-Shade dances about in a circle, waving a piece of paper about over her head. Garren and Dart watch warily from a distance-

Garren: What's she so happy about?

Dart: Gegachxis sent her a fan art. You didn't notice? She's been like this for days.

Garren: -Relaxing somewhat- Fan art? That was nice of him. Of who?

Dart: You.

Garren: Me?

Dart: Yes, you. Is something the matter?

Garren: O.O I HAVE FANS! -Runs to join Shade in her capering-

Once again, biiig thanks to Gegachxis for the fanart. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It puffs up Garren's sizeable ego too!

Silverwing: Do a rewrite of the game? I might at some point, but at the moment I don't really have any fanfiction plans beyond Black Legacies and maybe one or two one shots for various games and such. It might happen, but I'm not sure.

Darkdragon24: Soltrane a dragon shifter? Interesting idea, but I think I've more or less got Soltrane's character nailed down and messed up as is.

Sors: Umm... -shifts eyes- ...maybe...

Brutal2003: Not telling :P

I know. I'm a meanie. XD

YSYF: Same to you. I'm a double meanie. XD

This site as always, hates my formatting. So once again, I deviate from my norm. In Dart's POV, Dart's thoughs are enclosed in /these/ while Ark's thoughts are enclosed in (these)

Kaelin's POV:

It was raining. Not the pelting, driving rain that you sometimes see in the early fall, but a gentle sort of drizzle that soaked slowly through layers of clothing, chilling the skin and turning it clammy and damp. It had been a few weeks since the villagers had seen any rain; the relief had been almost audible when the first drops had begun to fall from the threatening sky last evening.

I wrinkled my nose. Rain was all well and good, but I would have been happier if it would have waited until there was a proper roof over my head.

Almost as soon as we had arrived in Lideria I could see why the temples had never bothered gaining a foothold here. There was nothing to gain. The village was tiny; six or seven huts clustered along the coast and on stilts out in the bay, four or five more nestled against the edge of the forest. None of them were much to look at; hardly a year went past without a winter storm or a hurricane damaging at least three of the houses to the point that they were uninhabitable. As a result, the village had almost a haphazard look to it: a break in an ancient slate roof repaired hastily with thatch; crumbling walls shored up with wicker frames and mud. The island had little to offer save an easy access to the ocean's vast stores of fish; save for the slate shelves on the far shore. Almost anything that was needed to build a sturdy house that might have a chance of surviving the storms would have to come off of the mainland or out of Fueno. And since Lideria hardly had a lucrative trade to fall back on, the supplies they so dearly needed remained in the ports, and the crumbling houses remained, well, crumbling.

I sighed moodily. I sat on the edge of a stump on the edge of the shore, a reed umbrella held over my head to try to keep the drizzle off of me. Still, the wet managed to find me and the fabric of my hacked off pants clung uncomfortably to my legs whenever I moved. Even so, going back inside was out of the question. We had arrived in Lideria early last afternoon, footsore and tired after several days of walking. Ry had managed to convince one of the villagers to allow us to stay in one of the spare huts away from the shoreline. It had looked stable enough, but a night spent under the poorly repaired roof had shown otherwise. In addition to being wet, it was also uncomfortably close. Being stuck under a leaky roof is one thing, but being stuck almost elbow to elbow with an angry Cai was quite another. Almost everyone had drifted off to sleep towards dawn, but I had slipped out before anyone else could wake up. We would be returning to Fueno this morning, but Cai would be staying behind.

Two of the village fishermen were up and about. Forgetting about the previous night for a moment, I watched with some interest as they loaded their equipment into a waiting dory then pushed it off the beach and into the water, wading out knee-deep before climbing in themselves. Once they were seated the larger of the two, a broad shouldered fisherman with straggly white hair that hung past his ears, took up the oars and began to row out into the bay.

I was so focused on the pair of fishermen that I didn't hear footsteps approaching over the sand until Zion crouched down beside me, ducking his head under the edge of my umbrella. "Someone's up early."

"I didn't really sleep." I rubbed my eyes. "You?"

"I might have dropped off for a bit," He admitted. "It's not exactly comfortable in there, is it?"

"You mean trying to catch some sleep when there's water dripping on your head and someone's boot digging into your ribs? Oh, yeah. Comfortable."

"That's not what I meant." He sat at the base of the stump, leaning against the rotting wood. "Ry certainly knows how to pick his fights, doesn't he?"

"You mean Cai?" I twirled the stem of the umbrella, sending a shower of water droplets whirling off in all directions. "He did seem a bit put out, didn't he."

Zion barked a laugh. "A bit? We'll be lucky if he doesn't follow us back to Fueno just to spite him."

"That would seem to be in character, wouldn't it?" I agreed. "Well, for our sake, I hope he has the sense to stay put."

The rain trickling off of the edge of my umbrella had settled into a steady drip onto the top of Zion's head. He rubbed the top of his head, mussing the damp hair. "He's talking things over with Solana now. Ry left a couple of minutes ago. Said something about wanting to stretch his legs."

"Too bad I can't even do that properly." Ry appeared to my right, slipping soundlessly out of the forest to sit on a nearby boulder. "We'll have to be careful leaving. All this rain is drawing all manner of creepy crawly slimy things out of the caves. So far they've been staying clear of the village, but there's enough of them that if they decide to attack us on our way out that they could make some trouble."

"Wonderful. Rain, slimy things, and a good, two-day walk back to Fueno. Just what I need." I gave him a sour look. "You know, we do have the spirits. Why can't we just fly back?"

"Does that mean you volunteer to carry me?" He asked dryly. He wore no bandana to hold back his hair this morning and the wet strands hung in clumps around his eyes. Other than that he looked comfortably dry; the heavy coat he wore seemed to be made of some sort of oilskin and he hunkered beneath it, making the most of the relative protection from the damp. He had, I noticed with some abstraction, exchanged his faded brown shirt for a fresh one of a finer weave, dark red and unbuttoned near the throat, leaving the collar he wore around his neck exposed. I was surprised. Usually he made every attempt to keep it covered.

