A/N: Hello everyone, it's the first weekend of the month, which means I've got a new chapter out for you!

Last time, the village was set on fire, Mako is having some sleep issues, and he's got a princess and a tactician wanting his attention! How could one possibly top that craziness? Read this chapter and find out! Also, be sure to leave a review with your thoughts!

P.S. Those that have subscribed to my YouTube channel get access to the new releases of this story a week early, so... go to Not Your Average Productions and get early access, in addition to the audio series of the original Fire Sword!

An Unlikely Return

"How did our first mission go this wrong?! This was just supposed to be a scouting trip!" Kiara, the acting tactician for the Ylissean Shepherds shouted as she and her comrades rushed toward a town they had visited earlier in the day, part of which was going up in flames. "The fighting wasn't supposed to happen for at least another week!"

"If something can go wrong, it usually does!" Mako replied, flying through the air beside his leader on black Spriggan wings.

"Wisdom from Sir Kirito?" Lilina, the crown princess of the realm, asked as she ran below them.

"Actually, your counterpart," the winged boy replied grimly. Looking back at the town, he demanded of no one in particular, "Why is everything on fire?!"

"Not everything, maybe a quarter of the establishments," quipped his cousin, a green-winged Sylph named Gilbert.

"Semantics!"

"Celica, you, Gil, and Altman need to go see if there are any wounded in the town," Kiara ordered. "Rescue them from the blazes and keep any bandits away from the survivors, got it?"

"You got it!" the young pegasus knight acknowledged with a grinning salute, despite the grim circumstances. It was clear that she was looking forward to finally enacting in deeds that could only be called heroic. Rolling their eyes, Gilbert and Altman broke away from the main group and followed her toward the fires, while the rest of the young Shepherds continued on a path toward where they had seen Teela's signal fire from before, just north of the town.

"What do you think happened?" Mako asked Kiara as they zoomed toward the forest that bordered the town. "Did we cause this?"

"Could be an unrelated bandit raid, but somehow I doubt it," Kiara replied tightly. "In this line of work, we can't believe in coincidence."

"So what, we go in assuming that we're dealing with a criminal mastermind that orchestrated the abductions of dozens of kids?" Mako inquired.

"If we assume the worst, and then it doesn't happen, at least we aren't surprised," Lilina called up. "On the other hand, if we go in expecting some ragged thieves, but encounter well-trained mercenaries, well, then…"

"I get it," Mako said dryly. "Well, best case is if these guys are involved with the kidnappings, maybe we can find something out about where they took the kids."

"Good idea," Kiara grinned. Raising her voice, she called out, "Avoid casualties if possible, Shepherds! We need some of 'em alive for questioning!"

"Now where's the fun in that?!" Kerry called up from her horse.

Despite her apparent protest, the girls knew that she would follow orders- both of her parents were exemplary knights, and they had ingrained their selfsame sense of discipline and honor in their daughter. She would carry out her task dutifully, even if it wasn't her first choice.

"Hark, I shall endeavor to restrain mine sword hand in order to preserve the lives we set ourselves against!" Odin crowed, raising his outstretched hand unto the sky.

"Better do it fast, cos there they are!" Elizabeth snapped as she pointed at a group of men that had surrounded a struggling figure.

"They've got Yinne!" Minerva cried, her normally stern expression strained with terror as they came close enough to see the half-taguel in his animal form, defending an unconscious Teela from the thugs that had surrounded them.

"Not yet they don't!" Ignacio bellowed, showing a surprising amount of courage as he rushed forward to be the first one to engage the surprised bandits. "Get off our friend, you cowardly cheek-biters!" He barreled into the nearest man before he had a chance to turn and get his weapon up, knocking him down, then running him through the leg with his sword.

Then it was a bloodbath, the highly trained young warriors taking their friends' assailants by surprise with their skill and ferocity. Less than a minute later, the men surrounding Yinne and Teela were dead or running away.

"Mako, Oliver, don't let them reach their friends!" Kiara ordered. The two of them took off after a trio of men that had managed to escape the violent skirmish, swords naked in hand.

"Took you guys long enough!" Yinne muttered before transforming into his humanoid form. "I was almost-"

"Yinne!" Minerva shouted, leaping off of Pina and throwing her arms around the young man, causing him to yelp with surprise and possibly pain. "You're okay!"

