Yeah Joren, Wolset, and Lerant are back, so are Kel and Dom! Read and enjoy! No really, why are you reading this crap when the story's much better, go on read, read, read, read, sorry I'm hyper!

Ch.16 The Gang's All Here

Joren slammed into Commander Wyldon's office, the newly sober Lerant and bug eyed Wolset not too far. Wyldon began to choke and splutter on his coffee. How dare his charges barge into his office! At sunrise too!

"I demand you tell me where Officers Keladry and Domitan are…Sir!" Joren bellowed and gave a hesitant salute.

Their commander spit his remaining coffee across the room. "I told you this is your vacation Officers," spat Commander Wyldon.

"Tell. Me. Where. They. Are." said Lerant through clenched teeth as he slammed a still bandaged fist onto the desk. Lerant and Wolset nodded in the background, while Wolset banged the door shut.

"What is the meaning of this?" questioned their now furious commander.

"What is the meaning of sending two members of our squad on their own? And might I add without telling their Sergeant?" Joren knocked his fist against the table again. Wolset jerked his head, a sign to Joren he was going overboard. "Well? What do you have to say for yourself Commander," Joren said commander with disgust.

Commander Wyldon knocked over his chair as he abruptly stood up in his rage. "SIT! All of you!"

Lerant began to slide to the floor, but Wolset jerked him up. "Sir, where are they?"

"That's classified information Officer Wolset," Commander Wyldon said, eyes flashing.

"Not when it has to do with my squad," Joren said, as he had become the Sergeant since Liz's disappearance. And to Joren it was easiest to pretend the woman who'd been the closest thing to family for him was just on vacation, and might never come back. He bit his tongue to keep the thought of her from his mind. "Tell us Commander, lest we"

"Stop this foolishness this instant Officers. I am your Commander you will listen to me. Have you been drinking? If so, go back to sleep."

"No, we haven't been drinking! Tell us Commander, or, or" Lerant began to stutter, he had no clue of what they would do. Their plan was beginning to crumble.

"We shan't work on your next mission. We'll protest! That's it, protest!" Wolset said, eyes twinkling, he loved protests.

"If you'll stop this foolishness and sit down I'll explain!" roared the Commander.

The trio sat down immediately, Wolset missed the seat of the chair and plopped to the floor. But he didn't make a move to correct his mistake and looked upon Commander Wyldon with greedy eyes, desperate for information.

The commander folded his hands on his desk as he sat down. "Officers Keladry Mindelan and Domitan Masbolle are in Scanra. They are looking for our missing Officers, Nealan Queenscove, Owen Jesslaw, and Elizabeth Peterson." He said Liz's name with malice, everyone knew of his hatred for traitors. Lerant flinched at the look in the commander's eye.

Joren shot up from his chair. "Sir, you can't only send two officers! They'll be easily captured like the last two! You've got to send us!" He jabbed his thumb in his chest, "We're going to help, we'll track them down and meet them, then we'll solve this mystery."

The Commander chewed this over, "You'll never make it time."

Lerant gave a giddy smile, "We have our own means of transportation Commander."

Joren burst into the cockpit, clutching his stomach. His pale face was a light shade of green which caused the co-pilot, Wolset to burst into ruckus laughter. Joren could smell the alcohol from Wolset where he stood. Joren growled, he now understood why Wolset wasn't panicking from Lerant's flying. It wasn't that Lerant was horrible at flying the airplane; it was that he was going awfully fast and whenever he saw fit was making unneeded dives and corkscrews in the air. Joren would give anything to wipe the giddy smiles off of their faces.

Wolset turned to Joren, "You better strap yourself down, and we're landing."

Joren nodded and fumbled over back to the minute compartment in the back, just for two passengers. He buckled to seat belt tightly and clung to the arm rests. In the distance he could hear Wolset giggling helplessly. Joren shook his head, definitely too much alcohol in his blood stream.

Joren lurched forward in his seat during their descent. Lerant was trying to have as much fun as he could with this. Joren rolled his eyes, praying to each god he knew of that he'd survive this flight.

Kel tossed and turned for the good half of her night's slumber. She kept having dreams of Blayce, Maggot, and Stenmun. In her dreams she saw flashes of what they were doing, and she knew they were visions. The worst one was of Stenmun holding children at gunpoint with a machine gun. And judging by the area surrounding them she knew it was an orphanage.