"Hardly," I snorted and looked away, but I did allow my eyes one last flicker to the heavy, opaque stone set with silver mounting into the dark velvet of the collar. It was a woman's finery; what was Ry doing wearing it?

"Carry you?" Zion laughed, seemingly greatly amused by the prospect. "I don't think so. Still," he mused, wiping a trickle of rainwater off of his forehead, "Kaelin does have a point. There has to be a faster way back to Fueno than walking."

Ry spread his hands, indicating the village, shore, and forest in one broad sweep of his arm. "Do you see any horses? And even if they were here, could we afford them? I'm already having to leave most of my coin behind with Cai to make sure he can support himself for a week or two, at least."

Zion looked away, gnawing on one knuckle thoughtfully. "This is a fishing village, you know. There has to be an old boat somewhere that they don't use very often."

"Do my ears deceive me?" I cupped one hand to my ear and leaned toward him, exaggeratedly miming a hearing problem. "Zion, actually suggesting that we use a boat?" Ry barked a laugh and Zion reached over to smack me upside the head. I avoided it, then spun the umbrella again, spraying him with runoff. "Seriously, though."

Zion wiped water from his face, glaring at me. "Hey, it was only a suggestion. Even I get sick and tired of walking once in a while." Reaching out, he grabbed the handle of the umbrella and started prying my fingers off of the grip. After a moment or two of struggle he pulled it out of reach and snapped it shut before tossing it off into the bushes. A self-satisfied smile on his features, he ignored the dark look I shot at him. "If we get wet, so do you."

Ry looked up at the leaden sky. "Speaking of which, it doesn't look like it's about to let up anytime soon. You sure you'd rather take a boat?"

"I'd get just as wet walking," Zion shrugged. "Besides, at least we might be able to put up a tarpaulin in a boat. You can't exactly do that when you're walking."

"We could have if you hadn't tossed away my umbrella, you oaf."

"I think I'll go look for a boat," Ry said loudly, getting to his feet before Zion could open his mouth to retort. "Zion, would you go and check on Solana and Cai? We should be leaving shortly, and I'd rather not have to deal with any last-minute snags that man might invent. Kaelin? Would you come with me?"

I got off of my stump, flicking away chips of rotting bark that had clung to my clothes. While I followed Ry, Zion shambled off in the direction of our hut, kicking the sand as he walked.

The boats were all fastened securely to a stone wharf that reached out into the cove, perhaps the only structure in the village that didn't look ready to collapse inward on itself. At its foot was a small hut, a weathered sign hanging on a rusty length of chain over a narrow doorway. The paint on the sign was old and peeling to the point that it was no longer readable, but Ry stopped before it anyway.

"You may as well just hang around out here. I'll see what I can do about getting a boat." Without waiting for me to answer he went inside, shutting the door firmly behind him. I stared at the door for a minute before remembering myself and turning away.

With nothing else to do, I wandered out onto the wharf. It was old: years of wind, water, and footsteps had worn the dock smooth. Five or six boats were moored to iron spikes driven into the rock, the heavy hemp lines dipping in and out of the water as the boats rose and fell on the slight swell. Seaweed and barnacles clung in thick clumps to the stones near the waterline, wet and shining with rain and seawater. A lone gull sat on a battered crate at the end of the wharf, watching me through suspicious, beady black eyes. It took off as I came closer, launching itself from the crate's top and opening its wings in one smooth movement to glide away, just skimming the crests of the waves.

I sat down on the edge of the crate, watching the seagull as it slowly gained altitude, soaring in a gradual curve off to the southeast. The sky was a little brighter in that direction; maybe it would clear up a bit this afternoon after all. The islands bred strange and unpredictable weather this time of year. Pulling my knees up to my chest, I wrapped my arms around them and rested my chin on my kneecaps.

The sky overhead was heavily overcast, and the low clouds had a sickly, almost purplish cast to them. A good, stiff wind was blowing out of the north, carrying with it the heady scent of dark evergreens and wood smoke. It snapped at the tightly strung lines of the ship, and they sung and hummed as sailors cursed and struggled to loosen them.

"Looks like snow." Shane Alphine's heavy quilted jacket flapped open in the wind, but he paid it no mind. "Strange, so late in the spring."

Kaelin sat on a crate with her back to the wind, a heavy woolen blanket wrapped tightly around her shoulders. "This is Mille Seseau, brother. If the weather made sense, something would be seriously wrong." She shivered and shifted so that she was facing her brother face-on. "When are you going to cast off? It's high tide, and with this wind we could be hours gone before anyone even thought of looking for me here."

"It'll be hours before father thinks of looking for you here anyway, so what are you so worried about?"

"Shane, I spent all of those years being a general disgrace in hopes that he'd disown me someday. Now that he's done it, I don't want to waste my chances at getting off of this frozen rock because you decided to waste a good wind."

"He didn't really disown you, Kaelin."

"Close enough. You think I'm going to be picky about this? The sooner I'm clear of here the better, anyway." Kaelin watched two sailors struggle past, chests bare in spite of the biting wind and their arms filled with heavy coils of line as thick as a man's wrist. "Would you lend me Lasha tonight? I'd rather not have to wake up and teach one of those idiots a lesson because they figure they can have their way with me."

"If you didn't insist on using a fake surname," Shane replied, "you wouldn't have to worry about it. No one's going to bother the eldest daughter of Nicholas Myr Alphine."

She reached out and tweaked his nose, none too gently. "You forget, brother dearest, the beauty of this. I'm not the eldest daughter of old Nikky Alphine. In fact, I don't even know why I'm still calling you brother!" She laughed aloud, the unexpected sound startling several of the dockmen who where helping to load crates onto the deck of the ship. "Don't you get it?" Kaelin turned to look at Shane, her hazel eyes shining with such obvious glee that her brother was a bit taken aback. "I'm free of this family. Free. Forever." She laughed again, the wind whipping her short hair about her face.