"I… won't be… if you don't leggo!" he gasped. When she took a half-step back, he heaved in a huge lungful of air before groaning, "Oh… If my ribs weren't broken before, they definitely are now…"

"Brian?" Lilina asked their healer, who was currently examining Teela. The little girl was unconscious beneath the bough of an old tree, but apparently she was in no mortal danger, for the young mage moved away from her with a small grunt and a nod.

"What'd they get you with?" he asked as he not-so-gently shoved Minerva aside, earning him a rough glare from the girl, but she did not return the gesture or otherwise interfere with his work.

"A war hammer," the half-taguel hissed as his comrade inspected damage done to his chest. "I caught it trying to save Teela from a spear that she took in the shoulder. I got lucky, I suppose- wound up knocking the thing away from her head, which is what they were aiming for."

"How did they find you?" Kiara asked as Brian began to work with his staff to repair the wound.

"I picked up on one of their scouts with my hearing when we reached the outskirts of town," Yinne answered. "Teela helped me sniff 'em out after that. When we got closer, I could hear them talking about some sacrifice their boss has planned. They're going to use the kids they've taken from villages around here, Kiara."

The young tactician paled rapidly as his words sank in. "So the children are being kidnapped," she murmured.

"But not for slavery," Lilina added, her own features an unhealthy shade of white. "Did you learn what manner of sacrifice is being planned? It's not…" A word sprang to her throat, but she could not seem to get her lips to form the words that had formed in her mind.

Yinne's ears drooped and his face appeared haggard and worn as he nodded, saying, "Yes, it's them. These guys work for the Grimleal."

A stunned silence gripped the entire group. "That's…" Kiara wanted to say 'impossible', but she knew her history. Try though they might, the Shepherds and the people of Plegia were never able to account for every leader that had been a part of that foul cult. Some half-dozen men loyal to Grima were still at large, even to this day, and it was a common practice of theirs to sacrifice young maidens to their dark dragon.

"I thought our parents wiped those scum out!" Elizabeth protested, echoing her leader's thoughts. "They don't have the power to do this kind of thing anymore!"

"Unfortunately, the Grimleal have proven themselves to be more resilient than a cockroach infestation," Ignacio said grimly, his usual good humor and charm nowhere to be seen. "My father did his best, but not everyone followed the ideals of Validar and his forbearers out of fear. Some were willing participants in Grima's ascent, madness though it was."

"They can't possibly think to bring back the Fell Dragon again with a sacrifice, can they?" Kerry scoffed. "Lord Marth and Lady Morgan struck him down in such a way that he can never be revived, or so the story goes… Could they have made a mistake?"

"No," Kiara said with a negative shake of her head. "My father and aunt killed him forever. Grima will not return. But it is possible that these sycophants refuse to accept that fact, and are trying to bring him back anyway."

"That's what it sounded like to me," Yinne nodded. "In any case, we both got too distracted with listening in on one pair of these psychos, and before we knew it, we were under attack from a dozen of 'em." His chest was almost completely healed now, and he nodded his thanks to Brian, who gave him a tight grin in response.

"I can hardly blame you," Kiara muttered distractedly. "If I had heard someone planning to resurrect that thing again, I probably would have been too disturbed to take proper note of my surroundings."

"Do you have any idea how many more of them there are in these woods?" Lilina asked their scout.

"Not really, but I never saw more than a dozen of them at a time," Yinne admitted. "I did hear some of them calling for their comrades to burn the village, though. For a place that size, I'd say they'd need at least ten more to get the fires spreading properly, twenty if they accounted for trouble."

Kiara and Lilina exchanged a worried look. If there were bandits still at the village, Celica and the others would be in grave danger, especially if there were twenty pirates running about. Three Shepherds and whatever remained of the town's watchmen would not be enough if that were the case.

"Lilina, go back to the village with Odin, Ignacio, Liz, Minerva, and Kerry," Kiara ordered. "We need to make sure that the villagers and our own are safe. Brian, Yinne and I will stay here until Teela recovers."

Lilina went to obey, then hesitated, asking, "What about the boys?"

"We'll send them your way once they come back," Kiara said as she made an impatient gesture towards the glow of the flames that could be seen, even through the woods. "Now get going!"

The princess nodded and began to run in that direction, calling for the others to follow. Only Minerva did not obey, planting herself next to Yinne, saying, "I'm staying here."

