Author's Note: Here's the next chapter. A little sooner than normal, but the updates are still slower than I'd like. The end of this chapter represents my attempts to return to a bit of a smaller scale. I've decided it's what I'm better at. This epic stuff is good for a conclusion, but not for a whole story. So I want to get back to some of the little things. Some of my old favourite scenes to write were the little ones, like the Light Warriors grabbing lunch or such, so I'm trying to reduce the scale a bit. Hopefully it'll work and keep this story from sucking as much as it has up until this point.

And damn all of you who figured out the plot twist. I really thought I was gonna surprise you there. God, I wish I wasn't so predictable…

CHAPTER XV

"This is not our best plan ever." Voldos spoke up.

"No, I think it is. That's what worries me." Zinkata added.

"Just be quiet and lean forward!" Remasa commanded, having pretty much taken command, deciding the Light Warriors were far too incompetent for their own good. The four of them were still strapped to the gigantic wooden pole, now broken off from the roof and ceiling. The problem they had encountered was that the pole was much bigger than the exit, meaning their escape had hit a snag.

"This is really heavy." Bootus grunted, leaning forwards and taking most of the weight in an attempt to fit it through the door.

"You realise even if we get out we'll have to deal with an immortal army while tied to a pole?" Zinkata pointed out.

"Not to mention rescue Vivli." Bootus added. He suddenly felt like everybody was staring at him, despite the fact they couldn't actually see each other. "What?" He protested. "I'm only sayin'."

"He does have a point." Voldos confessed.

"Let's just get out the door first, shall we?" Zinkata requested with a sigh.

The four warriors stumbled forwards somewhat comically, and crashed the pole into the frame above the door. The four of them stumbled back and toppled over backwards, this time crushing Remasa under the weight of the wooden pole.

"Oh. Urm. Opps." Bootus mumbled.

"Mppphm!" Came a muffled noise from under the pole.

"Okay. We need to get back up." Voldos stated.

"Oh, ya think?" Bootus taunted.

"Any ideas on how, genius?" Zinkata joined in.

"Let's roll over to Bootus, and then he can push us back up." Voldos suggested. Zinkata sighed, but they didn't exactly have a better plan.

"Okay. Let's go for it." Zinkata decided, intentionally rolling the way that would crush Voldos on the way to Bootus. Voldos let out a muffled scream as Zinkata and Bootus forced themselves into a roll, before managing to edge it back onto Bootus, who simply let out a grunt of disapproval.

"I see stars and pixies and unicorns…" Remasa sang in a crushed daze. Voldos joined in some time afterwards.

"Okay. And lift!" Zinkata ordered. Bootus lifted up the pole again, and the four of them let out a sigh of disapproval.

"I think we need a better plan." Bootus suggested with a groan.

Olose awoke with a sharp kick to his ribs.

"Get up!" Talia commanded. "I don't know what that was about, but it's not gonna help you escape."

"Talia…"Olose groaned. "It…it can't be…"

"You got some aversion to the name? I said get up!" Talia kicked him again. "Leanne was right. I should never have let you go."

"Talia! You're my daughter!" Olose cried, climbing to his feet.

"You tell everybody that one when you're in a desperate situation or am I just lucky?" Talia snarled. "I thought you might be telling the truth when you said Abaj wasn't my father, but you? Please. I've seen better escape plans from children."

"Children who tell the truth?" Olose ventured, almost angrily. Talia smirked, trying to dismiss him. "Why are you working for them?" Olose shot. "I can see your heart isn't in it."

"Isn't in it?" Talia laughed. "Do you really think I would have resurrected the entire lycanthropic race if my 'heart wasn't in it'." She cackled.

"What?" Olose gasped. "You…saved the werewolves?"

"Yes, Olose. They survived through me." She boomed triumphantly. "Your little trick didn't kill me. I was only half werewolf. I didn't die. So I found the orb and I used it to project a resurrection spell. The same way it contacts every member of the race to kill them I used to save my people. The people you killed Olose!"