Shane watched her quietly, pulling a pair of thick leather gloves from behind his belt and sliding them on his hands. Though he was by a year Kaelin's senior, he had missed being born the eldest son by nearly six years. Taller than any of his siblings with straight, sandy blond hair and serious grey eyes, only his name marked him as a part of the family. But he was possessed of the same sharp mind as his brothers and sisters, if not quite so bent of deceit. In any case, he had long since discovered that honesty was just as effective, saved time, and be just as puzzling when someone was expecting an out-and-out lie. It was that honesty that drove him to speak now, though the reluctance in his voice was as clear as the joy in Kaelin's eyes.

"Kaelin, I know you're happy about leaving here and all, but don't for a minute think that you're clear of this. Father won't just let you out of his sight. Even if he doesn't drag you home the moment he discovers where you are, he'll keep tabs on you." Shane shook his head slowly. "I'll get you out of here Kaelin, and I'll give you what you need to start over again in Serdio, but don't for a minute assume that you're alone. You can run to the ends of the earth and loose yourself in the stars if you have a mind to, but you'll still be an Alphine. It's in your blood, and like it or not, it's in your head. You can't change who or what you are."

"Really?" Kaelin's voice dripped sarcasm. "Aren't you just a shining ray of light this morning." She turned away. "Go play with your boats Shane."

Shane bowed to her back before striding away, disappearing below deck to look over his charts before casting off. Kaelin listened to his departing footsteps, staring into the choppy water off of the bow. As the first few flakes of snow began to fall she felt her good mood evaporate, leaving behind only a few sullen, brooding thoughts.

"We can't have any of the larger craft, but I managed to work the guy around to letting us have one of the smaller boats."

My thoughts interrupted, I looked back over my shoulder. I hadn't heard Ry leave the hut, nor the scuff of his feet on the wet stones of the wharf. Annoyed, I stuck a finger in my ear and wriggled it. The explosion in the tunnel below the temple in Bale must have damaged my hearing worse than I thought.

Ry gave me a concerned look, then came to the end of the dock to crouch beside my crate. "Are you okay? You look like something was bothering you."

I made a face. "Just mulling. I don't know why I even bother with the whole reminiscing thing. There always seems to be a downer buried in them somewhere." Letting my arms drop from around my knees, I swung them back and forth a bit as I got back to my feet, trying to get the blood to return to my fingertips.

"Ah." Ry rose smoothly out of the crouch, and looked around at the boats bobbing up and down at the end of their lines. "So, how much do you know about boats?"

"Next to nothing," I replied glibly. "The less holes the better, preferably."

"Wonderful." Grabbing the line nearest to him, he pulled the boat up to the side of the dock and jumped in.

The next few minutes were spent in absorbed silence as we climbed from one boat to the next, checking them over for holes or damage. In spite what I had said earlier, I do know a thing or two about boats, although it was mostly in application to larger ships. In the end we settled on one of the larger of the craft allowed, a fisher with double oarlocks and a single short mast. I sat on the edge of the dock, more or less satisfied by the choice, while Ry clambered about in the bottom, checking it over once more for any faults we might have missed. At length he straightened, wiping his hands off on his shirt.

"It looks like there's one or two little leaks, but as long as we bail out once in a while, they shouldn't bother us."

"Just don't tell Zion about them." I grinned. "He'd probably break down and jump overboard."

"Not really." Ry climbed out of the boat and onto the edge of the wharf next to me. "I don't think he can swim all that well."

"Fly back to land, then." I waved one hand dismissively. "I still say it would have been easier to fly."

"You know that wouldn't work. You can tow the boat if you're so eager, though."

I ignored the jibe. "You know, I'm not sure about that."

"Well, if you don't want to pull-"

"That's not what I mean." I fixed him with a look. For a moment he looked confused, and then comprehension dawned.

"Oh." He looked away. "Kaelin, I already told you. None of the spirits on the belt are mine. All of the others are either in the hands of the temples or with their bearers."

"Really? For someone who's never used a spirit before, you give awfully good instructions when it comes to their use. And then there's that explanation you gave Solana-"

"Eavesdropping?" He cut in. "Isn't that a bit below you?"

"That's not the point," I said, flushing. "The fact is, you have the spirits, and I'd stake my life that you know a healthy bit more about them then you're willing to let on." A trickle of water ran over my brow, and I wiped it away. "You don't get to know what you know without experience. The truth, Ry. What is it?"

Ry said nothing. The silence stretched; almost without thinking I found myself holding my breath. The suspicion was out in the open now; would he answer, or would he just leave?

At long last he turned away, letting out his breath with such a long sigh that I actually jumped. "You should keep your nose out of other peoples business, Kaelin. Sooner or later it'll land you in trouble." He scratched the back of his head. "The truth, huh? Fine.

"Spirits are...fickle." He took his hand away from his hair and studied it. "Some more so than others. They'll accept bearers, but in time they may reject them if they find another who suits their needs better." Glancing back over his shoulder, he must have caught the look that flitted across my face, because he added, "I wouldn't worry about it, though. It seems that the spirits have been waiting for you lot for quite some time now."

"So then you used to be a dragoon?" It wasn't really a question.

"Yes." He got to his feet. "It's been a very long while since I was last able to use that spirit. I doubt it would accept me now even if my life depended on it. It seems to like Zion well enough though, so I suppose things are well off as they are."

"The red-eye? You were a fire dragoon?"

Ry laughed. "A pyro like me? Is it any real surprise?"

I bit my lip and stared down into the water beside the wharf. Fire dragoon. Well, that explained some things, at least. "Does this have anything to do with the real reason the temples are after you?"

"Sort of. I discovered some things about them a while back that they'd really rather remained buried. They tend to be a bit touchy about such things. But it's the spirits that they really want from me." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "And maybe to see my head decorating a spike on the Moon Child's alter, but that's just more of the same." He shrugged. "I seem to have a real knack for mortally offending people of late."