"After them, Minerva," Kiara snapped. "Go with Lilina and follow her orders when you catch up with them. This is a battlefield- I don't have the time or resources to indulge you in your childish concerns."

Brian sidled away from them and made a show of working on Teela's injuries as they stared each other down.

The wyvern rider reddened and opened her mouth to retort, but her commanding officer cut her off in a dangerously low voice, saying, "That wasn't a request, or a suggestion."

Yinne, despite looking very uncomfortable, nudged his girlfriend's arm and muttered, "You should go. Don't get into trouble because you're worried about me."

She shot him a baleful look, then stomped over to where Pina was waiting. As she swung up into the saddle, she growled just loud enough for Kiara to hear, "I have some choice words for you later, Kiara."

"So long as I don't have to court-martial you for disobeying my orders on the field, I'll be happy to hear them later," the blue-haired tactician replied. With a thunderous roar, the wyvern took to the night air, her rider's face an angry mask. Suddenly, Yinne felt a small measure of sympathy for any bandits that came across her path.

Naga have mercy on them…

"Are you sure Mako and Oliver will be alright?" Brian asked, interrupting the awkward silence that had fallen over the group. "There could be more of them out there."

"They're two of our best fighters," Kiara said, trying to reassure herself as much as him. "If they can't handle three cutthroats, then they might need to consider a different line of work."

"Even the best fighters can be brought down by bad luck, you know?" Yinne murmured, rubbing his abdomen unconsciously, as if his flesh had not forgotten the wounds it had received earlier.

Kiara wanted to yell at him to shut up, but she held her temper in check in favor of a prayer to the gods and her ancestors that the man of her affections and her cousin would both be returned to her safely.

As it turned out, dispatching the three bandits was less difficult than it was time-consuming. As a Spriggan, Mako had excellent night vision, and could easily make his way around in the dark, even while flying at high speeds. His comrade, who was a human on foot, could not. He had to guide Oliver through the dense forest and hope that his friend didn't trip on a rock or a loose branch, or some other such obstacle while trying to gain on their quarry.

Mako considered flying ahead and trying to take the three men on himself, but decided against it. If something were to go wrong, Oliver might not be able to find him in time to prevent a disaster from happening. It would take them longer to catch the men, but at least they would be winded by the time they caught up, and if swords failed, he could pick them off with magic.

The only upside was that this trio didn't seem very bright- they had remained bunched together instead of splitting up in order to divide their search party. Maybe they'll take us to the leader of their sorry crew, and we can take him out, or better yet, get him to tell us where they're keeping the kids they kidnapped, he thought as they vaulted a fallen tree.

"You want to blast them with magic?" Oliver asked as they resumed their running.

"I would, but a lot of these trees could fall on us as easy as them," Mako answered. "It's dark out, which means my magic is gonna be a lot stronger than it is during the day. Full moon, too, which just adds to my power." His father and mother had always stressed the importance of keeping his wings exposed regularly to moon and sunlight, which would not only keep them healthy, it would augment his magical abilities. His natural element was darkness, which meant that a densely wooded area under the glow of a full moon would put his powers at their peak. That also meant that he could unleash more powerful magics than he was used to, which could result in the injury of himself or others if he wasn't careful.

Before they could argue any further on the topic, they heard a trio of strangled cries from up ahead, and the sound of three bodies hitting the forest floor. Alarmed, they redoubled their pace and soon burst into a small clearing perhaps a hundred paces across, where they found three bodies soaking the earth with the sap from their limbs, and a dark figure bending over the furthest of the corpses.

Mako and Oliver both immediately raised their blades to point at the figure, who ignored them. Something about his presence felt wrong to the boys, as if getting too close to him would make them unclean.

Without looking at them, the stranger stood, his back to them, and said, "Put those down before you hurt yourselves. Besides, is that any way to thank the man that saved you the effort of disposing of these… wastrels?" The voice was rough and haggard, as if the speaker were suddenly about to break down in a coughing fit.

"If we are to thank you, mayhap we should know your name as to address you properly?" Oliver asked, making no effort to hide his sarcasm.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," the stranger chuckled darkly, his voice grating on their nerves. "I was hoping to draw out the Black Swordsman and the Fellblood Avatar. Instead I get their pups. …Disappointing, but I suppose I'll just have to try harder next time."

"If you're behind the disappearance of those kids and the burning of this village, there won't be a next time," Mako said crossly. "You're going one of two places, a jail cell or a graveyard. You increase your chances of living if you come quietly."

