A/N: You want an action scene I give you one. But! I never claimed to be a good writer so it might not be very good and I've come to terms with that.

Disclaimer: Wow this gets old fast. I don't own this world or anything of the like. It belongs to Tamora Pierce. I only own the story line and what you don't recognize.

x...:...x

The hurrok swept down, its claws fully extended. Arra fell back dodging it and shooting off an arrow at the same time. The creature fell in a black heap, the arrow striking its heart full on. Arra got back up with a grunt and pulled another arrow and readied it. It being so mountainous out here they have plenty of hiding spots.

Just as the thought came some rocks tumbled down signaling the flight of another hurrok before it came. Arra shot another arrow and right when she released she slipped on a rock changing the course. It veered off and skimmed the horse head creating a deep gash. The thing let out a cry and more hurroks answered the call.

Arra cursed. Quickly she brought the first down then one after another she swung arrows into place with profound speed making more fall down in turn with heavy thumps.

Blood pounded hard in her ears and her veins felt thick. Arra tried to shake away the feeling but it stayed. With her own heartbeat too loud in her ears she almost missed the breathing behind her. She jumped forward spun around to find the hurrok still close to her. Arra jumped back onto her hands, brought up her feet and let them meet the creature's throat painfully before dragging it up to where it met the head. The horrible winged creature made a gagging sound, spit up thick dark blood and collapsed.

Then there was silence. The silence soon shifted into an eerie pause in the afore fast-paced battle. Only a moment passed before Arra realized the reason for it. They're waiting for it to be pitch black.

"Joel!" Arra cried to the darkness.

"Where are you?" He called back.

Arra concentrated on her crystal blue gift. She pulled and coaxed it until it pooled into her hand, becoming a bright beacon of light. "Here Joel."

She heard his footsteps before he stepped into her light range. He looked slightly surprised to be seeing Arra using the Gift so freely. Examining him she found his only visible wounds consisted of three scratches, two above his eyebrow and the third on his cheekbone. He was lucky they didn't take his eye.

Arra reached up and unconsciously touched the bleeding scratch on his cheekbone. He gave only the slightest wince. "Are you alright?"

Joel grinned, "I'm fine," The smile fell and his eyes searched her. "Are you okay?"

"For now." She nodded. His eyes darted over her for a while until he felt satisfied that she wasn't mortally wounded.

"So what's going on? Do you think its over?" Arra caught the unbelieving tone in his voice. It was odd to, in the heat of the battle, just have everything stop so suddenly.

She shook her head. "No, they're waiting," She glanced at his arrows before saying. "Give them to me."

Joel handed them over without a second thought. Amazing how he trusts me so, for all he knows I could be planning on taking these for myself. But of course she wasn't. Arra took a hold of all the arrows at once. I hope this works. She pushed some of her Gift through to the arrows, trying to plant it in every one, not too much but just enough to give it a soft blue glow. She repeated the procedure upon her own. Arra gave Joel back what was his with a little improvement.

"They should give you some source of light to help you see a little better, but I make no promises at how long they'll last," Arra thought for a moment and added. "They may be attracted to you because your a light source now and easier to spot."

He nodded. "Thats fine. I'd rather be able to see a short distance in front of me and have some chance rather than be in complete darkness where I would have to fight dumb, deaf, and blind compared to the hurroks."

On impulse, Arr took a moment to look into Joel's eyes. His dark grey orbs contained puddles of the blue light which somehow created a look of stern seriousness. Before her very eyes, a series of emotions passed through those eyes. An almost sad look came into his features before he moved towards her suddenly. Joel grabbed her chin and kissed her quickly, not knowing when the hurroks would return, and whispered afterwards: "Don't die."

It had been something they would say to each other when they were younger. "Only if you don't die!" She yelled as he started to walk away to this post across the small town. Arra heard his chuckle then:

"I'll do my best."

His kiss isn't . . . its . . ., she knew what she felt, its not Liam's.

Arra readied one of the glowing arrows on the bow. She strained her ears to hear any hint the hurroks were coming. There is was! Pebbles tumbled down the side of the mountain signaling, she guessed, a hurrok taking flight somewhere on her left side. Arra caught the second sound that helped to confirm her guess. It sounded like a flapping robe but it was, more than likely, the wind catching on hurrok wings.

