A/N: Umm…what can I say? I stopped this story about a year ago. I kind of lost my mojo for writing, if you will. But it was always still in my head, the entire story. It kept replaying itself over and over, begging me to actually get out onto paper. So I'm finally picking up the pen (or the keyboard) and beginning again. Wish me luck!

The Secret Magic: 3: Whisperings

By: Karigan Marie

Chapter 7:Nafarious Creatures

Jade hadn't processed the situation completely; her mind continued to try and wrap itself around what was standing in front of her. She's never even heard of such a creature, let alone seen one. But then again, no one in Tortall had heard of Firebirds before Justice came crashing unceremoniously into the picture. She wasn't sure what to make of the creatures appearance. There was a certain beauty to the slender and strong limbs that were covered in ebony markings. Yet one look at the piercing teeth made a sick hole form in Jade's stomach.

The creature leaned towards her, teach bared as if to bite. Jade pressed herself against the tree as Justice took a step forward in alarm. Rainmyst's seething hiss rang out as another creature dropped behind her and grabbed her hair, pulling it back violently.

Jade's heart started beating in alarm as a curved, but obviously sharp blade was placed at Rainmyst's throat. Jade's eyes noticed the thin and delicate hands that held the blade with expertise. Sharply pointed fingers with no nails lead back into a graceful wrist covered in black marking. Jade's eyes snapped up to a face that was a bit alarming. It seemed to be another Piper. And though this one looked slightly less savage than Rainmyst, she didn't lack in appearance of danger.

Long coal hair hung in uncombed strands from a small and delicate face that was sun-kissed. The tip of her nose and nostrils held a grayish color. She didn't have markings as extravagant as Rainmyst's around her eyes. The skin coloring actually reached from the inside corners of her eyes down a ways towards her nose. The grey that surrounded the tip of her nose also surrounded her eyes. The affect was a curious resemblance to a predatory cat. The rest of her face was thin and angular, her lips wide but thin. Light brown eyes contrasted her dark hair. The markings started again at her shoulders, which were completely bare, and led down to the top of her breasts, which were bare as well. She had sleeves that began slightly above her elbows that reached down to her wrists. They seemed made out of…flower pedals, extremely large flower pedals. Her torso was covered in similar material all the way down to her feet, which Jade couldn't see due to the her clothing's loose fall down, what looked like, slender legs. Jade momentarily wondered if this Piper had no toes either.

The Piper's hard eyes were trained on Rainmyst's face. When she spoke, razor sharp teeth made themselves visible. And though no blood seemed to result from her sharp teeth, they were no less frightening. "I told you to keep away," was the deadly warning.

Rainmyst hissed and struggled to get her hair loose. "You sorry ingrate, I'll rip out your tongue and force it down your throat."

The dark haired Piper wrenched the hair back more and sliced her blade to draw a sliver of blood. Rainmyst stilled instantly. "…and then I'll bite you hand off." She pulled Rainmyst to her feet and dragged her back a few feet away from Jade. "Nefarious creature," she hissed. "Get back to that hole in the mud you call a den and let me not see you again until FirRose has forgiven you for what you've just done."

She jerked the smaller Piper once more and then threw her a good four feet away from her. Rainmyst turned around and flared her sorry wings, hissing angrily. The taller Piper flared her own wings, ones Jade hadn't even noticed. Jade gasped in surprise. This new Piper's wings were brilliant purple…blue…red…they kept changing colors. New colors streaking out from the root of the wings shooting out to the tips where numerous black spotted 'eyes' remained unchanged at the ends. They weren't damaged like Rainmyst's. They were healthy and glistening with healthy moistness and looked much more like a butterflies wings. They had odd edgings, uneven but undamaged. And just like a butterfly's wings, there were two separate wings on each side, one much smaller and closer to the top than the other. They were absolutely beautiful.

Rainmyst backed away before looking once more at Jade and Justice. She hissed in anger and then, faster than Jade thought possible, disappeared behind some trees. Jade looked over at Justice, who stood with her arms crossed and a look of annoyance across her face. She seemed to snap out of it and landed her hard blue eyes on the new Piper. "Joy," she said flately. "Another one."

The Piper pulled in her wings walked to a near by creek and rinsed the slightly bloodied blade off before standing strait again and walking away. Jade bolted up. "Wait!" The Piper turned and stared at her. "I um…thanks. I mean…"

The Piper turned away again and left, in which direction, Jade couldn't seem to figure out. Justice snorted. "Typical."

Jade rose from the ground and picked off some leafs from her silk pants. "That was…odd."

Justice shrugged. "Better you forget about them." She took hold of Jade's arm and led her back towards the colony.

"Why?" Jade questioned. "I don't understand. What are Pips? Are they Immortals?"