I said nothing. Casting me a sideways glance, Ry seemed to decide he'd said enough on the subject, because he gave his overcoat a shake and looked up at the overcast sky. "Well, it seems to be clearing up somewhat. Would you mind getting the boat ready? I'm going to go check on mister argumentative and his lady wife. Hopefully by now Zion's managed to get them to stir themselves."

After he left I climbed into the boat, but there really wasn't all that much to be done. The single sail was tightly furled in a compartment under the bow, and the oars lay on the bottom of the boat, underneath the hard bench style seats. There was even something in the nature of supplies packed into a tin box wrapped in sail canvas, tucked away with the sail. Emergency rations, I surmised, for any fisherman unlucky enough to find themselves stranded. With nothing else to do I seated myself at the stern next to the tiller, idly pushing the bar of wood back and forth while I watched the ripples the turning rudder spread through the slow heave of the waves.

Red-eye dragoon. Well, that explains a lot of things. I leaned back against the boat's side. Yes, it certainly did explain a lot of things, but...something about his explanation still bothered me, even though I couldn't quite put my finger on it. But what?

It's probably nothing, I told myself. You're just being paranoid. Like everyone else in your bloody family.

If only I could have been sure that that's all it was.

Zion's POV:

The little boat skimmed across the white-capped wave tops, plowing up sprays of white foam whenever it broke through the rollers with its bow. The wind had been fickle today, but at the moment it filled our single sail so that it strained and bellied outward as it fought to hold the wind. As a result the little craft seemed to fly, much to Kaelin's delight. She sat straddling the bow, clothes soaked and hair dripping with salt water. But she had an exhilarated look plastered on her face, and she was grinning and laughing so much that it was amazing she didn't start choking whenever the spray caught her in the face.

"C'mon, Zion! Just try it!" Swaying wildly as the boat pitched down the far side of a wave, she gave me a slightly maniacal grin over her shoulder. "It's loads of fun."

"Uh, thanks all the same, but..." The boat pitched again and I resumed my former position, head between my knees, sitting in the bottom of the boat.

She faced frontward again, just in time to catch a face full of water. "Chicken," she spluttered.

Across from me Solana giggled. She still wore the heavy skirt and loose, billowing blouse that Kaelin had picked up for her in Fueno, but she had thrown back the hood to catch the sun. The rocking of the boat didn't seem to bother her at all; she sat with her back against one of the benches, skirts folded neatly around her knees. The stiff wind tugged and whipped at her hair, and the thin plaits, so neat when we had broken camp this morning, were a windswept mess as they spilled over her left shoulder.

In spite of my churning stomach, I managed to give her a small half-smile. It was good to see her happy. She'd been too quiet since leaving Cai behind in Lideria yesterday morning, and her heavy mood had been tugging at the edges of my slightly nauseated mind all day. According to Ry we were to head to Furni next, and the Temples there had a large hand in the running of the country, if not quite so much as the Tiberoian Temples, which ran the country in all but name. We all would have to be on our guard there; there was no time for brooding over matters that couldn't be helped.

"We're getting close," Ry reported. He sat at the tiller; heavy coat pulled up to his ears for protection against the wind. "Another hour, maybe two."

I started to reply, but as the boat slid down the side of another wave my stomach turned a back flip. Clenching my teeth together, I decided it might be better if I just kept my mouth shut.

It was difficult to judge time out on the water. The shore slid past, sometimes quickly, sometimes seeming hardly to crawl. High, rock faced cliffs topped with copses of scraggly trees gave way to treacherous, saltwater lowland before rising back into low earth cliffs. Roots latticed the steep slopes, and here and there the occasional hardy bush clung grimly to hard packed clay. Sea birds made their roosts among the roots, and they collected in swarms, spinning and wheeling as they swooped in and out of their nests. Then this too was left behind, as the gradual curve of the breakwater surrounding the mouth of the harbor slowly came into sight, dull and indistinct in the distance.

I sat up a little straighter, brightening up immediately. "Almost there!"

Kaelin had moved down off the bow and was now stretched out across one of the seats enjoying the sun, white residue from the salt water crusting on the edge of her clothes. She opened one eye, shading her face with a hand. "What are you so happy about? We're getting on another boat as soon as we can find one going to Fueno." Her tone was light, jaunting, but the humor seemed to bleed from it toward the end.

"Anything's got to be better than this thing. Right, Solana?"

Solana lifted her head from where she had been resting it on her knees. "Actually, I rather like this." She blinked, almost sleepily. "It's very relaxing."

I snorted. Ry chuckled quietly, swinging the tiller to the right so that the boat angled a bit closer into shore. "You should listen to her, Zion. Maybe if you can find something you like about it the ocean won't make you quite so sick."

"Doubtful." I held up one hand, ticking the reasons off on my fingers as I listed them. "Lots of water, but you can't drink it. Lots of food, but you've gotta catch and cook it before you can eat it. The bloody birds won't shut up, the sun reflects off of the water like it's a mirror, and the entire heaving lot of it seems determined to make me loose my lunch." I gave him a falsely bright smile. "Gosh, you're right! Who couldn't love-"

"I get the point, Zion."

"But I was only trying to say-"

"Shut up, Zion."

Still grinning, I turned around to lean over the side again as my stomach gave another lurch. The sight of water rolling past didn't make my stomach feel any better, but I'd already taken sick once today, and didn't fancy making a mess in the bottom of the boat should it happen again.

Looking at the water didn't help any, so I watched the land again instead. By now the cliffs had given way to forested hills sloping gently down to the water. The forest was awash with color in the autumn sunlight, and it made a mildly interesting focal point while my stomach rolled about in its own private sort of agony. After a few minutes of this though, something caught my attention.

"That's funny," I murmured, more for the sake of saying something than out of any real need to share my interest.

"What's funny?" Kaelin was looking the other way, not really paying attention, but I answered anyway.