Arra snapped into action, pulling the arrow into ready position. If the hurrok knew it was flying in the pathway to death it didn't bother to change its course. Arra shot the arrow when she found a blob in the shadows that was darker than the rest around it. The arrow glowed until it struck the beast and the tip still glowed when it came out the other end with dark blood caking it. Was it just her or did the magicked arrows slice through the hurroks easier?

A shadow moved in the distance. Arra was instantly ready to loose her arrow before she noticed it held nothing of the shape of a hurrok, not even of a horse. Then light flickered on and there was a candle in a pair of hands. The people of this city are not nearly so stupid, even the daring ones. They know the light would only direct a hurrok to that spot . . . which is why all of the lights are off and my job isn't very easy at the moment. There was something around the figure wich created a lump at its back. Curiosity driving her, Arra jogged to see who it was.

By the gods! Couldn't she listen for two moments? Why did she do these things? Arra could feel a growl in her throat. She began, "Lianne, do words not get through to you? Or is it just when you hear 'no' in a sentence you automatically omit that from your memory at all?" Her words were furious.

Lianne turned to her and the candlelight made the shadows dance across her face. Arra noticed it was her bow and arrow slung across her back that had created the lump.

"Lianne--" Arra began the sentence but didn't finish it. A shadow that could not possibly be a shadow with the light flickering off of it stood behind the youngest Conte. Arra dropped the bow and arrow in her hands and grabbed Lianne by the shoulders spinning her away just in time for the teeth of the hurrok to miss the princess but not in time for them to miss herself.

The pain didn't seem just to come from the entry point but her whole shoulder felt immersed in the pain and it slowly spread to her neck and down her arm. Her eyes watered but she clenched her teeth and managed. "Shoot it! NOW!"

Lianne snapped out of a trance-like state, gathered herself up, before struggling with the bow and arrow. "I-I don't know if I can."

"I don't care if you—ahh!" She took a breath, "can but you will."

The hurrok sensed what was happening and began to pull away, Arra's flesh still captured in its jaws. This time she couldn't stop the sound of pain as she let out a cry. Finally, as if something finally clicked Lianne released the arrow. It struck the creature right in the forehead. Except it wasn't just one arrow it was two.

The beast's legs were locked even in death and Arra was thankful for it. Joel ran up to the scene yelling, "Lianne get the hurrok off!" Ah, yes, Joel's was the second arrow. Lianne didn't seem to have so much of a problem as she set down the bow next to the candle. She tried to loose the jaw out of Arra's shoulder.

Joel finally came and helped, they even managed to clear the teeth from the skin before the sun showed its rays over the mountains. Though it definetly wasn't painless!

"Come on I'll carry you." Joel motioned to Arra who clutched her left shoulder with the opposite hand.

"No! My legs aren't hurt, I can walk." Arra lifted herself from the ground where she had been leaning against a weak stone wall. She sighed when Joel walked next to her anyways. To make sure I don't fall.

The sunlight hit certain clouds making some pink and others slate grey. The mountains blocked the actual sun, and would for a few hours yet, but you could see the light working to chase the night away. It was the eerie glow of dawn that had no sun.

The blood started to ooze from in between Arra's fingers by the time they reached the house they'd been told the only healer resided. It was a simply brown crude stone house like all of the others except it was a bit bigger. A special house for the healer? But when Joel knocked on the door they were met with a child's cries.

They shared questioning looks, except Lianne who seemed to be busy with her own thoughts. The door opened and there stood a fairly plump woman with a crying child on her hip. The woman had her light brown hair pulled away from her round face as she cooed to the baby. She stopped for a moment took a step, looked out searching the skies then nodded and turned to them. "What can I do fer ya?"

Joel motioned to Arra's shoulder as if asking if it wasn't obvious. "We were told the healer lived here."

"She does. I'll call her." So she isn't the healer? "I'm Fayla," She said shortly before motioning they could come in, she turned away and called to the house. "Rei! Wake up!"

Fayla walked away as if her job was done, setting the baby down in a crib of some sort.

Arra looked around the room. Crude toys made from straw and cloth and bits of wood littered the ground. There were beds in the room they were presently, or maybe the house was one large, thrown together, room. Miscellaneous items decorated the walls which were simple adobe stones. A table set in the middle of the room had one lone flower sitting atop of it in a a small chipped bowl.

The woman, Fayla, came back from what Arra guessed was the kitchen because she was considerably more messy. "She ain't up yet? Rekha! Up. NOW!"