"Don't accuse me. I know you're planning to use the orb again. You're planning to kill every race. You can't judge me." Olose shot back. Talia smiled to herself.

"Oh no, Olose, what Leanne said was true. We're not seeking to destroy anything this time. We can't. Using resurrection magic through the orb caused it to shatter."

"Ha. So it's not as if it's by choice." Olose taunted. "So what? You spent the rest of your time trying to find a way to inflict the same destruction?"

"No! We're not like you!" Talia growled. "We won't wipe out an entire race!"

"I did what I had to do, Talia." Olose answered. "And I don't regret it."

"You almost killed me, Olose. You claim I'm your daughter, you almost killed me, and you don't regret it?" Talia asked sceptically.

"You were dead!" Olose protested. "Abaj killed you!"

"How dare you?" Talia screamed. "Abaj is my father! I don't care if you are my biological parent. You did nothing for me. Abaj raised me, protected me and taught me. He's my true father, regardless of genes."

"He murdered you!" Olose yelled, sobbing openly. "He murdered you in front of me! You were a week old and he killed you!"

"Shut up!" Talia shouted back. "Shut up!" She repeated, drawing twin swords from her belt. "He's my father! I won't let you say things like that!" She lunged at him and Olose jumped back.

"I won't fight my daughter." Olose told her plainly.

"Makes my job easier." Talia grinned, thrusting both swords at Olose. Olose dropped to the floor and kicked upwards, knocking one of the blades away. Talia brought about the other and drove it downwards. Olose rolled to the side, causing her to drive it into the wooden deck of the ship. Olose kicked her back, away from the blade, and sprang to his feet. Talia stood, unarmed, furiously growling at him.

"Now stop this!" Olose commanded.

"Never!" Talia screeched back, flinging herself at him with all the power she could.

The two rocketed into the hull of the ship and out the other side, into the sea. Water began to gush in and the ancient hull of the Destiny began to crumble, the magical seal the werewolves had got Talia to install to keep it together now broken.

Leanne had predicted Talia's response, and calmly set about preparing for evacuation. She decided that at least the sinking ship would deal with the Light Warriors once and for all, and luckily she had tarutaru slaves well versed in black magic, and thus teleportation. They could easily teleport her and her troops away.

Water began to gush into the hold that held the four heroes, who were still struggling with the pole.

"Uh oh." Voldos vocalised. "We need to get out of this. Now."

"Right. That does it!" Remasa snapped. "I've got to blast it with magic. It's our only way out."

"Okay, but aim carefully." Zinkata instructed.

"No! Wait!" Voldos cried.

"What?" Remasa growled, feeling that the elvaan wasn't appreciating the urgency of the situation.

"Lightning conducts!" He explained. "You miss even slightly and you'll hit the water, frying us all."

"Wow. Voldos makes a surprisingly good point." Bootus admitted.

"Fine! I'll use a fireball!" Remasa decided, casting as she did so and sending a fiery blast into the wooden pole. The four froze.

"Urm, wood is flammable Remmy." Bootus pointed out.

"I'm painfully aware of that now." Remasa muttered, the pole in flames. Fire had splashed off in the hit and set parts of the ship alight as well. It wasn't only sinking, but now on fire.

"This is not going well!" Voldos cried, the four still strapped to the now burning piece of wood.

"Is it me, or is it getting hot in here?" Bootus asked sarcastically. The ship seemed to creak loudly.

"Before we all die, I think we should settle that this was Remmy's fault." Zinkata decided sarcastically.

"My fault?" Remasa protested. "You're the one who wouldn't let me use lightning!"

"Yeah, 'cause getting zapped is so much more fun than burnt." Bootus mocked. The ship let out another creak and the far wall collapsed, causing water to gush in.

A body tumbled in with it, but he was only a silhouette, clouded by the smoke hissing as the steam put out the fire.

"What have you got yourselves into now?" Olose spluttered, coughing slightly from the flood of water.