"Up there." I waved my hand at the crest of the last hill before the land dove downhill into the hollow in which the port was nested in. "There's a big bare patch."

"There's an old quarry up there." Ry spared it a glance before turning frontward again, concentrating on the breakwater ahead. "No one's used it in years."

I shook my head. "That's not what I meant. All the trees are dead." I half-expected Kaelin to make some smart arsed remark at this, but unexpectedly it was Solana who reacted.

"What?" She snapped, instantly awake as she scrambled over beside me. "Where?" I pointed it out to her obligingly and for a moment she stared at it, face pale and blue eyes wide. At last her lips moved, though the word she whispered was so soft that it might have easily been lost in the wind.

"Virage."

"What?"

"Virage!" She tore her eyes away from the hilltop, turning her head so quickly that her thin braids slapped me full across the face. "Ry!"

I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye and turned to look. A flock of birds burst from the treetops near the dead patch, scattering into the clear blue sky in all directions. Solana fell silent again, turning to watch with apprehension painted clearly on her face. Even Kaelin had sat up, jokes forgotten. Only Ry hadn't moved; one hand on the tiller, he guided the boat out a hair farther, watching the hill through narrowed eyes all the while.

Before the last of the birds had fled from sight the trees began to tremble, the shaking of the limbs visible even from the distance from which we watched. Then slowly, almost lazily, the virage rose above the treetops, shouldering aside the restricting limbs as though they were no more than straw.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm no scholar. My total experience with books can be more or less summed up in a few ragged picture books that my mother had managed to acquire for my brother and me when we were children. But I do have a good memory. There had been a virage in one of those stories, a squat, bug-like thing that had kidnapped and eaten naughty kids from nearby villages until a knight came along and did away with it. The picture of the virage fighting the knight had always scared my brother. I'd laugh at him, pointing out how ridiculous the monster looked with its boggling eyes and gaping mouth.

'Funny. Yeah. Ha ha.' My throat had gone dry. A small part of me decided that if I should ever come across the unfortunate artist who had penned that illustration, I would take the entire volume and make him eat it page by page.

The virage was moving now, shoving its way through the forest with about as much difficulty as I might have walking through bushes, swinging its massive arms like wrecking balls, and with similar results. The sounds of falling trees and splintering wood filled the air as the creature lurched away from us, heading down the far side of the hill.

"Sweet love of the goddess," Kaelin breathed, sinking back down again. "Solana, you say you killed one of those things?"

The boat lurched sideways, changing course again. I wrenched my head around to look at Ry who stood braced against the tiller, a grim look on his face as he steered the little craft toward the rocky shoreline. "Ry? What're you-"

"It's heading for the city." Ry said shortly, his eyes still fixed on the broken trail the virage had left in its wake. "The virage was created as a weapon. Destruction is the only thing that comes naturally to them." Dropping his eyes to look at us at last, his expression was bleak. "One in Tiberoa, and now one here. This is the last thing we need."

The city. The urgency was clear in Ry's voice as he spoke, and he suited action to the need, cutting the boat in toward land, maneuvering it amongst the submerged shoals and grounding the little boat on the rocky shore. Almost before the boat had ground to a halt on the rocks he had sprung over the side, landing in the knee-deep water and wading the rest of the way to dry land. The rest of us hurriedly followed suit, swinging one by one over the side into the frigid water and splashing through the shallows to the thin strip of pebbly sand that bordered the shoreline.

"The spirits! Now!" Ry said sharply, and then took a deep breath. "You guys wanted to know why the spirits chose you as their dragoons, right? For the moment, this is as true an answer as any I could hope to give you. Now hurry, and don't let that thing reach the city!" The wet hem of his coat catching and slapping the back of his legs he started off into the woods at a half-run.

"Wait a minute! Where the hell do you think you're going?" Kaelin demanded, even as the blue glow of her transformation surrounded her in a hazy nimbus.

"Do you really think I'd be any good in a fight against a thing like that? I'll be around." Ry plunged into the woodland, leaving us alone on the shore.

Kaelin stood impatiently already garbed in the strangely beautiful armor of the blue-sea dragoon. Solana was ready too, her own armor somewhat heavier and functional than Kaelin's, though unmistakably made to fit a woman's body. Only I was left, standing shivering slightly in the wind in my thin clothes and sodden boots. Hurriedly I reached for my link with the red-eye spirit, feeling grateful for the warmth that seeped through me as the transformation initiated itself.

Almost before the light from my change had faded Kaelin took to the air, rocketing upwards in a tight corkscrew that left a shower of glittering sparks falling in her wake. Spreading my wings, I couldn't help but grin at her enthusiasm in spite of the circumstances. Kaelin hadn't had very many chances to accustom herself to fighting as a dragoon, but she had picked up on the intricacies of flying much faster than I had. Kicking off, I soared upward to join her with Solana on my tail.

The beach shrunk to a thin grey-brown strip as we rose and the hills and valleys and rippling shoreline unfolded below us, a living diorama more fascinating than the most fantastic of models. The sea stretched off in a curving line for as far as the eye could see, still shrouded here and there by soft grey banks of fog at the extremes of my vision.

"There," Kaelin said as we gained level with her, pointing with one gaunletted hand. Below us the hills sunk down into a valley, bordered on the southern end by the sea. Fueno, vast and sprawling, filled the valley floor and curved around the harbor. It was the harbor to which Kaelin pointed, or rather at the grey monstrosity that was wading through the deep body of water as though it were little more than a shallow pond.

"It didn't even try to go around the water," I said, surprised.

"I don't think its smart enough to know to," Solana replied, then pointed to the swath of devastated trees below us. "Look. It's traveled in a straight line since coming out of the quarry. It's heading straight for the city without another thought in its head."

I swore. "Okay then, Solana? You're the resident expert. How are we supposed to tackle this thing?"

Solana swung around to protest, eyes wide, but Kaelin had turned toward her too, waiting expectantly. Under our expecting gazes she faltered, then at last gave up and looked away, down toward the virage.

