We're switching to Kellach now. I'm not gonna go in any pattern, I'm just doing whoever I think fits the needs of the chapter.

Kudos if you got my Pixar reference in the previous chapter. If you didn't, here's a hint, I'm referencing Inside Out.

Anyway, here you go.

CHAPTER 3

Kellach was relieved when they got to Zendric's tower and he answered the door. It was always unnerving when something happened to the powerful wizard. It usually meant something horrible was coming. As Zendric lead them inside, Kellach hoped that he would be able to solve their problem quickly.

"What seems to be the matter, boys?" Zendric asked them after they had been lead to the study.

"We were on our way home when we were jumped by some sort of shadow," Kellach replied, getting straight to the point, "It came out the front door and rushed at us. And when it did, we were blasted by a strong wind."

"What did the shadow look like?" Zendric wondered, rubbing his chin.

"It didn't really look like anything," Driskoll answered, "I mean, it seemed to have a shape, but none that I recognized."

"Hmm… Interesting." Zendric strode over to his bookshelf and started looking at the many books on his shelf. "Interesting, very interesting indeed."

Kellach suddenly looked worried. "Zendric?" he said, nervously, "You know what it is, don't you? You know how to get rid of it, right?"

Zendric sighed and strode back over to them. "I think I know what it is," he replied, "But I'm not sure why it would attack you. You don't-" he cut off when he spotted the ring on Kellach's hand. "Where did you get that?" he wondered.

Kellach looked down at the ring. "Huh? Oh, Moyra gave it to me," he replied, using the loosest definition of the word "gave,""She said it was some sort of special ring or something. But it won't come off."

"I see," Zendric said, without a hint of change in his tone, "The shadow that attacked you is most likely a creature called the beast of shadows."

"The beast of shadows?" Driskoll repeated.

"Yes. It is a fowl creature that appears whenever strong emotions gather. It uses people's emotions, and their secrets, against them. The stronger the emotions and the more secrets that are revealed, the stronger it grows." Zendric sat down in a chair across from them. "When it grows strong enough, it can completely control you, telling you what you will do and when you will do it. It's like it reads out a story for you, and you must do as the story says." He paused for a moment. "And those stories usually end in death."

Kellach and Driskoll were silent for a moment. "But why would it appear at our house?" Kellach asked, quietly.

"I'm not sure," Zendric replied, looking away. Kellach tilted his head slightly. Why would the old wizard look away like that? Was there something he wasn't sharing?

"Well, how do we get rid of it?" Driskoll inquired.

"That's the tricky part," Zendric said, "I don't know."

Kellach's jaw dropped. "What do you mean you don't know?" he asked, despairingly.

"A shadow beast hasn't appeared in many, many years," Zendric answered, "I will have to consult my books to find an answer to our problem. Now," he paused to look out the window, "The sun is going down. You'd better get home before curfew."

…

"I hope Zendric can find an answer quickly," Driskoll said as he and Kellach made their way back home, "I wouldn't want that thing to use my secrets against me." He shivered, but not because of the chill that was slowly settling over the town.

"That's fine," Kellach said, not really paying attention. He was scanning the tops of the buildings as he walked. Something seemed wrong, but he didn't know what. "You don't have any secrets anyway."

Driskoll glared at him. "I have plenty of secrets, thank you!" he growled.

Kellach scoffed, still distracted. "Yeah? Like what?"

"I'm not going to tell you!" his brother snapped, "Then they wouldn't be secrets anymore!"

Kellach scoffed again, but he didn't answer. What was it? What was wrong? Why did it seem like there was suddenly danger all around them? He was so distracted, he didn't even notice the little girl until he tripped over her. He gasped as he fell to the ground, with the young girl landing on top of him. He tried to roll over, but the girl was tangled with his legs.

"I'm sorry," Kellach murmured, untangling himself, "I wasn't watching where I was going." He heard his brother snickering at him.

The girl, who was half his height, and Kellach guessed, about half his age, stood and glared at him. "Why don't you watch where you're going, you klutz!" she hissed at him, "You nearly crushed me!"

Kellach was quite taken aback at her rage. "I said I was sorry," he said, keeping his voice calm, "What more do you want from me?"

"Are you ok?" Driskoll asked before the girl could reply. He was still chuckling slightly.

The girl whipped around and stared at him with wide eyes. "I'm fine," she said in a much smaller and kinder voice, "Just a little dusty is all."

"I was asking my brother, but ok," Driskoll muttered under his voice. He addressed Kellach. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," he answered, struggling to his feet. Before the girl could whip around and glare at him, Kellach stepped over to his brother. He opened his mouth to utter a good bye, but the girl spoke first.

"My name is Serilynne," she told them, as if they had asked.

"Oh," Driskoll replied, "Um, I'm Driskoll, and this is my older brother, Kellach."

"Driskoll," Serilynne repeated his name, almost dreamily, and completely ignoring Kellach, "I like that name!"

"Er, thanks?" Driskoll said, confused, "Uh, anyway, we have to go now. It's almost curfew. You should probably get home as well."

Serilynne's eyes widened. "Oh, I will!" she gasped, "Thank you, Driskoll, for your kindness!" She bowed gratefully at him and, throwing one last dirty look at Kellach, turned and ran off.

Driskoll stared after her. "What was that about?" he wondered.

Kellach sneered and nudged his brother. "Come on, like you don't know!" he said, "Didn't you see the way she stared at you?"

Driskoll looked at him, confused. "What are you talking about?"

It was all Kellach could do to force himself not to laugh. "Driskoll," he snickered, "That little girl had a crush on you!"