"Olose! Get us out of this thing!" Remasa cried.

"Why are you on fire?" Olose asked curiously as he set about breaking the metal bonds that held them to the flaming pole.

"Long story." Zinkata swept the issue aside quickly.

"Where's Viv?" Olose moved on to more important issues.

"Don't you know?" Voldos returned.

"I've been in magical stasis!" Olose reminded him.

"That's no excuse." Grumbled the elvaan. Olose freed the last of them using his werewolf strength and dropped the pole in the ever increasing water, putting out the flames.

"Right. Hold on to that. It'll keep us afloat at least." Olose decided, taking command.

"What about Vivli?" Remasa quickly asked. "We can't just leave her!"

"The ship's falling apart." Olose replied. "We don't have time to find her."

"Vivli can't swim. She'll drown!" Zinkata cried as the pole, along with the warriors clinging to it, were swept out of the hole that was ever growing larger in the side of the ship.

Waves crashed around the brave heroes as it became evident that the sea was in fact quite stormy. They looked around in desperation. The Destiny, in flames and sinking, began to break apart.

"She's gonna be swept out. I'll try and catch her!" Olose yelled over the roaring ocean.

"Where are all the wolves?" Voldos asked.

"Teleported, I wouldn't mind betting." Remasa's voice was almost drowned out by the crashing waves. Olose sighed and let go of the pole, fighting against the waves to get towards the ship.

Vivli had been sat in a strange state of silence, shivering from the cold and her own trauma, when the back wall of her cell broke apart and freezing cold water crashed down on her, dragging her out to sea. She screeched, but only inhaled a lung full of water, and started spluttering. She was underwater and there was nothing she could do to get air. She kicked and flung her arms about, but it didn't do much good, other than making her worn out. She was sinking, and she couldn't get even a breath of air. Her head began to erupt in pain. Her body began to shake. She felt like she would be sick, if it wasn't for the water. She felt faint, her head exploding from agony, and she gave up, unable to do anything but slip into blackness.

Vivli awoke with a coughing splutter, but didn't really feel like she could move. She felt like she was burning up from a fever. Bootus leaned into view over her.

"You're finally awake!" He cried.

"I am?" Vivli croaked, her voice sore from salt water. "Owy." She muttered childishly.

"She's awake?" Olose's voice seemed to grin itself, which was kind of creepy, now that Vivli came to think of it.

"Finally." Bootus groaned sarcastically. Olose stuck his head into view over her. Vivli still couldn't move.
"Hey." He smiled.

"Hey." She sighed back, barely able to speak.

"Zin, get me another damp leaf." Olose seemed to order.

"Leaf?" Vivli asked wearingly. A blur of hands passed something to Olose and he rested the soothing cold leaf on her forehead.

"You have a fever Vivli." Olose said calmly. "Turns out your immune system is about as frail as the rest of you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Vivli tried to shout, but it came out as a raspy croak.

"It means you need to eat more and stop being so dammed skinny." Bootus told her. Vivli rolled her head to glare at the galka, but couldn't really see him.

"Here. Eat this." Voldos's voice was heard, and Olose passed Vivli something small and chewy. She began to munch on it weakly, still unable to move properly. Olose had lifted her head up and rested it in his arms.

"What is it?" She asked in a confused blur.

"Just some grubs I found." Voldos answered matter-of-factly.

"Grubs? Eww!" Vivli suddenly screeched, coughing them out of her mouth.

"No! Eat them!" Bootus seemed to enjoy ordering Vivli about, even in her ill state.

"No!" Vivli complained. "Get me some real food!" She demanded like a spoilt child.

"Urr, Viv, this is all we've got." Zinkata told her.

"What? Where are we?" Vivli tried to sit up, but couldn't, still feeling faint, and as if she was burning up, even with the cool leaf upon her forehead. Olose lifted her up a bit in his arms, and let her slump against him.

