I have been battling a major migraine for the last few days, so I figured that this chapter had been done for quite some time and it really didn't need anything added to it...and posting it would make me happy and take my head off the throbbing pain. YAY! I'm so insane, lol. Anyway, it probably won't be long before I post the next few chapters as well...They've been done for quite some time. However, I'm still making little adjustments daily, so I'm not positive. This fic is taking me a long time to write...sorry. Okay, I'm done talking. Bye!

4.The Trial

Locke woke up the next morning fairly early due to the fact that the morning sunlight streamed through his window onto his face at the perfect angle at about 7:30am. He tried to hide the sun from his eyes, but he figured it was useless and sat up in his bed with a yawn. Lucky for him, it didn't take him very long to find his own room the previous night after he stormed away from Xane. Although Locke cursed at himself for being so stubborn, he figured he wasn't going to let Xane walk all over him just because he was clearly the best treasure hunter in Quantz, besides Vaughn of course. Locke was able to ask someone else that was wondering the halls where his room was and they managed to point him in the right direction. He didn't have any special belongings to add to his room besides his new dagger, so he just laid in his bed for a few hours thinking until he fell asleep.

However, now that it was morning, he knew he had to get ready before Xane would barge into his room. There's something about him that I just don't like…Locke thought as he walked out of bed and pulled on his boxers so he could walk across the hallway to find a bathroom without having to walk naked. He stepped out into the hallway and saw a man gawk at him. Locke felt slightly uncomfortable and continued to walk toward the bathroom, avoiding eye contact.

"'Scuse me," the man said as he walked up to Locke. He looked several years younger than Locke, but he was about four inches taller. The man was wearing a nice shirt, nice pants, and an elegant watch on his left wrist—Stolen without a doubt…Locke thought as he looked at it. "You're…You're Locke Cole, aren't you?"

"Yeah, that's me," he replied as he nervously looked around. He felt quite exposed in only his underwear and the fact that this man stopped him in the middle of the hallway where people frequent only made him feel worse. "Ya know, now really isn't—"

"Holy shit, no way! I've heard a lot of stories about you!" The man continued to drabble on, causing Locke to slightly chuckle.

"Really? That's great, but I'd really—"

"Where did you learn all your tricks from?" Locke wasn't sure how to react to the man, so he shifted on his feet. It was flattering that the man was so excited, but the fact that he was practically nude while speaking to him made him very uneasy.

"Hey, can we talk later?" Locke asked as the man's eyes went wide in excitement.

"You mean it?"

"Yes, I really do," he replied quickly as the man reached for Locke's hand.

"Wow, that means a lot! You have no idea!" The man was shaking his hand so hard that he was causing his entire body to shake.

"Okay, okay, okay! I'd like to go take a shower, so I'm not standing in my underwear anymore."

"Okay!" The man said cheerfully as Locke took his hand back from the man's grip. "I'm looking forward to talking later!"

"Yeah, me too," Locke said as he continued his way toward the bathroom, slightly grimacing. Note to self…He said as he walked in the bathroom. Always wear a towel or pants while walking in the hallway…

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"Whaddaya want?" Locke yelled when he heard a very persistent knock at his door. Instead of the knocking ceasing like he had hoped, it only grew louder. Locke exhaled and rolled his eyes at the relentless knocker as he threw on his pants and walked to the door. He opened it to see Xane standing there, ready to go.

"Hurry up," he said as he noticed Locke's state of dress. Without a response, Locke threw on a shirt and Xane walked in and looked around. There was nothing but the bare walls, Locke's bed, a book shelf, a tiny table next to the bed, and a dresser against one of the walls. The window was cracked open, letting the fresh breeze and bird chirps enter the room. "Wow, it's amazing what you've done to the place."