"We may not be Robin and Sir Kirito, but we can give you a pretty good idea of how they handled things in their glory days," Oliver added.

The man before them laughed, the sound a horrible mixture of merriment and apparent pain. "So this is the result of a peaceful time?" He spoke to the sky as if mocking the heavens, once again ignoring the young Shepherds, who bristled with indignation. "I find myself rather underwhelmed. Given that I have not found what I sought this evening, perhaps I should vent my frustrations sooner rather than later…" He turned his head to the side ever so slightly, just enough for the pair of warriors to glimpse his profile; a strong jaw and long, dark hair. "Then again, revenge is a dish best served cool, no? Hmm… What to do, what to do…?"

"Last chance to have a name carved on your gravestone!" Oliver snapped impatiently. "Otherwise your epitaph will simply read, 'Another Grim Ghoul, Gone!"

"You speak as though alliteration makes you clever," the man snorted. "I think I'll satisfy your curiosity, young man, if only to set my revenge in motion. Do try to remember what your father's faces look like when you tell them who has come for them? I was planning on savoring the sight myself, but I'm now more curious as to what faces two will wear as I step into the moonlight…?"

Without warning, Mako hurled a blast of dark energy at their foe that would sever his left arm at the shoulder. Oliver re-gripped his sword, ready to move the instant that the limb hit the ground.

Only, the energy didn't connect. At least, not in the way it was supposed to.

Instead of relieving the stranger of his arm, the energy simply wrapped itself around the limb, then shrank and coalesced into a ball that hovered above his waiting palm. A prickle of horror ran down their spines as he laughed again, tossing the energy into the air and catching it like a child would a ball or a piece of fruit.

"You think darkness is you ally?" the man chortled. "No, no… It betrays you as the ocean betrays seafarers that think themselves its master in the form of a storm that tears their vessel asunder. I am the dark, boys, and no shadow will help you so long as I command them. And before you think to put steel in me, I would advise you not to cross blades with those that have gone before you."

"Am I the only one getting sick of these riddles?!" Oliver snapped.

"Be careful," Mako warned him, a little more even-tempered. "I've never see anyone capable of controlling another person's magic, much less dark magic spells…"

"Good thing I've had years to perfect this little trick of mine," the stranger laughed yet again turning to reveal more of his face as the moonlight broke through a cluster of clouds. The pale lighting revealed an equally pale face framed by black hair and thick eyebrows. Then he turned around completely, and both boys felt nearly all the blood drain from their faces.

"What devilry…?" Oliver croaked. Mako could not even speak, only work his jaw up and down without any words managing to make it past his teeth.

Black Spriggan wings. A wiry frame. Mad, obsidian eyes set above a large nose and a grim mouth. A single onyx blade matching the one that Mako carried, the one given to him by his father when he had come of age could be seen in his right hand.

"You asked my name, and now I give it," Mako's doppelganger said with a cruel smile. "I am Mataras, otherwise known as the Black Spirit. Do tell my father and mother I said hello." With that, he cast the dark orb that he had been holding at the pair of them.

Too startled to react in time, the boys were flung back by a brutal force of black energy, just barely managing to remain conscious as they watched Mataras fly off into the starry sky, like a black comet hurtling back into the heavens from whence it came.

When Oliver was able to speak, he looked dumbly at Mako and asked, "So… what are the odds that you have an evil twin that your parents never told you about?"

"I…" Mako could only shake his head in confusion. He felt as though the earth was spinning wildly beneath him, and it wasn't just from the impact of the explosion. "I don't…" He couldn't seem to force out the question that was desperately trying to escape his mouth: I don't understand! How could he have survived?!

It wasn't until the dawn began to break that the two of them managed to make it back to the others. The fires and the bandits causing them had been dealt with, with some of the brigands now sitting in chains, awaiting Kiara's verdict. The girl herself was pacing back and forth between a pair of trees while the healers worked on their wounded when Mako and Oliver stumbled out of the forest, exhausted, aching, and still in shock from what they had seen.

"Ollie!" Kiara cried as she spotted them, sheer relief causing her to use her cousin's nickname from when they had been children. "Mako! I was so worried; thank the gods you're alright!" She flung her arms around the both of them, nearly knocking them over as she seized them in a tight embrace.

"Not very professional," Elizabeth sniggered. Kiara ignored her.

