Chapter 3:

"Brother, that went well. You acted just like a king. Mother and Father would have been proud." Isis's eyes shone with pride as she spoke to her younger brother.

"Thank you sister. Thank you both for helping me out. I really appreciated the support." Marik now addressed both of his older siblings.

"How are we going to get home? Maybe we should have stayed the night." Rishid glanced around at the oncoming darkness.

"No, we will ride horses to get back as quickly as we can. We need to get back to our people."

Though both were older, they agreed with their brothers decision. He was Alpha mainly because the position must be filled by a male, and Rishid was only a half-blood.

However, he had also proved himself in the trials, and in his past two years as king by listening to his people. For all of this and reasons individual to each, Rishid and Isis greatly respected Marik.

Sometimes, however, he could be childish.

"WOW! Look how big that tree is!"

"How did you do that?" The male quickly advanced towards the tree. "It should have taken years before that stone had enough power to let me transform again, and it had enough power to let me transform twice!"

He grabbed Ryou by the front of his shirt and held him up to his own eye level. Ryou squeaked as he realized he was dangling several feet above ground.

"Hey! He helped you out it seems so why don't you leave him alone!" Jou stood up and glared.

The man glared back for a second before seemingly dismissing him and going back to evaluating Ryou.

"There doesn't appear to be anything special about you!" The man seemed bewildered.

Suddenly Ryou was dropped to the ground as the lizard-turned-man flew backwards.

Jou took a protective stance in front of Ryou. "I asked you to leave him alone!"

"You just hit me!" He seemed astonished. "But you are a forest fairy! You can't attack a person unless they directly and intentionally threaten the forest's ecosystem."

Jou shrugged. "So? Apparently that's not true."

The man looked at Ryou. "Tell him not to attack me again, and I won't kill him now. I have no quarrel with you, I simply don't see how, or why, you replaced my stone's power. It was completely drained."

"Jou" Ryou whispered. "Let's try to find out what's going on. Maybe this guy can help me find Yugi."

"Fine, but he better behave himself."

"There is a campsite up there. Maybe it is a band of hunters willing to help."

"Or maybe it's a group of sorcerers doing rituals."

"I'm hungry, lets just see." Marik's stomach growled for emphasis of his decision.

Rishid quickly shifted into a common cat found in the forest and slinked off through the shadows to investigate. The hunters would just see a cat, and hopefully sorcerers would be too busy to notice.

Marik and Isis waited in the dark till their brother returned. "It's safe. Just a band of traders. They should give us food as long as we pay them, and don't scare them into attacking."

"Yeah! Lets go!" Marik rushed towards the camp site.

"They are going to attack him!" Isis panicked.

"BROTHER! SISTER!"

The two gasped and ran towards the campsite as they prepared to fight.

Marik was sitting on a log eating. "There you two are! Come on lets grab some food quickly! We need to keep moving."

"Are you sure you don't want to stay the night? The forest can be dangerous at night!"

"No, but thank you for your kind offer." Marik looked back to his siblings and eyed their plates of food. "Are you going to eat that?"

"You really don't have to do this for me."

"Yes, unfortunately I do. It's the dragon's code of honor." Seto sighed. He might have been better off being a lizard for a few years than tagging along with these two repaying a debt.

"Well thank you." Ryou walked in between the dragon and the fairy, effectively separating the two from squabbling. Well, actually they could both see over his head, so he didn't know if it worked or not.

"So why is this person so important?"

"He's my best friend and the only one left from my village." Ryou sighed sadly thinking about Yugi. He had lost a lot of time with Seto. It was now late into the night, but he had gained two fighters to help him recover Yugi. They just had to travel tonight to make up for lost time.

"Ryou, I hate ta tell ya dis, but we are going to have ta stop and rest. I need food and a nap. It's easy for even me ta get lost in this forest at night."

"Fine." Ryou went and sat down next to a tree and started thinking. "Hey Seto? How did your stone lose its power in the first place?"

"A sorcerer drained it with his staff."

"Why?"

"Sorcerer's can't make their own magic. They need to absorb it. A dragon morphing stone as powerful as mine will probably last that guy several years. He tricked me into letting down my defenses and took it." Seto violently snapped a piece of wood in half as he and Jou built a fire.