Justice sighed as they walked side by side, side-stepping some bushes. "Yes. They're…well…let's just say they were dreamed up by a little human girl who watched her father and brothers burn in her home and her mother and sisters tortured by soldiers."

Jade swallowed, a small frown marring her face. "How terrible." Justice only nodded. "So she dreamed them up; like other immortals. Why did she dream them up? They're…a bit hostile."

Justice chuckled. "That, they are." She reached up to tall bush and yanked on some ripe fruit, tossing one over to Jade, who caught it and took a loud crunching bite. After Justice swallowed her own bite, she continued. "Story goes, the little girl's village soldiers were unable, maybe even unwilling, to defend a poor family during war. She was the only one of her family to survive. After the attack, she went to her King and begged for justice. Her King, though compassionate, told her he could not spare his soldiers for something as unimportant as vengeance. He gave her over to the care of some servants where she was to grow up in safety."

"That was kind of the King," Jade stated.

Justice nodded. "But it wasn't what the girl wanted. Hate and vengeance was all she wanted. She wanted vengeance for her family, something to torture for eternity those who had slaughtered her family." A small sigh escaped Justice. "She dreamed up a creature that would die defending those unable to defend themselves in her village. But her dreams were also of a creature who would hate like her; who would fight without mercy like she wanted."

"Goddess," Jade whispered.

Justice nodded. "The result, of which, are those vicious, wicked, and might I add, rather annoying, little creatures back there." Justice pointed a thumb over her shoulder. "Pips."

"What do they do all day? They didn't seem to like each other." Jade was frowning as she walked.

"The Gods only know. My best bet is they spend their time killing each other off. And with so few males…"

"Why's that?"

"Oh, well…there are only a handful of males. The females live in colonies or 'Dens', together. How they manage to do that is beyond me, but, they do. Males are loners. Every so often, he'll come upon a Den and…well…become rather useful if you know what I mean."

Jade could feel the hint of color tinge her cheeks but held it back fiercely before it got out of hand. "Yes. I understand."

"There wicked little creatures. But…they fight better than any human can. They're taught to fight since birth. And they aren't taught to simply win, they're taught to kill. Make it very difficult for anyone under their attack to spread the word they might be around and out for blood."

Jade inwardly flinched. She wasn't used to the idea of such viscous killing. "But the taller one didn't kill Rainmyst."

"Well, Rainmyst is still very young. Couldn't be more than a century."

"Naturally," was Jade's amused reply."

Justice rolled her eyes. Rainmyst wasn't very normal, either. Well, what's considered normal for a Piper. She seemed a bit…touched in the head."

"Oh…" Jade chewed on her lower lip in concentration before pushing back a lock of curly black hair.

Justice peeked at her from the corner of her eye. "Come on…I told everyone we'd be back by nightfall."

Two months passed by before Jade got another peek at a Piper. Or…at least, she thought it was a Piper. She'd been standing in one of the creeks, completely bare, using soap root to wash off the constant sheen of sweat on her body. She'd kneeled down slightly to rinse off the cleaning plant when she'd caught sight of green plants rustling without the wind. She'd tilted her head and listened for the flora's voices but they hadn't told her much. Ivy's were a definite pain, she'd decided. They were tricky little plants who liked to hide poisonous secretions that would make an armadillo think twice. And they were just as obstinate as they were poisonous. After that incident, another four would pass by before she'd see another.

Her eleventh birthday had come and gone. Solandia didn't use the same calendar as Tortall and Carthak had. They apparently went on a ten month cycle rather than a 12 month one. Jade adamantly refused to adjust to this twist, and she wasn't near good enough in math or astrology to figure out the equivalence for her mind. She'd come close, she thought, at least. She'd added up the days she'd spent in Solandia and the days she'd been in the Forest and the days she'd spent in captivity and thought she'd come up with a fairly accurate date. Her birthday passed by without notice of anyone but herself. Justice and the other Firebirds didn't seem to celebrate such 'human' holidays as no one had ever mentioned something like a Birthday. She didn't mind, but she made a mental note do something special on her father's birthday. Maybe she couldn't be there with him in body, but her heart would be.

It was only a few days after it had passed that she'd come up, mot unexpectedly, on a Piper. Or rather, the Piper came up on her. She'd been exploring some darker shaded regions of the Forest one evening when a Piper popped its little head out of large fallen Redwood Log that had moss growing all over it. Jade took a step back and held her breath. The Piper had light brown hair hanging loosely over her shoulders in uneven tresses. Her face was half covered by a sort of black mask that covered her eyes. She had dark lips on a rather tan face and the eyes behind the mask seemed to be dark brown. There was an impish smile of curiosity spread across the Piper's face as it tilted on one place to the side, observing her quietly.

Jade cleared her throat quietly. "Um…hello." She braced herself for some sort of attack.