Kellach could not describe the shade of red Driskoll's face turned. He started shuffling his feet in the dirt and he glared up at him. "That's stupid," he growled, "She was probably just grateful that didn't trip over her like you did!"

"Whatever you say, Dris," Kellach replied, raising an amused eyebrow, "Come on, let's get home before it gets dark."

But as they walked through main street, all the vendors closing up for the night, they suddenly heard bells going off. Kellach and Driskoll stopped in their tracks.

"Do you hear that?" Kellach asked.

"That's the fire bells!" Driskoll exclaimed, "Someone's house is on fire!"

Kellach scanned the sky to try to spot any smoke drifting in the darkening sky. Suddenly, he saw it. "Over there!" he shouted, pointing, "It's coming from Broken Town!"

"Isn't that right around where Moyra lives?" Driskoll wondered, squinting up at the sky.

Kellach felt his heart drop. "Come on," he called to his brother, racing off in the direction of the smoke, "We have to make sure Moyra is ok!" He glanced briefly behind him and was relieved to see that, for once, Driskoll was following without any arguments.

They raced through Broken Town, easily finding their way, as they had been to Moyra's house countless of times. As they got closer, the smell of fire and smoke hit them, and it was coming from the exact direction they were heading. Kellach braced himself for what he was going to see when they got there. When they finally emerged from the street in front of Moyra's home, they stopped dead in their tracks.

The entire house was completely engulfed in flames that towered over the rest of the buildings. Two of the houses next to it were also on fire, but not to the same degree as Moyra's. The heat coming from the flames was so intense that it melted away the night chill. Kellach desperately looked around for Moyra and was relieved to see her standing a good way back from the inferno next to her mother. Torin, the boys' father and captain of the watch, was at the scene, commanding his watchers to block the street and stop the fire from spreading.

"Moyra!" Kellach called to her. Moyra whipped around and spotted them. Leaving her mother to gape at their house, she ran over to them.

"Oh Kellach!" she cried when she reached them, "Look at my house! Somebody set it on fire! Mom and I barely made it out in time, but my dad got trapped inside! Luckily your dad rescued him, but they took him to the healing ward for his burns!" Tears streamed into her eyes. "What are we going to do? My home is… oh, Kellach!"

She threw herself into his arms, pressing her tear stained face into his chest, and clutching the front of his robes. Kellach gently wrapped his arms around her comfortingly. She sobbed silently as Driskoll walked over to them.

"Your dad's going to be ok, right?" he asked, "I mean, Breddo's been in worse situations than this. He is a thief after all."

"I'm sure he will be," Kellach answered, soothingly, still holding Moyra in his arms, "The clerks here are amazing. They'll have him healed up in no time!"

"But what about my house?" Moyra whispered, not taking her head off of Kellach's chest, "Where are we going to live? We can't afford anything else! And all my mother's knitting supplies were in there. We won't be able to make any money until we can get more supplies! If we can pay for them, that is."

Kellach suddenly felt Moyra slowly sink to the ground, and he went down with her, holding her close to him the whole time. He wrapped his arms around her tighter.

"It'll be ok," he said quietly, "We'll think of something."

He heard Moyra whisper something, but couldn't quite catch it. They sat like that for a while, Kellach and Moyra on the ground silently embracing while Driskoll stood next to them. Kellach could tell that Moyra was refusing to look at her house as the watchers slowly got the fire under control. He felt her heart pounding against him, but her breathing had slowed at bit, showing that she was starting to calm down a bit.

Kellach looked up as he heard someone approach and saw that it was Royma. She looked like she wanted to say something, but then she spotted the ring she had given Moyra around his finger. Blushing and turning away, he made that hand into a loose fist so she couldn't see it anymore.

"Moyra, I'm going to go with your father to the healing ward and make sure he's ok," she told her daughter, "I think it would be best if you stayed with Torin and the boys for a while. I already asked him, and he said it was all right."

Moyra finally pulled her face away from Kellach's chest to look at her mother, but she didn't pull away from his arms. "Ok, mom," she said, sadly, "I just hope daddy will be all right."

"So do I, sweet heart," Royma replied, a deep gloom in her voice. She cast one more glance at Kellach, then walked away towards where some of the watch had taken her husband.

Moyra sighed and rested her head on Kellach's chest again. She must be exhausted, Kellach realized, Losing her home. Almost losing her father. It must be tough. He could already hear her breathing slow, like she had already given herself up to sleep. But Kellach didn't want to move her until she was ready.

"It's going to rain," he heard Driskoll suddenly say beside him. His brother had sat down on the ground beside them and was gently leaning on Kellach. Sure enough, a light drizzle started, putting out the last specks of fire from the burnt out husk of a house. Kellach gently pressed Moyra closer to him so she wouldn't get too rained on.

"We should head home," Kellach said after a moment, "It's getting really dark. Maybe we can have dad or one of the watch escort us home." Driskoll and Moyra nodded. Driskoll stood up first and gently helped Kellach and Moyra to their feet. Then he trudged over to Torin who was with a small squad of watchers, making sure the fire was fully put out.

"Dad," Driskoll said, pulling on his sleeve, "We're going to take Moyra home with us now, ok?"

Torin whipped around and stared in astonishment at his son, as if he hadn't even realized he been there the whole time. He looked up and saw Kellach who was standing a few paces away with a gentle arm around Moyra's shoulders for support. He looked like he wanted to be mad that they had been here and could've potentially been hurt, but he couldn't while he saw his eldest comforting his friend. Torin sighed.

"All right," he resigned, "Give me a moment to give these guys their orders and then I'll walk home with you." He turned and barked orders about spreading out to find the culprit and containing the fire in case it sprang up again. Then he turned back to his boys and Moyra. "Ok, let's go."