"Yeah, the decorator just left actually," Locke threw back as he crouched down and started lacing up his boots. Xane chuckled and walked over to the dresser, where Locke's new dagger was placed. He saw Xane's gaze linger on it and he leaned over to get a closer look to keep an eye on him. "Don't even think about touching that."

"Wow." Without a missed beat, Xane picked it up and inspected it although Locke told him not to. "This is a thing of beauty."

"I found her in the cave that I was in yesterday before you rudely barged in and interrupted my search," Locke informed Xane as he walked up to him and ripped it out of his hands. "I would appreciate it if you wouldn't touch my things."

"Hmm, possessive, are we?" Xane snorted as Locke shot him a glare.

"Let's just do this," he said as he tied his belt with the dagger on it around his waist and started to walk toward the door. "I don't want to spend any more time with you than I have to, so how about we finish this quickly so I can move on with my life."

"If you're not interested in Quantz," Xane started as he ran in front of Locke and blocked his way out of his room, causing Locke to roll his eyes and look up at the ceiling. "Then why are you wasting your time?"

"I think you misunderstand me," he said, grabbing Xane's arm to move it from the doorframe. Although Xane tried brace his arm, Locke was stronger than him and was able to push it away quite easily. "I am very interested in Quantz. As a matter of fact, I have been interested in Quantz since I began my career as a treasure hunter. It's you I have a problem with. However, I know the only way I can get into here is if I do this mission with you. So, I have to overcome my incapacitating feelings to ram your head into a wall and get along with you on this one assignment so I can start to work on my own."

"You don't frighten me." Xane crossed his arms as he glared at Locke, matching the brutal look that burned in Locke's eyes.

"No?" Locke asked as he inched closer to the older man, taking his dagger in his right hand. "Let's see what we can do about that."

"One blow and Vaughn'll have reward posters up for your head, you know that, right?" Xane didn't flinch for he knew his statement was correct. Locke inhaled through his nose as he placed his dagger back on his side, then exhaled as he shook his head. He knew that by implying that he would basically do anything to get into Quantz, Xane could use Vaughn as a shield. "Good boy. Now let's go."

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They walked through the plains in silence, mainly because neither young man wanted to look at the other. Locke had to calm down his anger and urge to murder Xane by looking at the surroundings. Thankfully it was a beautiful sunny day, so that helped advert Locke's feelings of hatred down to a low boil. The World of Balance was a wonderful place to be in the springtime—the birds were singing as they flew from tree to tree as they tried to find a mate, the warm sun poured from the sky and kissed everything it touched, and there was always a nice gentle breeze.

As they entered the forest, the temperature cooled down slightly due to the umbrella that the trees formed to block the sun and cause a nice shade. The forest ground was covered with roots, small puddles, and tiny animals so Locke had to carefully watch his step so he wouldn't trip and fall over anything.

Locke cocked his head when he heard the faint sound of water flowing. Without looking at Xane, he started to follow his ears toward the growing sound of the water and moved away a few branches that blocked his view. Upon seeing the waterfall, he and Xane walked closer to it.

"Now what?" Locke asked when they reached the water's edge. The waterfall was a good twenty feet away without any clear path of land to get to it. Locke assumed if they walked around for a few miles they would've eventually found something that they use to cross to the other side, but they didn't have that time, nor did Locke have the patience.

"I hope you can swim," Xane said as he started to walk in the water. Locke quirked an eyebrow, so Xane continued with, "In case you haven't noticed, the only way to get behind those falls is walking under it."

"Wait a minute." Locke started to follow Xane, but stopped when he was about ankle deep in the water. "You're telling me that the thieves walked through the water every time they wanted to go to their hideout? They would freeze to death in the winter."

"There's probably another entrance somewhere, but this is the only choice we have now." Xane treaded the water for a second before taking a deep breath and diving under. Locke watched as his head popped up from the other side of the waterfall, and with a sigh, he followed and did the same.

When he surfaced, he shook his head to rid it of excess water and noticed that Xane was starting to walk through the cave that was there. Locke slightly jogged to keep up and almost didn't notice that Xane stopped.