Then suddenly a figure sat up straight as a board in one of the beds in the corner farthest from them. The girl looked about fifteen and no older. She mumbled incoherent things and finally uncovered herself revealing very dark hair and dark colored skin. Surprising. Do people around these parts usually carry those kind of looks?

She shrugged only causing more pain from the shoulder. The sharpness died down and then it was only the consistent, more bearable, pain of having an open wound.

Rekha stepped of the bed and for one disoriented moment only stood there before saying, "Fayla did ya know there's a' injured person sitting in here?"

"Yes! That's why I've been trying to wake ya up ya lazy excuse for any kind of healer!" Fayla yelled and the child from before started to cry again. Two children peaked their heads from around a corner before hiding again. How many children are in this household?

Somehow the girl had gotten close to her without Arra noticing, probably because she'd been thinking. "I warn ya I'm not a very good healer, I've only had a littl' training but it was good enough trainin'. Could ya please move yer hand?"

Arra complied pulling away her bloodied hand. The wound felt open, vulnerable. A cooling sensation swam over it and Arra sighed. A few moments later the coolness felt like water flowing down her arm before warming with her skin then it was back to normal. But then a throbbing pain returned and she winced.

"Thas all I can do with m' Gift, b-but I can put some salve on it and wrap it. I cleaned the wound and healed it a bit." She had stuttered when she reached for the salve and was presently rubbing it over her shoulder. Arra winced and Joel hissed in sympathy. Rekha was kind enough to go to a private area to wrap her shoulder. Again, a small child's head peaked from around a doorway. Rekha noticed her questioning look this time.

"Fayla ain't our mother, any of us." She stated tying off the dressings. "She took us in after . . ." She coughed. "After the city was destroyed b' fire."

Arra noted how she skipped around the fact that it was the person sitting in front of her that had caused the fire. She winced. "Was your family . . . ah . . . a victim?"

Rekha nodded. "Just m' mother, but she was all I had."

"I'm sorry." Arra whispered tears springing to her eyes. Rekha nodded. What? Did I think she would console me for destroying her family? Arra touched the newly injured shoulder lightly. "I still pay for my mistakes."

Arra stood and walked from the room pulling in her emotions into a tight rein but she noticed Rekha's eyes were full of tears too.

o o o

"Arra are you sure you should be up here?" Lianne called up to Arra.

"What else am I supposed to do with this shoulder? Joel's been taking care of reconstruction and staying around so people can glare at me or other people can cry when they see me and still others can thank me for 'saving' their city isn't exaclty fun." Her arm was in a sling but she'd done well enough climbing up one of the smaller mountain sides with only one arm.

Lianne shrugged.

Arra flicked her eyes to her before trying to climb just a bit higher. Joel had been working on fixing the roofs with only his breeches on. She'd caught Lianne looking once before she adverted her eyes blushing. Why would he be wearing so little anyways? It's not like its unbearably hot. Arra shook her head and and finally stopped to admire the view before her.

In the distance the mountains fell into hills that rolled until smooth plains replaced it. Her eyes followed the path sliding, falling calmly as if it didn't bother fighting what it had to do. It just rolled along. The grass looked almost too green which only added to the peaceful look. She breathed in deeply and smiled. The smile widened into a grin and Arra knew she had to be radiating the happiness she felt in her gut. Then her chest pulsed. For a moment she thought it was her heart beating strongly as it usually did when she got excited like during a fight. But she realized the pulsing wasn't coming from behind her left breast where her heart lay but directly in the center of her chest.

She took a glance inside her shirt and the hand print glowed slightly. Fate. No resentment laced her thought. The smile returned to her face. Maybe I've actually done something right.

The pulsing stopped.

For a moment Arra didn't know what to make of it. Was her thought correct? Had she done something right?

Arra looked out upon the scene. The feeling of happiness that filled her seemed too good to be true. She took a seat on the rock and just smiled. I'll handle whatever I have to.

x...:...x

A/N: Now, that wasn't soooo bad was it? Next chapter is going to get very interesting I think. (If its not . . . then let it be known that I'm sorry I said it was going to be! I may decide last minute to put off the idea another chapter.) I don't think my writing was too good for this chapter though . . .sorry! And I'm not entirely sure I have the "Scanran" accent right . . .but I do my best to try.

I LOVE the feedback you guys are giving me. With it I'm trying to improve my writing. Thank you! Though I'm not really sure how to answer them. I'm just . . . itching to answer a select few.