Ryou thought on this awhile as the other two finished the fire pile.

"Now how are we going to light this?" Jou's question was answered as fire suddenly surrounded both him and the pile of wood. "AH! You stupid jerk!"

Jou lunged at Seto. "Why can't ya watch where you're aiming?"

"I was." Jou hit a tree as Seto easily dodged him.

Ryou giggled.

The trader who fed Marik grinned happily as his deeds were amply rewarded. The others now wished they had been nicer as they saw all the money. They all quickly went through their inventories trying to find something that may interest this strange rich man.

A chorus of "sir" went up through the camp as the merchants showed off their merchandise.

"Good deal!"

"Very rare!"

"One of a kind!"

Marik was slightly overwhelmed. The stuff did seem interesting.

"Brother we are in a hurry, but look at the shiny stuff!" Rishid's eyes followed whatever sparkled the most.

Isis sighed. "Come on you two, lets get our horses." She had almost got them to the edge of the camp when one last merchant stopped in front of them.

"Please good sirs and ma'am, I truly have something you must see."

They followed the merchant back into a tent.

"I don't normally handle humans, and that goes for the others around here as well, but

when this group of guys offered him to us, something, some twist of fate in the gut told me to pay their outrageous amount. Now that same twist is telling me you need this. I don't care if you keep him or sell him. I just want to be compensated."

"You seem awfully sure we care." Rishid stated, but Marik interrupted.

"How much?"

A little later the three loaded up their horses and packed the sleeping potion that was keeping the boy subdued.

Marik used one hand to hold the boy up on the horse and the other to steer the horse.

Daylight was beginning to dawn and the horses picked up a steady trot as their home came in sight.

Ryou agreed with Jou. They had needed a break. Everyone had gotten food and taken a quick nap. Now just as daylight broke, the three covered the camp site and continued on.

"Hey Jou? Seto's right."

"Wha?" Jou stopped in his tracks and turned on Ryou.

"A forest fairy isn't allowed to attack someone unless they threaten the forest."

"Oh." Jou thought for a second. "Well that's true, but I'm really not your typical fairy."

"How so?"

"I'm kinda not bound by the typical rules. I can attack at will and leaving the forest won't hurt me. I guess I'm a bit of a rogue."

"Probably exile is more like it." Seto's quick little snippet upset Jou more than anything he had said thus far. Jou landed a punch straight on Seto's jaw.

"I am going to make you regret that." Seto glared as he began to glow and transform.

Soon the two faced off in the air. Seto as a great white dragon, and Jou had magical wings and armor.

At first Ryou was simply amazed at both of them ready to fight, but soon he realized that the two actually meant to do damage.

"Stop you two!" Ryou pleaded. "I need your help!" Above the battle was underway.

"Don't hurt each other!" Ryou screamed.

A blast of dragon fire was headed towards Jou, too quick for him to dodge. Suddenly, it was deflected. Jou grinned and sent an attack back towards the dragon who was too surprised to dodge. It was also deflected. Both stopped and sent each other quizzical and suspicious looks.

They each sent attacks, and both were deflected. Suddenly, they both burst into laughter as they sent their most powerful attacks towards each other and were deflected yet again.

Ryou watched from the ground, unsure about what was going on. Soon the two landed, and changed back to their normal looks.

"I don't know what just happened up there, but you're alright." Seto playfully punched Jou's shoulder.

Jou laughed. "Yea, same to ya."

Ryou breathed a sigh of relief. Crises overcome.

All around him fire rose up. Across the room he saw his younger sister coughing from the smoke and covered in the ashes. She wouldn't last much longer.

His mother and father had gone to stop the invaders, leaving him responsible for the house.

He had failed. The house was burning, his sister was dying, and all he could do was hide in a corner and cry. He seemed glued to the spot. Doomed to watch his baby sister die from the smoke and then be burnt alive.

The boy sat up, drenched in sweat from the imaginary fire. These nightmares plagued him every night he slept alone.

A breeze blew in from the window, its cold wind glided across the drenched boy causing him to clutch his sheet closer to him.

The large room was empty except for him and the furniture. His master said he'd be back by tomorrow at the latest.

The boy nestled down into the bed, hoping to get some sleep and to wake up back in his master's arms.

TBC

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