"What?" Locke asked as he noticed Xane feeling the wall. "Oh great, another secret passageway?"

"I don't see any doors, do you?" Xane snapped as he continued to prod the wall. He scoffed when he realized that Locke had his arms crossed and was looking around the inside of the cave aimlessly. "In case you didn't notice, this is me trying to find a way to get in. Please, feel free to join in whenever you'd like."

"It's right here, dammit," he said when he noticed an odd shaped root sticking out from the side of the cave. With a strong pull, the wall started to open, revealing the secret room. "All thieves are alike with their secrets and whatnot."

"You think you have to tell me that? I've been treasure hunting longer than you have." Xane replied as he brushed his hands off on his pants and walked through the newly found door.

"Well, you didn't find it right away, now, did you?" Locke shot back with a scoff. "If you knew their tricks, why did you have to depend on me?"

"This one wasn't hidden very well now that I think about it, but I've seen more obvious entranceways," he replied, not bothering to look back at Locke. "And I didn't depend on you, just for the record."

"I don't understand why you couldn't just put your hand over the rock and make a door like you did yesterday," Locke stated, slight sarcasm in his voice. "It would've been easier than trying to find our own way in. It would've been quicker too."

Xane shrugged and started to mumble something under his breath, and with a roll of his eyes Locke made his way through as well. Just as he was about to find a way to shut the door, a bright flash emitted from Xane and the door shut on its own. Locke whipped around and sent a glare at Xane, but the light of the spell had already dimmed and it was too dark.

The cavern air was thick and musty, not to mention the fact that it was pitch black. Locke blindly looked around for something to ignite, but it was a difficult task for he couldn't see the very nose on his face. He squinted to find out if he could actually see anything, but it was fruitless. Knowing that he couldn't see anything, he concentrated on listening to his surroundings to see if he could hear any movements. He heard a very faint rustling coming from one of the sides of the cave, but he figured it was just a small animal of some sort who had chosen this area to be its home. However, the assumption wasn't comforting and the hair on the back of Locke's neck continued to stick straight up.

"That's funny," Locke said in a voice barely above a whisper. He craned his neck to look around, but he couldn't even see Xane anymore.

"I don't see anything humorous about this situation," Xane said as he reached out his hands in hopes to find a wall or something else to guide him so he wouldn't fall. Locke turned toward the direction that he heard Xane's voice and continued to speak.

"No, I just have a bad feeling is all," Locke replied as he walked straight into a metal object on accident, his foot hitting it hard. "Dammit!"

"Is it something you can light?" Xane asked as he continued to walk blindly, not concerned about Locke's foot at all. Locke scoffed and shook his head when he realized that it was only a chest of some kind. "Hm. I'll take your silence as a no."

"It's just a metal box. I'm serious about what I said though," he continued as he rubbed his foot through his shoe, which was now sore from the contact with the metal. "It's like a hunch and most of the time my hunches are correct. I would feel a lot more comfortable if I would be able to see further than three inches in front of my face, and that's being rather generous with the sight distance I'm given right now."

"Fine," Xane grumbled with a sigh. As Locke continued to look around, he started to see a dim glow out of the corner of his eye, causing him to quickly turn his head to see what it was. He started to walk closer to it and noticed that it was starting to grow from a tiny speck of light into a small fire suspended in air. The fireball flew down to the ground where it sparked into a nice sized fire, which illuminated the room quite well. The flames caused shadows on Xane's face, who didn't look alarmed nor astonished. "This'll work to stop your whining."

"How do you have the power of magic, Xane?" Locke questioned calmly as he crossed his arms. He had heard stories of magic and mages from when he was younger, but he had never seen a spell done in front of his eyes up until recently. In the last two days, Xane had performed three spells that Locke had witnessed, and it started to make him feel uneasy. Magic was what started the War of the Magi; the war that almost ceased existence on the world and that's all that he could think of. Xane shrugged in response to Locke's question as he started to look through some crates and chests. "You told me Vaughn would explain everything, but I forgot to ask him about it."