"You won't do much good attacking the body, especially for the amount of time the transformations last. Its skin is thick enough to be a shell, so I don't think it'll feel very much. The most vulnerable target is the face. If we can get a few good blows in there, we might be able to stop it." She looked grim, constantly shifting her grasp on the shaft of her trident. "Just watch out for its attacks. The last one shot bolts of energy that could burn right through armor with a direct hit."

"Wonderful," Kaelin said dryly.

I reversed my grip on my sword so that the business end pointed straight down, ready for a stab, then changed my mind and reversed it again. "Okay. Time to move, ladies. The clock is ticking."

The virage moved slowly though the harbor, up to its waist in white water churned to froth by its movements. With each ponderous, unsteady step a fresh set of waves would form before it, running ahead of it to dash themselves against the hulls of wildly rocking boats or the more solid stone-and-wood piers. As slowly as it seemed to be moving though, it was closing the distance surprisingly quickly; the nearest of the ships was only about a hundred and fifty yards away. Three big steps.

It was Solana who reached the thing first, pulling out of her dive to nip neatly under one upraised arm, flying directly at the small face with her trident held before her like a lance. She disappeared momentarily from sight and then reappeared, soaring in a tight loop around the blocky shoulders. Blood shone wetly on the prongs of the trident, but the virage had only stopped, looking from side in puzzlement. Changing the angle of my approach slightly as the virage caught sight of me and lifted its arms to fend me off, I realized Solana's mistake. The trident is made for close combat. You could block, parry, disarm and slash quite effectively. But even though a trident thrust is quite fatal to humans, the prongs were connected in such a way that prevented them from penetrating very deep into the virage's body. A clean, deep spear thrust might have been enough to critically wound the creature, but a trident would do little more than annoy it. That realization was my last thought before I was on the monster, rolling and dodging to avoid the heavy swings of the club-like arms.

It was madness. As slow as the virage had seemed before the arms, thicker than oak trees, moved like snakes at close range. Rolling to avoid a swipe from one arm the claws of the other glanced of my back, tangling my wings momentarily. Somewhere, through the heavy fog of battle fury that slowed my thoughts, I was amazed to feel something that was disturbingly close to pain throbbing through the wings. Then that thought too was swept away as I caught sight of the virage's face above me, a triangle of dark brown leather peeking out from a hole in the white lumpy head. Powering upward with my wings, my charge was blocked once again by the flailing arms.

Time was running out. There was a flash of white-blue light and a spike of crystalline ice shot from the water, imbedding itself deep in the virage's lower chest. The monster's scream was earsplitting as the spike seemed to melt away, leaving only a deep bloody hole where it had been. Deep, but not fatal. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a blur of blue as Kaelin streaked away, toward the relative safety of the nearest ship as the energy fueling her transformation began to flicker and die out. And then, with one last futile swipe at the face Solana was gone too, leaving me to face the creature alone.

Pulling back out of range of the virage's windmilling arms, I took a moment to assess the situation. The virage had taken some wounds, I could see from here. Kaelin's handiwork was evident; blood staining the frothing water red as it ran thick from the puncture in the chest. Solana's marks showed as well; a deep tunnel had been chewed through one shoulder, hampering the reach of that arm.

And still the creature came forward.

My own time was nearly spent as well. I had used my spirit several times more than either Kaelin or Solana, so my transformations lasted longer than theirs did, but even now I could feel the last of the energy slowly filtering away. Two minutes, at best. Could I even take this thing down in two minutes?

An arm lashed out at me, claws whistling through the air, and I pulled back a little farther, keeping my eyes on the virage. Its face made a difficult target; Solana had done it once, but according to her that virage had had only one arm and was well damaged from fighting another dragoon before hand. This one...

I shook my head, frustrated. You're just wasting your time, Zion. Don't think.

Right. Don't think. That sounded very good right about now.

The virage took another step, lurching forward into the foam as the leg on its injured side buckled beneath its weight. For one bare instant it was off balance, its arms dropping into the frothing water and I shot forward, sword extended for the thrust.

The face of the virage was surprisingly tough. For all the speed I built up my blade only penetrated half of its length, crunching sickeningly as it ground through flesh and bone. Blood seeped out around the steel, running in thick rivulets down the leathery folds of the face. Gritting my teeth, I clung grimly to the hilt of the blade as the virage screamed and thrashed its torso about, the oversized body swaying dangerously over the water.

Here's something interesting: did you know a virage's eyes are on stalks? It's rather disturbing, having four or five eyes, all waving about in your face.

Setting my feet against the flat of the face I heaved on the hilt of the sword, my stomach sinking in disappointment. The blow was deep, but it wasn't going to be immediately fatal. Bracing myself, I prepared to give one final heave.

It was then that several things happened at once. Unexpectedly the sword slid out another foot or so, the suddenness of the action throwing me off balance and for a moment I hung there by the hilt, wings forgotten as my feet scrabbled for purchase. Even more unexpectedly, for me at least, was the sledge-like hand that connected with me side on, snapping the blade of my sword like a twig and swatting me away like a fly.

Spots of light exploded in my vision then disappeared one by one as the world slowly went dark. I was aware enough to feel the air rushing past, feeling strangely gentle as it ran through my hair, over my body. My wings hung limp and useless; I would have thought them broken if I hadn't know better. Even more alarming though, was the rate at which the armor's energy was slipping away. Thirty seconds. Twenty.

And the virage was still standing, a rapidly disappearing blob of white-grey in my vision.

No. No bloody way.

Even now I'm not entirely sure why I did it. I'd seen Kaelin's magic damage the virage, and it was fairly safe to assume that the hole in the shoulder was of similar origin from Solana, but I could hardly see, let alone aim a spell.

Ten seconds.

Desperately, I reached out to the spirit. I could feel its power, like a river of molten fire flowing just out of my reach. I stretched farther, straining for it. With that much untapped power, surely I could destroy the virage...