When the two boys did not respond, she pulled back to look at them and ask, "You…? You aren't wounded, are you?"

"Physically, we only have some scrapes and bruises," Oliver answered, Mako remaining a silent, hollow-eyed mask. "Up here, though?" He pointed to his head and shook it slowly. "That'll take some time to mend."

"What happened out there?" Lilina asked as she approached the trio. "I was just about to lead a search party, you were gone so long."

Oliver looked a question at Mako, who could only shrug blankly. Taking that as approval to continue, the grandson of Robin said, "We found the person we believe to be responsible for the attacks and kidnappings. We saw… It was… It will sound mad, but I swear to all the gods above and below that we do not lie."

"Out with it!" Lilina insisted impatiently.

"The leader of the bandits was Mataras," Oliver said flatly. "The Black Spirit."

A deafening silence fell across the clearing. All eyes turned to the pair of them in that moment, but no sound was uttered. So complete was the silence that one could hear the burnt flesh in Celica's leg being knit back together under the light of a healing staff.

At long last, Kerry spoke, letting out an overly loud guffaw that showed just how nervous she really was. "You gotta be kidding me," she snorted, trying to appear indifferent. "You're gonna try and cover for the fact that you got lost in the woods by blaming a guy that's dead?" The other Shepherds shot her disapproving looks, but none of them appeared as though they believed Oliver's words, either.

Mako visibly flinched, but remained taciturn. Oliver, however, took exception to the insult. "Does this seem like the kind of thing we would jest about?!" he demanded angrily, only to be restrained by his cousin.

"Oliver, what you say does sound mad, but I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt," she said calmly. "Her comment is not entirely unwarranted- I don't want to believe it myself. However, you're never been a dishonest man, and I see no reason for you to lie about something like this."

"Do you believe me?" he asked her, looking straight into the dark blue eyes that matched his own.

"I believe you saw something or someone that wanted you to believe it was Mataras," Kiara said carefully. "I don't doubt your word, but I don't see how it could possibly be-"

"It was him." Mako's declaration surprised everyone, but he ignored their stares in favor of slumping against a tree and fixing his vacant eyes on his hands. "I tried to cast a Rend spell on him… He just caught it like it was no more than a toy and sent it back at us."

"No one else knew how to redirect magic like that," Oliver pointed out.

"What one man has done, another can always replicate," Lilina countered. She also looked doubtful of their claim, but she was polite enough not to say it out loud.

"He flew away on Spriggan wings," the swordsman retorted. "Only two people we know of can do that." That gave the princess pause, but she still looked doubtful.

"Einherjar?" she tried.

"Not likely, he seemed very much self-aware."

"It was really him," Mako repeated, his voice low and dull. "It wasn't just his skill or his wings… The way he looked, it was as though… someone had taken my face, and… used it as a canvas, with pain and rage the primary paints to… alter it." The words were spoken haltingly, and he seemed to spit each one out as if it were a piece of rancid meat.

"Look, you two seem to be ignoring the fact that Mataras died," Elizabeth huffed. "Pardon my blunt speech, but Grima skewered him like a fish! There's no way it could be him- not unless he crawled out of his own grave!"

"Even Naga cannot bring the dead back to life once they have passed from this realm," Gilbert said quietly. "And this does not sound like the work of the Divine Dragon. It might be possible that someone infiltrated your mind and forced you to see things that were not there, much like Validar did with Robin."

"Speaking of Robin…" Kiara murmured. "I think we had best get help from some of the older Shepherds. Whether Mataras somehow survived, was resurrected, or is some sort of impersonator of the real man, we've clearly stepped into something that's way out of our league. We set out to bring home missing children, maybe deal with some slavers. We were not cleared to take on Grimleal remnants or ghosts."

"Grimleal?" Oliver repeated.

"I'll explain later," his cousin replied. "Right now, we need to haul it back to Ylisstol and-"

"No!" The short word was drawn out of Mako as he shot to his feet with a wild look in his eyes. "We can't ask for help, especially not from Sir Robin or my father!"

"Mako, this isn't a matter of our pride, it's-"

"I'm well aware that we are out of our depth!" he interrupted the tactician, slashing an arm through the air to punctuate his words. "But whoever or whatever confronted us last night made it clear that your grandfather and my father are his targets! If we get them involved, we'll end up giving him exactly what he wants!" After a brief pause, he added in a lower voice, "And whoever this is, we cannot give him what he seeks."