Kel woke with a start when warm hands slid around her mouth. She thrashed wildly to distract them and hopefully wake Dom, but another pair of hands held her body down. She looked over across the room and saw someone pinning Dom down on the floor, as it was Kel's night for the bed.

A flashlight was turned on and pointed directly into her hazel eyes. She squinted and jumped at what she saw. Wolset's hand was snaked around her head while Lerant had her pinned down. And she could make out another blond head in the light glow over Dom, and she knew it was Joren. Wolset was giving her the giddiest grin she'd ever seen. If his hand wasn't over her mouth, she'd definitely ask if he'd had any drugs recently.

"Hello Dearest Keladry," said Wolset as if they were sitting down for tea.

"Nice of you to drop by," she said icily as he slowly removed his hand. Kel pulled down her cami to a more dignified style. "Why are you here?"

Lerant spoke up after settling himself comfortably on the bed, "To help you."

Kel would have responded but there was a large thump as Joren went flying in the air and landed on his back. Dom sprung up to his feet instantly, frowning. "We were doing fine thanks," grumbled Dom while perching himself on the edge of the end table.

Kel began fiddling with the sheets and pretended to listen intently as Joren began taunting the others and Wolset told of the events that had come to pass while they'd been gone. But something was wrong. Kel could sense it. And she began having that strange extremely warm sensation throughout her body.

She looked down and gasped. She wasn't in the motel room. Joren, Wolset, Lerant, and Dom weren't anywhere. And to make matters worse she wasn't in the same clothing anymore. Instead, she was now in a faded and mud splattered pair of jeans. And the torn sweatshirt was sticking with the sweat that poured freely down her back and neck. Her feet were being dragged carelessly on the ground, the sneaker shoelaces becoming untied.

She felt pressure on both arms and looked around. There were two heavily armed men squeezing the life out of her upper arms as they dragged her. Her head lolled with each step, causing her hair to fall dangerously from the loosening pony tail. She looked ahead. There was another woman being dragged. Her clothes were in the same state as hers. The woman's head lolled unconsciously and Kel could see blood dripping from her open mouth as her head flung backwards. Kel cringed and looked around. The men were carrying them down some hall. The walls were made of stone and coal black metal bars encased beggar prisoners.

A lock of Kel's hair fell, only to find it wasn't her hair at all. And then she understood. She hadn't randomly transported to some other place, or she hadn't fallen asleep during the boys' rambling. No, she was currently somehow strangely inside Liz. And she knew this was the Goddess' doing. It was another clue to finding Liz, and maybe finding Neal and Owen.

For the lock of hair was a color far from Kel's light brown locks. Instead her hair was a dark auburn, the only shade of red Kel had seen on her missing friend, Liz. Her heart, no, Kel corrected, Liz's heart started thumping wildly with excitement. This was it! This was where Liz was. She'd been captured after all. Kel smiled, making Liz smile. And she winced as Liz's lips were chapped from the inhumane conditions of her imprisonment. Kel knew that she'd be able to talk ole Commander Wyldon into giving Liz her job back once she arrived safely to Tortall with the trio.

And then her heart fell, she'd have to send everyone back and somehow remain here. Because it was then she remembered Vidi. Vidi would not let her leave till she'd done as promised. She wouldn't be allowed to leave to her home till she'd assassinated those three cruel men. She couldn't get home until the deaths of Blayce, Stenmun, and President Maggur were on her hands.

Wolset leaned forward, his face right in front of Kel's. There noses were touching, but he failed to notice. Her eyes. He shivered. Instead of the usual hazel, they were pure black. Black as the night. And she didn't even have the whites of her eyes anymore; instead her entire eyeball was pure black. He touched her shoulder firmly. His hand flew back instantly. She was burning. Her skin was scorching to the touch, and he found that in the scant flashlight rays his tanned skin was turning raw red.

He swallowed hard and slowly turned to the others, whose faces were just as close. "What's going on?" his voice cracked.

Dom held out his hand, about to touch her. But Wolset slapped his hand away. "It burns," he stated in awe.