"That's not my fault then, is it?" Xane shot over his shoulder as he continued to move abandoned objects to the side. "Ask him another time because we have work to do and I don't want to hear the sound of your voice. You do have a very annoying voice. Has anyone ever told you that before?"

With a sigh, Locke decided to ignore Xane's snide remark and look for the relic from the thieves' leader. Although he tried to put it in the back of his mind, the vision of the fire spell brought up too many thoughts to do so. Magic…He contemplated as he picked a lock on one of the chests. I thought the days of magic were dead…

A slight crunching noise caused Locke to look up from what he was doing and look straight at the wall that he was facing. He knew the sound was coming from behind him, but he was hesitant to look and see what it was. It wasn't Xane, for he was kneeling down a few feet in front of him and he also whipped his head up. The two men looked at each other simultaneously then looked over their shoulders.

About ten feet behind Locke was a bear like fiend, on his hind legs and ready to attack. Locke leaped to his feet and pulled his dagger out to protect himself as the creature started to advance on them. I knew I had that bad feeling for a reason! Locke thought as he slightly backed toward the wall of the cave. With a loud roar, the creature swiped at Xane, the force throwing him against the wall.

"Xane!" Locke cried as he looked over at Xane, who was slowly getting back on his feet. Upon turning his attention back to the fiend, Locke brought down his dagger it as hard as he could, causing some critical damage. The bear growled and fell to all four of his feet so he was able to balance himself more evenly.

"Locke, look!" Xane pointed to something around the bear's neck. When Locke narrowed his eyes at it, he saw that it glimmered every time it caught the light from the fire. "It's the relic!"

"Oh, isn't that nice," he yelled back, dodging an attack. "They used the bear to guard it!"

Locke struck the bear again, but before he could move out of the way, the bear scratched him across the chest with his razor sharp claws. Locke grimaced with the pain as he felt his flesh rip open, but kept his ground. Before he could advance on the bear again, Xane performed a fire spell and directed it toward the bear. Locke shielded his eyes from the scorching heat as the bear whimpered in pain and fell in a huge heap on the ground.

With an exhale, Locke walked slightly closer to the fiend to make sure that it was dead. It wasn't moving or breathing, so he figured that was a good sign. He placed his hand on his chest, feeling his warm blood seep out of his wounds and cover his hands. "Oh, this can't be a good thing," he muttered, trying to remain as calm as possible. Fear would only make the situation worse, so he quickly searched his pockets for a potion. The cave was starting to turn hazy as his focus started to fail, and he started to feel as if a large weight was put on his chest.

As he sunk to his knees in exhaustion from losing blood so rapidly, he saw a bright flash of light surround him. When the light was gone, his eyes refocused, the wounds healed and he was able to stand on his feet again. A cure spell…He thought as he looked at his hands and clothes. Although they were covered in blood not longer than ten seconds ago, they were now clean; almost as if the memory was erased and nothing happened.

"Be careful next time," Xane said calmly as he walked over to Locke and patted him on the shoulder. Locke patted his chest where his wounds were then slowly looked up at Xane in awe.

"You just saved my life." The older man shrugged as he walked over to the bear.

"I couldn't let you die," he replied as he knelt down to grab the relic. He pulled on it as hard as he could, breaking the clasp and freeing it from the bear's neck. As he stood up, he looked up at Locke, who was still in shock, and added, "Unfortunately."

"Oh." Locke was thoroughly confused and continued to look at his hands on his chest. If he had any chance to leave me for dead, that would've be it…Xane walked past him and motioned him to follow.

"Come on, we got what we came for." With a nod, Locke began to follow Xane out of the cave and back to the Quantz hideout.