Another tense silence fell among the trees as they considered the implications of what he had just said. "So if we are to thwart this new threat…" Lilina murmured, paling slightly.

"We will have to do it on our own," Kiara concluded glumly.

"Our parents were not able to rely upon an older generation for help when they began their crusade against Plegia, Valm, or Grima himself," Oliver stated firmly. "Why then, should we seek out a crutch when fate presents us with a problem like this one? Are we not Shepherds in our own right?"

His words seemed to stir some life back into the others, for several of them looked at him and the girls that led them with new determination in their eyes where only confusion and fear had been. "Ollie is right," Celica declared. "We're Shepherds, and it's about time we prove that to everyone, ourselves included."

"What a legend this will be, that we the sons and daughters of the greatest heroes to ever live should cleanse the land of the final remnants of the Fell Dragon's foul influence forevermore!" Odin grinned broadly as he stood up and raised his fist to the sky.

"Regardless of the origins of this man or creature that has made himself known, we do still have other goals that we can and should focus on," Gilbert said, his emerald wings buzzing slightly. "There are children that are in need of a rescue, and I would be remiss if we did not see to their safety."

"Gil is right," Kiara nodded, straightening her shoulders, despite her weariness. "The appearance of this Mataras, be he real or a pretender, should not affect our current goal. Celica managed to capture two of the bandits alive, and they are being held in the stocks of the village even now. I suggest we go and have a talk with them before the villagers have them hang for their crimes."

"The villagers," Oliver repeated, as if just remembering that they had been attacked. "Are they all right? Was everyone able to escape the fire?"

A sad expression fell over Lilina's features as she said, "No one was killed by the flames, though there were some burns bad enough that Altman had to tend to them. Unfortunately, three of the watch members were killed by the Grimleal dastards during the fighting."

Oliver's eyes clouded with pain briefly, and he closed them, murmuring, "Then we will fight to avenge them when we next encounter these monsters." Several of the other Shepherds muttered an agreement.

"All right then, Elizabeth and Kerry, you two come with me," Kiara ordered as she faced the village again. "Everyone else, get back to camp and get some shuteye. We shouldn't take too long."

"What are we doing?" Kerry asked.

"I need to get some answers out of those bandits, and you two are the most frightening in our camp toward the rougher sex," the girl said bluntly, her weariness causing her to ignore polite phrasings that came to mind. "I would also bring Minerva and Pina, but a wyvern would hardly fit into the jail… and I'm so damn tired and angry at all of this that I might actually let the flying lizard eat the fools…" Her dry words and tone surprised many of her comrades- they had rarely seen her so irritable.

Elizabeth, on the other hand, seemed delighted at the prospect of finally getting her own task for the first time since they had struck out on their own mission. "If we're doing good guard, bad guard, I call bad guard," she said with a malicious smirk.

"You wish, Red," Kerry snorted with amusement. "If anyone's gonna kick the crap out of those guys, it's gonna be me."

"Congratulations, it's your lucky day," Kiara said tersely. "I'm not really inclined toward sending in a 'good guard' right now. These psychopaths murdered three innocent people, hurt a score more, and now they've got a ghost or some other such dark magic aiding them, trying to unsettle us- and as much as I hate to admit it, it's working."

"So what are we going to do about it?" Kerry asked expectantly, her quarrel with Elizabeth forgotten.

The two bandits had been stripped down to their pants and chained to the wall of the prison with heavy iron manacles. Neither of them had said a word to their captors, despite having been beaten several times in the few hours that they had spent in captivity. Neither of them took notice when the door opened to admit a trio of figures, then immediately slammed shut again.

"Get them to talk," a young woman- little more than a girl, really- ordered as they strode toward the two thugs. "I don't really care how, just so long as they retain their sanity long enough for us to get what we need."

Nodding, the other two women strode in front of the captives, their faces inscrutable. Then, without warning, the one on the left, a muscular rider with short hair, lashed out with her boot, catching the man chained to the far wall in the nose, breaking it and knocking him out instantly. Blood dripped from his ruined face, but no one paid him any heed.

"I think he'll do, boss," said a girl with long red hair and shining red wings as she crouched in front of the other man. "Hey there," she said with a mock-sweet tone in her voice. "What's your name? Where do you get your clothes? I could do with a darker set of pants to go with one of my formal uniforms. Why'd you attack the village? Feel free to ignore the first two if you really want."

