Nia walked through the hallways until she came to Arundelle's room. She knocked and waited. A few moments later Arundelle said, "Come in." Nia opened the door and walked in. She found Arundelle on her bed. "Arundelle, I think you can help with finding Janner and Sara. Then Kalmar, who had been secretly following yelled through the door,"I don't like the idea of them alone together." Nia rolled her eyes and kept on talking. "I heard that when you were a cloven you knew of shimmering pools in the air that cloven would be thrown through and disappear when they were causing trouble." Arundelle nodded. "It would normally be caused by a cloven ripping up the ground till first well water would seep up. Apparently the water held energy from the Well. Since the Castle Rysen is by the River Rysen, and the portal appeared in Janner's room, there is probably a leak by the mouth of the river where something accidentally dug it up." She said,"You can take Leeli to summon the dragons and look for the leak." "Okay," Nia answered,"What will we do when we find the leak?" "We will figure that out later."


Janner and Sara walked down the lane that led to the city. "I think we should sneak into the palace." Janner said, "It'll do no good to explain that we're humans that came through a portal." "You're probably right, where do you think the palace is?" She asked. "I see movement in those trees on the other side of the city. I think these rabbits have a palace in the trees." He replied. About an hour later they had come around the city and were under what seemed to be an entirely new city, all in the trees! Janner scurried up a tree and Sara followed, slightly slower. When she was about three-fourths of the way up Janner popped down from an upper limb. "Need a hand?" he asked. Sara nodded and Janner reached out. Sara grabbed his hand and let herself be pulled up. When she was finally on level with the trees they stopped and rested. Here there weren't as many rabbits so they could breathe easier.

Janner was already peering through the boughs to try to find a glimpse of where the king would be when Sara caught her breath. They both climbed out onto the maze of rope bridges and platforms. "I would sure like to meet the guy who designed this." Said Janner. "Then today's your lucky day." Came a voice from behind them. Janner spun around to find a rabbit Leeli's height looking at him intently. "Not to brag or anything, but yes I am the one who designed this. Forgive me. My name is Hayward." He said. Janner held out his hand and Hayward shook it. "My name is Janner Wingfeather, Throne Warden of Anniera, and this is my companion, Sara Cobbler." Janner replied, gesturing towards Sara. "Ah, nice to meet you. Might I ask what you are doing here?" he asked. "I've come to see the king. We have a problem." Janner said. "Okay, then you can follow me, I am going to see the king too." Hayward said and spun around. He started walking away and Janner followed him, Sara close behind. They wound through more trees and soon came to a building standing much taller than the rest. It was obviously the palace. Janner and Sara followed Hayward through the doors and then got onto a small elevator on the side of the building. It was made out of sticks tied together like a raft and had a small fence going around it about waist high, but it had no roof. "You built all this?" Janner asked incredulously. "Oh, no, far from it. I designed a lot of this, but other rabbits built it." Hayward replied.

Soon they were at the very top. It was dizzying to be at this height but both Janner and Sara wanted to go home more than they were afraid of the height, so they stepped off the platform and onto the floor of the place. They followed Hayward through some corridors and soon he led them to wide double doors that were engraved with pictures of a rabbit flying on some contraption and fighting wolves and birds of prey. Hayward noticed them staring at the engravements and answered their questions before they could ask. "That flying rabbit is Picket Longtreader. Lost an arm distracting Morbin Blackhawk so that Smalden could kill him. It was lucky we found a way to heal injuries with firstflower or he might have still been handicapped." Janner and Sara gave a knowing look at each other when they heard the word "firstflower" and "healing". Then Hayward continued on in a hushed voice. "He disappeared today. Nobody knows where he or his companion, Jo Shanks, went."

Janner looked at Sara again, shocked, and said,"I think I know how your friend disappeared." Hayward looked at him like he was mad. "It sounds a lot like how we appeared here." Janner continued,"I think your friend was swallowed by a portal, as we were." Hayward looked at him, uncomprehending, then hugged him. Janner was quite shocked and when Hayward pulled away and started to open the double doors he was still a bit dazed. When the doors swung open all the way it revealed a rather large room with two thrones at the back. On the thrones there sat two rabbits. On the right, there was a short but kingly rabbit dressed in royal robes with a crown on his head. By him sat another rabbit with white fur, an elegant dress, and a smaller crown. It was obvious that these were the king and queen. Hayward bowed and Janner and Sara followed. "You may stand, Hayward, and who are your friends?" the short rabbit had got up from his throne and walked towards Hayward. "This is Janner Wingfeather, Throne Warden of Anniera and his companion Sara Cobbler. "Hello, it is a pleasure to meet you." Janner said holding out his hand. "If you don't know, you're technically not supposed to speak to the king unless spoken to." The rabbit said, his mouth in a set line. "Well, I have you know that in my land I hold a very respected position." Janner retorted, slightly angry. He was, after all used to being more or less treated like this rabbit was treated. "And what might that be if not king?" asked the rabbit angrily. "In Anniera, the throne is passed over the eldest and goes to the second child. The first holds the most respected title of all, which I'll have you know is Throne Warden..." he said with a questioning glance at the rabbit. "Smalden." he said flatly. "Yes, Smalden." Janner said just as flatly.