A split second before the transformation reversed itself, I felt something react, deep within the spirit. I tried to release it, to burn the monster where it stood in the sea, but almost before I started the last of the energy dwindled and the armor disappeared, leaving me cold and exhausted, my mind slowly slipping out of focus. I was in the water, I realized dimly.

Water. So cold.

Blackness closed in.

Dart's POV:

I had watched the entire battle unfold from shore, hurrying along through the trees as I struggled to keep level with the virage. At last I sunk down onto my heels, breathing heavily from exertion. The shoreline was by no means level, and running through the woods was even worse. Add to that the mental strain of having to watch the battle instead of being able to participate, well...

(They're having some trouble) Ark observed.

/It's too much for them/ I muttered silently, shaking my head. /Zion's the only one of them that's really had any sort of experience/

(Whose fault is that? You should have found them something to practice on. Each other, if nothing else)

I said nothing, watching as Solana's spell chewed a hole almost clear through the monster's shoulder. Yes, I should have done something. But there was really no help for that now. Irritated, I bit my lip until blood almost flowed as first Kaelin, and then Solana left the battle to land on the decks of nearby ships to return to their natural forms and watch the outcome helplessly. This was too much for them; my first virage had been difficult, and even then Rose had assisted us and it had been horribly injured to start with. This was in a different league altogether.

(Dart...)

/I know!/ I snapped back. Zion was the only one left now, hovering back just out of reach of the virage, pestering it. The man was a good fighter, but there was no way he would be able to finish this one on his own. Reaching for my link with my spirit, I kept my eyes riveted on the fire dragoon as he shot forward and disappeared from my sight.

In a heartbeat he was back in my view again, though not in any way that I would have liked to see him. I saw the virage move, striking across its body with one massively disproportional arm. Zion was slapped away, rocketing down on an angle into the water and sending up a fountain of spray as he struck that was clearly visible from where I stood half a mile away.

/Damn it!/ Light blossomed around my body, consolidating rapidly into the freakish armor of the divine dragoon.

(Fire, Dart. You might be able to hit it from here)

/And what if I miss?/ I lifted the cannon and cocked it, feeling the innumerable little mechanics inside begin to hiss and grind as I focused raw energy into the weapon. /I'd take a major chunk out of the waterfront/

(That's still not as bad as letting the virage reach the city) Ark snapped. (Short of going out there and getting within better range- and within plain sight, might I add- you don't have any other option)

I kept the cannon steady, but inwardly I sagged. Ark was right, of course. As long as I wanted to keep up this charade, I had no real choice. Lifting the cannon higher to my eye I started to aim, but at that moment something caught my eye above the virage.

"What in the name of..." I let the cannon fall, virage forgotten as I stared incredulously up at the phenomenon in the sky above. Clouds of deepest crimson were rapidly forming, flowing and boiling over one another like angry thunderheads. Orange light, pale and baleful, flickered across the bellies of the strange clouds like the shadow of lightening.

I knew those clouds. It had been nearly nine hundred years, but some things you just don't forget.

/He's trying to call the dragon/

(What?)

/Zion! He's trying to call the red-eye!/ I watched, amazed. The center of the clouds had begun to swirl slowly, but there was none of the spectacular fire burst that usually accompanied the dragon's appearance. And then almost as soon as it had started the swirl dispersed, and the clouds quieted and began to pale. In moments they had all but disappeared, a few wisps of off-colored mist fading into the mid-afternoon sky.

I let out the breath I didn't realize I had been holding. /That kid...hey!/

Taking advantage of my distraction, Ark had shoved me to once side and taken control. The cannon came up; before I could react he took his aim at a glance and fired, the recoil from the shot forcing us back a full step. The bolt streaked across the intervening space like lightning and caught the virage in the back of the head.

If I had been able, I would have looked away. /You enjoyed that, didn't you/ I accused as out in the water what was left of the virage swayed and slowly toppled backward into the water. It was an impressive sight.

(Now where would you get that idea from?) Ark asked, a broad, satisfied grin settling onto his features. Then he laughed aloud. "You have absolutely no idea how much I needed that."

/Alright. I get the idea. You're happy. Can I have my body back now?/

"No." With a flash the armor disappeared and we were left standing on the ground, between two deep, clawed footprints in the loam. Stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jacket, he started down to the shoreline. "I suppose we should find somewhere to wait for those kids."

/Wonderful. I think I want to throttle Zion/

(He does tend to jump into things, doesn't he?) Ark replied, switching back to his thoughts again. (I wonder how he knew about the dragon?)

/I don't think he did/ I disagreed. /He just does things without realizing it. He's got a good hand with a sword, but he has about as much control of magic as I do over the weather. If he isn't thinking clearly, he just seems to turn loose all of his energy at once and hope for the best. That's almost as dangerous for him as it is for the rest of us/

Ark grunted, and I felt his good mood lessen slightly. (Someone will have to talk to him about that) He said in a tone that left no doubt as to exactly who that 'someone' should be.

/Thanks a lot/ I said sarcastically.

(What?)

Once again the particular link Ark had forged between the spirits and myself proved immensely useful. Zion and Kaelin at least, were making their way back to the city. Solana was indistinct, but the chances were fair that I'd find the three of them together. In any case, it took us the better part of the afternoon to make our way back to the city outskirts on foot. By the time I had located the inn where their trail ended the sun was a low smudge on the horizon and the first of the stars had begun to appear in the purple-blue sky.

Fueno is a potpourri of multiple cultures, and it shows in the construction of the town. This particular inn was located further in toward the heart of the city, and had the single level, sprawling construction that was usually found in the rural areas of northern Serdio. The door was held open with a wedge of wood, allowing light and the sound of conversation to spill out onto the cobbled stone street. A single horse was tethered to the hitching post within sight of the doorway, a feedbag strapped onto it muzzle. The whole scene was framed against the darker silhouettes of the taller buildings in the surrounding neighborhood, a welcome sight to eyes as day-weary as my own.