She got a clear view of a stretch of white beach, and could make out bits of a jungle behind them. No signs of civilisation though. She had no idea where they were.

Voldos popped into view in front of her, and she jolted back a bit.

"Welcone to…" He began in his creepiest voice, "The Island!"

"Voldos! Stop trying to scare her!" Zinkata cried from outside Vivli's point of view. His tone was so patronising it infuriated her. He was treating her like such a child.

"Viv, you seriously need to eat up." Olose told her.

"I'm not eating icky bugs!" Vivli protested, getting enough of her voice back to really sound whiny.

"Viv, you've been out for four days." Olose began to explain. "Slipping in out of fever, delusions, you're lucky to be alive. You need to eat something or-" He caught himself, and stopped. Vivli blinked, and leaned her head back to look at him.

"Or what?" She croaked, her throat in pain from the salt. Olose's face seemed pained.

"Viv, or, you're gonna die." He said sadly.

Olose knew in truth it might be too late. Vivli had caught the fever just after they heroes had been washed up. Possibly while they were at sea. Her body was just too frail to fight it. And she was showing no signs of recovery. Her waking up was a good sign, but he couldn't see her getting over it. Not without a warm bed, plenty of medicine and good luck. They had none of those things. Remasa had been doing her best, but magic couldn't repel sickness like this, so they were down to basic nursing techniques. This basically involved keeping something damp to keep her temperature down and feeding her water from a nearby stream.

As if on cue, Remasa arrived with a cool half coconut shell full of water. She offered Vivli the water, who took it weakly. Olose moved his own arms to support Vivli's own, helping her hold the makeshift cup. She gulped it down, the cold water doing wonders to her sore throat. She let her arms go limp in relaxation, and rested against Olose's lap. Olose held her, looking down, clearly very worried.

Bootus wondered and joined Voldos and Zinkata who were stood by the sea, watching the waves come in.

"It's an improvement, at least." Bootus observed.

"Not enough." Zinkata replied, stubble all over his face from the days spent roughly on the island. "We could make a raft or something, but Vivli simply wouldn't survive. And Remasa's still had no luck with teleportation."

"Those bastards must have sabotaged the crags when they arrived." Voldos sighed, no stubble upon his elvaan face, but his usually slick black hair was a frizzy mess from the sea. They both looked a bit of a mess. Bootus's messy beard and hair were nothing new, so he at least looked mostly unchanged.

"I honestly don't know what we can do. I don't know what we're going to do this time." Zinkata admitted. "Out there somewhere, the werewolves are putting their plans into action, and we're stuck here because Vivli's sick!"

"Don't sound so angry with her Zin." Voldos said calmly. He looked at Zin curiously. "You seriously have some unresolved issues with her." He added in a mumble.

"I'm just being realistic." Zinkata countered. "If she wasn't such a wimp, we wouldn't be in this mess!" Zinkata could shout all he wanted, but it was obvious to the other two warriors he was just trying to hide his concern deep down. He didn't want to fall for Vivli again, and so he resorted to hostility. At least, that was the other warriors' current theory on the situation.

Vivli looked up to Olose, blinking one long hard blink, almost as if she was intentionally doing it.

"He's so mad at me." Vivli muttered deliriously. "He doesn't like me. He's never going to like me again." She muttered sadly. Remasa knelt down beside Vivli and put another damp leaf on her forehead.

"Get some rest, Viv." The tarutaru instructed. "I want you to get better."

"Olose said I'm gonna die." Vivli managed to say dreamily.

"Great, she's going delusional again." Remasa sighed, clearly concerned.

"I never said that." Olose smiled to the sick mithra. "You'll be just fine." Vivli shut her eyes, and seemed to instantly fall to sleep.

Olose looked around to the jungle, and looked up at a plateau off in the distance. He sighed.

"This place seems familiar somehow." He muttered. Remasa looked up to him. Some birds fluttered out of the jungle far away, obviously scared off by something. "I have a bad feeling about this." The immortal warrior sighed.