Forest green membranous wings snapped up and out. Jade's eyes sparkled in wonder. The Piper's wings looked quite curious. It seemed that if you'd placed a giant leaf behind her and ripped it down the main vein to form two halves and torn the edges a slight bit, this is what would constitute her wings. Jade tried to hide a smile. "Hello," the deep voice came from between sharp teeth.

Jade searched for something to say in her mind. "I'm Jade." She inwardly rolled her eyes at such a witty conversation starter.

The Piper didn't seem to mind. "Nefarian." Pointed fingers came up to brace on the dead tree as Nefarian pushed up and out of the hollow space. She sat upon the log, one leg hanging loosely over the edge while the other was pulled up tight against her chest. Dark green cloth of some sort hugged her torso closely, leaving everything else bare making it quite obvious that the black markings all over her arms and legs went all the way up. The black mask, which carried pointed ear-like ends that wrapped around her own pointed ears, was pushed up her face to rest on her head. Soft freckles dusted her nose, but they were overshadowed by vine-like black markings starting at the outer edges of the eyes all the way back to her ears. "You are a curious creature." She looked harmless enough until that moment; sharp dangerous teeth showing just how dangerous she could be.

Jade's eyes skittered down to her own hands. "I suppose you would think that."

Jade met Nefarian' eyes once again. "Though, to be completely honest, you are a curious creature, as well."

Nefarious tilted her head to the other side, sliding along on one plane, making the move eerie. "You are different from the other humans," she stated simply.

Jade sighed inwardly. Would absolutely everyone and everything be able to tell she wasn't normal? "Is that good or bad?"

"I haven't decided," came the deep voice tinted with the a similar accent as Justice's. "Though you live with that half-breed. It doesn't speak well for you."

"Half-breed?" Jade questioned. "Oh," She snapped her mouth shut. She was suddenly glad Justice wasn't hear, the fallout wouldn't have been good. "You disapprove of my company?"

"Firebirds are proud and arrogant," Nefarian hissed with disgust. "Fancy themselves God's among Immortals. They're nothing more than canaries singing in a cage."

Jade raised eyebrows slightly in surprise. "Well…I…I don't think they're so bad. But you're entitled to your own opinion, I suppose."

Nefarian blinked slowly, evaluating every movement with steady eyes. "You are very curious, indeed."

A change in topic was definitely in order. She pointed to the odd metal hanging from her…whatever she called the cloth that covered her moderately. "May I ask what that is?"

Dark eyes didn't leave hers as a tanned and dangerous hand calmly laid upon the hilt of some sort of weaponry. Without looking, she unhooked the thing and let it slide into an attack position. Jade swallowed, wondering how the movements hadn't sliced off a finger. The blade large and sharp, the handle wrapped in some sort of worn out leather that showed years of use. Just above the leather protection, a two inch spike came from the side of the blade. A third of the way up another part of metal crossed perpendicular and curved up into a razor sharp point. Jade scrunched her eyes at the odd weapon. Four points to the 'knife' instead of the common one. Edges on all sides were sharp and deadly and Jade felt slightly ill at the idea of any portion of it catching any portion of her. Nefarian carefully reset the complicated blade back in it's holder. "A katar," she stated.

Jade snapped out of it. "I'm sorry, what?"

Nefarian didn't blink. "You asked what it was. It's a katar. A weapon."

"I noticed," Jade said. She pressed her lips together into a flat line and raised her eyebrows at Nefarian. "It looks…dangerous."

Confusion clouded Nefarian's eyes. "Anything is dangerous when used as a weapon."

Jade nodded, staring at the strange creature. "That it is." Silence reigned for a good minute before Jade broke under Nefarian's piercing gaze. "Is it difficult to learn?"

"Is what difficult to learn?"

Jade licked her lips and pointed to the covered blade. "Umm…to fight."

"With a katar." It wasn't a question.

"Right," Jade nodded. "With a katar. Is it difficult?"

"It is more difficult than a scythe."

"Oh." Jade looked around uncomfortably. Nefarian continued to stare at her. Jade felt rather stupid. "What's a scythe?"

That got a reaction. Nefarian moved her head to another angle. "A weapon."

Jade sighed. This was getting ridiculous. "Yes. I gathered that. Is it much different from a katar?"

"Yes."

Jade let out a breath. She'd been expecting a slight more complicated answer than that. This was like pulling teeth. "I'd like to see one sometime."

Nefarian turned without another word and began to walk away. Jade eyes widened and she suddenly wondered if she'd offended the Piper. After a few steps, Nefarian turned around, noting Jade was farther away. "If I am to show you a scythe, you will need to follow…" she stopped, perhaps thinking "…Jade." Jade jumped slightly with a small "Oh," and quickly followed.

A/N: I'll post soon. Don't freak out and think it'll be another year. impish smile

Please review! I always liked reviews.