Someone sat on the doorstep, patting the horse's outstretched nose through the feed bag. They got to their feet as I approached, dusting their hands off on their pants.

"I was wondering when you'd find us." Kaelin didn't look at me, but there was an unspoken welcome in her voice.

"How's Zion?"

"Could be worse. Could be better too, for that matter. That..." she looked around cautiously, "thing did a number on his side. The armor took the worst of the blow, I think, but he still had some cracked ribs." She shrugged. "I borrowed a longboat from one of the ships and fished him out of the water before he went under. He was out cold. He's still a bit out of it, for that matter."

"And you two?"

"Solana sprained her shoulder. Other than a few scratches and bruises, that was about it. The two of us got lucky." Kaelin rubbed her forehead. "Myself, I'm just tired. The whole city was in an uproar earlier. You should hear some of the rumors flying around at the moment."

"I'm sure I will, whether I really want to or not." I sniffed the air, not missing the warm smell of roasting beef. "Do they still have any dinner left? I could really use a bite to eat."

Kaelin hesitated. I looked at her, her face half in light, half in shadow. "What?"

"Uh, look." She grabbed me by the arm and led me forcefully through the doorway into the crowded, lamplit common room. "You promise not to flip out again?"

"What?" I asked, bewildered. "Kaelin, what are you on about? Kaelin?"

There was a series of doorways on the far side of the room. Dragging me between tables crowded with men bent over plates of stew and tankards of ale, she chose the nearest of the doors and pushed me through in to a comparatively dim hallway. Once the door was closed she let go of my arm and turned to face me, her arms folded under her breasts. "Promise you won't flip out. Otherwise, I'm not telling you another word."

"Fine. I promise." I raised one eyebrow, waiting, but instead she turned away and headed farther down the hall. Falling in step behind her, I had to content myself with listening to her story while she related it over her shoulder.

"I don't know how he got here so quickly, honestly. That poor animal out front is his, but he must have nearly ridden it to death to get here in time: he only arrived about half an hour ago."

"Wait a minute," I stopped, an awful suspicion forming in my mind. "You can 't seriously mean..."

Kaelin stopped too, one hand going to the brass knob of the door closest to us. Wordlessly she opened it, motioning with a nod for me to go inside.

It was a large room compared to the one we had shared during our first stay in Fueno. Two of the three beds had been pushed together and Zion lay sprawled across them sideways, staring at the ceiling. Solana sat on the third bed, her hood hanging by its strings around her neck. And there next to her, a soft look on his face, was Cai.

They had been speaking, but the conversation cut off abruptly as soon as I entered. Cai got to his feet, his face hardening into the expression of a man expecting to face an explosion. I gave him a long look as Kaelin came in quietly, shutting the door behind her. The silence stretched; even Zion managed to prop himself up onto his elbows to get a better look. In the back of my mind Ark was growing in annoyance, though he said nothing.

At length I turned away, pulling off my coat and draping it over the brass footboard of the bed. "That must have been one hell of a ride Cai." I sat on the end opposite of him, at Zion's feet. "Where'd you get the horse?"

"A farmer sold it to me," he said tightly.

"With the money I gave you, no doubt. You must have ridden right through the night to get here in time." I watched as he nodded, then sighed. "To be honest, I can't really say that I'm surprised."

"You're not angry?" Kaelin asked, a note of surprise in her voice.

"Angry?" I repeated mildly. "Of course I'm angry. I could spit acid. I'm just too tired to do anything." I leaned against the footboard. "You may as well catch up on that sleep you missed last night Cai, because tomorrow you're going back to Lideria if I have to drag you there in irons."

"With all due respect, Ry," Cai said stiffly, his voice cold, "Even if you chained me to a tree, I'd only follow you back again even if I had to drag the bloody thing behind me. I don't know what it was my wife said to you, but I'll tell you this: five years ago I swore an oath on the King's own sword to protect and defend this woman against any and all hardships." He reached back and set one hand on Solana's slim shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. "I'm not going to even pretend I know what this whole business is with dragoons and monsters and whatnot, but even if I can't be her guardian anymore..." He looked down at her, then back up at me, his eyes flat. "There's nothing you can do short of killing me that'll stop me from coming after the lot of you, to stay at her side and watch her back, if for no other reason."

His words hung heavy on the air; I looked away, not trusting myself to meet his eyes for a moment longer. A small part of me felt almost grudging approval of the words, but the greater part of me- Ragnarok somewhat more so, for that matter- was giving some serious thought over to killing him and being done with it. But that, of course, would never work.

I'm not sure when it was exactly that I became fully aware of the soft resonating glow at my hip. The quality of the light was so akin to the golden lamplight that I might not have noticed at all. It was Ark, however, that cemented the matter.

(Hard as rock, stubborn as stone) He grated. (Should I ever find a away to get out of this stone I think I'm going to have to sit down and have a nice, long talk with our friend the gold dragon about his taste in personality. A very pointed talk)

Slowly I reached down, fingers working the steel clasp that held the golden spirit in its holster. Then I got to my feet, shoving the stone into Cai's hands without looking at him. Grabbing my coat from where it hung, I pulled it on and reached for the doorknob.

"Ry?" Solana queried tentatively, as though she wasn't really sure she should speak.

"I'm going to go get something to eat," I said to no one in particular. "And drink. If I happen to pass out in my stew later on, I'd appreciate if one of you would kindly come and fetch me. I'm rather tired." Twisting the door handle, I pulled it open and left.

/The barkeep better have some good, cheap ale/ I grumbled.

(Just don't get yourself drunk. I hate dealing with you when you're hungover)

/Maybe I'd be better off just going to sleep/

Wow. I think that's a new personal best when it comes to lateness. Verging on something close to two months. Add in the fact that I wrote the last 8 or so of 21 pages in one day, well...

I need to get 'procrastinator' tattooed to my forehead. Teehee.