"Since you dare to disrespect me like this I challenge you to a duel!" Smalden all but shouted. "Okay, right now then." Janner said calmly, "And since you're shorter than me I'll have one hand tied behind my back." Smalden looked astonished, both because Janner had called him short and because he had offered to give him the advantage. Everyone in court was ice still. It was broken by Smalden saying, "Bind his arm." A guard came up and quickly tied Janner's arm in place. Then Smalden gave a cry and charged towards Janner. In one movement Janner drew his sword to block Smalden's stroke. He then quickly kicked Smalden in the chest, sending him sprawling backwards. Everyone gasped, expecting Janner to go after him, but Janner stood where he was, allowing Smalden to get up and charge again. This time, Smalden, realizing that his opponent was no joke, feinted left and the dove right. Unfortunately, Janner dove backwards and when Smalden went to the right, he stabbed at nothing and fell. He got up but quick as lightning Janner hit him with the flat of his sword. Smalden buckled and doubled down. He had dropped his sword but when he reached for it Janner quickly kicked it away and turned back to him. Janner held his sword right next to Smalden's neck, and with a scowl Smalden said,"Okay, Okay, I give up." Everyone except Sara (who knew Janner was more capable with a sword than anyone) was shocked, for Smalden was one of the best swordsmen in Natalia. Then they all slowly started to clap, but a look from Smalden silenced them. Hayward spoke up,"Sire, this young man knows where Picket Longtreader is." Smalden's face went from anger, to astonishment, and then to gratitude.

Janner saw one of the female rabbits in the hall gasp, and he guessed that she was Picket's wife. "Forgive me if I have been slightly... unpleasant,"he said with a wave of his hand,"It is just that I am so worried about dear Pick that my mood is not in it's right mind." "It's fine," apologized Janner, "I wasn't behaving the best either, sorry." It seemed they had become the best of friends now. "Okay, well, to the matter. Where is Picket and how do we get him back." he said. "Well I don't know how to get him back. I do know how he disappeared and where he is. " Janner replied. "Well?" Smalden said. Then Janner continued,"Sara and I were in a room when a portal opened and sucked Sara in. I jumped in after her to make sure she was alright. I think that your friend got sucked into the same portal, which is right outside the city. I think it will open again sometime so we might have to wait. As to where your friend is, if he got sucked into the same portal, then he is in Anniera, with our family. You can be sure that they are trying to get us back too and are taking care of your friend." When Janner was done he looked at Smalden expectantly. "Well, off we go! We should wait until the portal opens again."


Leeli stood at the top of the cliff with Nia and played. The wind carried her whistleharp's tune into the air and soon swirling shapes appeared in the sky. The dragons came lower until they landed on the ground. Hulwen stepped out. "We need your help,"Nia said,"I need you to search the bottom of the sea near the mouth of the River Rysen for a leak of water from the first well." Hulwen nodded and then flew up into the air, the other dragons following her. Soon they returned, but not being Throne Wardens neither Leeli nor Nia could understand what they were saying, so they called for Artham. When he came Hulwen started to speak again. "We have found a leak. There is a permanent portal where it is, so it should not be hard to find. I think one of you should go down through the portal, bring Janner and Sara back and then we can patch the leak." Artham turned to Nia and excitedly relayed the message. "But who will go through the portal?" Nia asked. Hulwen looked at Artham. Nia looked at Artham. Leeli looked at Artham.

Artham saw their gazes and started laughing. "Okay, I'll go, it shouldn't be too hard to find my nephew and his girlfriend." he said, which made them all laugh harder. Artham hopped onto Hulwen and held tight. Hulwen took off and then flew over the island to the mouth of the River Rysen. Hulwen dove and Artham held his breath. They plunged into the water and swam deeper. Just as Artham thought his lungs would burst, they arrived at the leak. Like Hulwen had said, there was a portal right in front of it. Artham quickly swam through it. For a few moments all he saw was light. Then he tumbled out of the portal on the other side. The first thing he saw was a tent. Then two rabbits, very similar to the ones that had appeared in Anniera. They quickly yelled,"Smalden! Come quick! Someone has appeared out of a portal!" Then a white rabbit ran out of the tent. He had a crown and was followed by several soldiers. All of them were chattering excitedly. Artham quickly dropped his sword and hid his wings under his cloak, calling out,"I'm not here to hurt you! I just need to find Janner Wingfeather and Sara Cobbler!" The rabbits stopped advancing and stared. Then Smalden said,"Really? You need Janner Wingfeather and his companion?" Janner and Sara were in the king's tent listening to the conversation outside. As soon as Janner heard Artham's voice, he dashed through the door, with Sara close behind. When they saw Artham, Janner yelled, "Uncle Artham we're over here!" and ran into his embrace. Unfortunately, when they embraced Artham was so happy he forgot to hide his wings...