Dom frowned, "What burns?"

"Her skin, it burns."

Dom scoffed, he thought Wolset was just playing another trick. Of all the times, Dom thought, this was the worse. As much as he loved fun and games, there was no time for such things when a comrade was in danger. Even if said comrade was annoyingly friendly and nosy.

He ignored Wolset's warnings and planted a hand to her throat, to check her pulse. He pulled his hand away instantly, for Wolset was right, it did burn. But in the seconds that he had touched her flaming skin, he'd felt no pulse. His stomach dropped. How were they to explain this? It didn't make sense at all. And then he remembered. On their first day out on the road it had been terribly quiet, but they had chattered to keep the other insane. But then she'd been quiet and he'd asked her if she wanted to eat before they went to the hotel. He'd taken his eyes off the road for a mere two seconds. And what he saw was frightening. Her whole body was rigid and stiff; it didn't even jostle with the occasional bumps in the road. He'd called out her name. But she hadn't responded. Then he drove to the first hotel he'd seen on the highway. Once he was in the parking lot he had jumped out of the car and gone over to Kel. He remembered her eyes; they were the exact black they were now. But when he'd touched her she had been freezing and then she came to.

He'd pushed that memory far from his mind; he thought it was just from driving too much. But now he was unsure. For the same thing was happening again. No pulse, no breathing, the black eyes, and the rigid body. It was all the same signs, including the extreme in her body heat. Something was wrong with her. He turned to the others and barely whispered his next words, "This has happened before."

Kel, in Liz's body, watched as the men in the front opened the door of a cell on a floor below. The screech of metal was antagonizing, but she'd live. She watched as the man threw the other woman's body in the cell, and then felt the guards who had her imprisoned throw Liz's body along with the other woman. She tumbled across the woman, grinding her teeth as she felt bruising grow bigger from the impact. She looked around the cell unsurely. And what she saw caught the breath in her throat.

Two bodies hung chained to the back wall, they didn't have the pleasantries of the beds like some. The first body was slightly plump from the baby fat of his youth, but he was slowly becoming skin and bones. He had a mop of curls the covered his youthful face. He wore the uniform as the other prisoners did. And Kel realized that the only prisoners to not where the uniform were Liz and this other woman. She swallowed hard as she realized she knew this once jolly man, especially when his saddened eyes rested on her. They were grey, and he had bags under his eyes from the unrest of being chained to a wall. The man chained on the right was Owen Jesslaw.

She tore her eyes to the next chained man, wearing the black of the uniform. His dark brown hair was plastered to his forehead from sweat. His eyes rose to Kel's and she saw the forest green eyes of her best friend through Liz's body. The second chained man was Nealan Queenscove.

The looked around the room to find a man standing in front of the chained prisoners, his back to her. He wore an elegant brown suit and he played with his tie with one hand, with the other he held a whip. Kel swallowed as he turned around. The dark brown eyes bore into hers. The cruel smile that ruined the handsome face leered at here. The baritone voice of President Maggur reached her ears, "How nice of you to drop by Miss Peterson."

And then Kel felt her body leave Liz's and gasped as she entered her own. She knew where to find them, she knew where they were. And the last thought that entered Kel's excited brain before passing out and falling to the carpeted hotel floor was, Tomorrow I will save them.

Four male faces, jaws hanging on all of them, watched in awe as their female friend fluttered her now hazel eyes. They watched as she fell from the overcrowded bed to the floor, but no one stopped her descent. They were all baffled at what had just come to pass. And so they sat, each peering into one anothers befuddled gaze for nearly ten minutes before Dom finally left his perch on the bed. He got up slowly and carefully picked up the now chilled body of his partner and set her on the couch. Then he dropped to the floor from exhaustion, their guests could wait.

I told you the boys would not be forgotten. Besides why would I ruin the story, and leave them behind? Anyways thanks for reading. Now review, I mean you honestly don't have to. But it does motivate me. wink, wink, nudge nudge.

Sorry this chapter wasn't that long, but next chapter is going to be really long, I think, I'm not sure, but if you're thinking this fic is almost over, you're completely wrong. Remember, Kel still has to annihilate those three or face the wrath of Vidi. I'm trembling at the thought.

Much love,

redpheonix