touch us. But I can't shield everywhere at once, so the battle is evenly matched. The only way to end it is to go to the Master himself. And to do that, I need your army. Your army is completely immune to the Master's power. I won't have to shield your forces leaving me able to bring your army, me at the front, to the Master's palace. While your army is busy slaying the enemy, it leaves me free to contain my complete power and us it all against him. I fear I will need it all in order to defeat him."

"But, why can't you simply bring your army to his palace? And why bring an army at all? You can simply sneak in their yourself," he managed to put on that smug look once more, but she quickly wiped it away.

"If I bring my army I will have to use my powers to shield them and I need to keep all of my powers in order to win. And I can't simply 'sneak in'. My magic is like a beacon to them. Every time I touch it, even for a split second, they will know where I am and they will come for me. I would be overwhelmed and killed. And since I have no children, the strong magic would die in me and my country would have no chance. I need your army."

"I will give you the use of my army. On one condition," he whispered, staring at her, his eyes content. "You must marry me."

Tori's eyes were sore when she cracked them open several hours later. She moaned and sat up, moaning even louder when the blood rushed into her head, making it pound. She clutched at it and gritted her teeth, making it stop. She knew these signs very well. She had cried last night and now she was paying for it.

"Idiot," she whispered, covering her face in shame. She had just been so frightened when that knife had appeared in her hand, then so angry when that man had flaunted the fact that he knew who had killed Robert. And when that man had died before telling her where she could find that… Zahib… it had been too much. She had had to many emotions in her, so many, that she had to let them our or implode.

But know that she was calm, she saw that the situation wasn't as hopeless as she had thought. She had a name. She knew whom it was that she needed to find. And if the dreams where true, which she very much believed now, it would be easy for her to find a bower and get the information from him.

A sudden grunt had her jumping. She looked to her left and saw a man sleeping beside her. Ciem, she thought even as she slowly backed away from him. There was much she would like to know about him, but at the moment she didn't much feel like waking him. He might be angry with her for what had happened. After all, she had never meant to bring him here.

She sidled over to the other side of the cave and sat with her back to the wall. There was something she wished to know. Most of the events that occurred in those short minutes before the man died were blurry to her. But one thing stood out frighteningly clear. She had pulled a knife that she hadn't had and didn't have now.

She opened her hand and placed it on her knee and stared at it. She traced the features of her palm with her eyes until she could see it in her mind. And then she searched for the feeling of the knife. She searched through all her memories and tried to conjure the knife in her hand, but no mater what she did, she couldn't get the knife to appear.

Finally, her face furrowed into a deep frown, she whispered, "Mumina."

In a blink the knife was in her hand. The blade gleamed in the light of the torch and she could see from the blue-black shades of the blade that it was made of the finest craft and material. It had an emerald on the hilt just as on her sword. And the grip in her hand was made to fit it. It was as comfortable in her hand as was the sword. She could tell that they were a matching set.

"What the hell?" she screamed and scrambled to her feet, dropping the knife in her fright. Ciem was staring at the knife that now lay on the ground. She caught of glimpse of his expression and quickly looked down herself. The knife was slowly melting away into nothing.

"How the hell did you get that? And where did it go?" he demanded, gaping at her. He stomped to her and she panicked. She had known this day would come, the day that the magic was discovered and they saw her for what she was. An evil witch.

"I… I… I" she slowly backed away, her whole body trembling, her eyes huge with fear. "I… I saw her do it in my dream and… and… and I just… I'm not a witch!" she covered her arms with her hands and turned away from him, waiting for a blow.

"I never said you were a witch. But I would like to know how we got here. And where that knife came from," his words and his tone helped to beat back the fear, but it was his kind smile that had her relaxing.

"I… I brought you here. With my magic."

A/N So there you go.I know, I was sneaky. I left you with a cliffy in the visions right? Hehe... couldn't help it. Tori only sleeps for so long. lol. Well if I get lots of reviews I will update sooner. lol. Review me!

Nubia