"Or else what, you'll make us beg for death?" the prisoner, a burly brute of an axman, spat at her. "We've been on the other side of this situation, love. You'll make us scream, give us some time to think about what other horrors you've got up your sleeve, then send in a friend that'll win our trust and get us to confide so that we avoid the gallows. You're wasting your time. The man we work for scares us more than anything you could ever do."

"Wow," the red-haired girl muttered. "You really do know your stuff, don't you?" When all the man did was glare at her in return, she reached out and gripped the manacle that led to his right hand. "The only thing is, you don't know us," she added as a series of runes began to swirl around her clenched fist. "You don't know how far we're willing to go to get what we want, and that is going to cost you, mister." The chains began to glow red-hot from where she grasped it, spreading slowly but surely toward the man's beefy forearm.

Despite himself, his eyes widened, and he made an involuntary jerking movement in an attempt to escape the ominous glow, but of course, he couldn't separate himself from the chain. Then he swallowed, firmed up his chin, and said, "I am already dead."

"I would argue otherwise," Elizabeth snarled, dropping all pretenses of charm. "And I can keep making my arguments for days while you hold onto your foolish belief that silence is to your betterment." The glowing heat had reached about halfway across the chain now, and it showed no signs of stopping as the girl continued to heat the iron links with her fire magic. "You should take comfort in the fact that once you are burned badly enough, your nerves will be irreparably damaged, and you will no longer feel the pain of your burns. Of course, you won't be able to use that part of your body anymore, either, but I suppose you'll have to find a silver lining in all this somewhere, no?" The scorching heat was now close enough that the bandit could feel it in his arm, and he began to sweat heavily, blood draining from his face.

"While she's doin' that," said the woman with the short hair as she approached his opposite side, "I'm going to be experimenting with some tattoo designs that I've been thinking about getting. My mother and I want a matching set, you know? But we can't really go testing it out when we've got knight business to handle, ya know? Thanks for volunteering yourself for our convenience!" With that, she drew a wicked-looking dagger from her left boot and held it close to his cheek, which to his credit, he did not flinch away from.

Instead, he fixed his eyes on Kiara, who watched him with a stone-cold expression, and said, "You know how to make your threats, I give you that. But as I said, this is a play any experienced fighter knows by heart, and your acting could do with some work."

"Then consider this an ad-lib on our part," Kiara replied flatly, causing the man to frown. "Spoiler for the end of the act, though- there is no 'good guard' coming." Then the heat reached his arm, and the bandit could not hold in a ragged scream of agony.

It was nearly noon by the time the trio of women returned to their camp to find everyone but Minerva, her steed, and Yinne on patrol. "How'd it go?" the half-taguel asked as soon as they were within talking distance.

"We got what we needed, and we saved the villagers the trouble of hanging those Grimleal dogs," Kiara said crisply, her eyes heavy. "Is there a watch set, or did you two just volunteer?"

"We volunteered for this shift," Yinne answered. "Lilina set up a schedule, and we're due to take our rest in a few minutes. Or did you want to wake the others?" Minerva merely scowled at Kiara- apparently she was still quite angry with her commanding officer for having separated her from Yinne, and for the way she had been chastised the previous evening.

Ignoring the rider's angry glaring, Kiara replied to Yinne's question, "No, let everyone rest. We'll move out in the afternoon and travel by night."

"Do we have a destination?" the young man asked with a mixture of eagerness and anxiety.

"We do," Kiara nodded. "When the sun sets, we head for the forest that bridges our world with the Outrealms."

Kirito: You just like finding ways to put yourself in your stories, don't you?

Mataras: Yeah...

Asuna: Well, I honestly doubt that many people saw that coming. Also, which of the Outrealms will they be going to?

Mataras: Well, if I told you that now, why would they bother coming back to read it again?

Kirito: There's a few other reasons I can think of.

Mataras: Oh? Enlighten us.

Kirito: There's the matter of which girl Mako will end up with, will he start to act more like his future counterpart, will they even manage to succeed in their first solo mission...? I got more.

Asuna: I'd read it.

Mataras: Of course you would. I put you here.

Kirito: Yeah, that's because somebody decided to sideline us!

Mataras: Sorry, guys. Not really your story anymore. But don't worry- that doesn't mean I'm done with you yet.

Asuna: ...Talk about ominous.

Mataras: Next time- All's Fair