Aideen swiftly flew the familiair route through the castle halls to reach the throne room. She had been here many times before, mostly to spy on the evil queen, sometimes to fight her own little battles. This time however the closer she got to the her destination, the more reluctant she felt to continue. A foul smell came wafting toward her. The overwhelming odour made her light in her head, and Aideen quickly covered her nose with her tiny hand. She heard a low growl coming from the direction of the throne room, and she flew a little lower to the ground, unknowing what she was about to be confronted with.

The first thing she noticed were the long glistening teeth of the creature, dripping with grey, frothy saliva. It's spit was dripping on the floor and shaped large revolting puddles beside it's large paws. The beast had two dark tiny eyes and a large straight snout, and sniffed and huffed loudly while pointing it's nose in all different directions. It was hunchbacked, and it's spine almost reached the tall ceiling of the throne room. The creature's long black fur revealed a small range of sharp spikes at it's flanks. Aideen was taken aback by it's horrid appearance, and while turning around to warn the knights she accidentily flew into a row of tiny bottles alligned on a small sidetable. One of the bottles rolled onto the floor and spat apart in tiny pieces. The creatures large snout was now pointing in the small pixie's direction, and the spikes had turned outward, giving the beast an even more manacing appearance.

Aideen held her breath and cowered lowly against the wall, hoping to remain unseen. The beast moved it's giant paws slowly forward and huffed loudly. It didn't take long for Aideen to discover that this creature of Maeve's was not only as blind as a bat, but also unimaginably slow. Unable to discover what had set off it's defences, it moved back again to the middle of the throne room. The small fairie decided to take her chances and flew off as fast as her wings could carry her.

Rohan, Deirdre and Ivar were glaring silently outside at the thick drops of rain that were now falling down. The three of them looked up simultaneously when they heard Aideen's high pitched voice shout out their names. She quickly explained about the creature, and how she had barely escaped.

"And what about Angus and Garrett, any sign of them?", Deirdre said.

"No, no sign of them, or of any of Maeve's men."

Rohan furrowed his brow in thought: "It would seem that Maeve wanted to lure us straight up to meet the creature."

"A good thing we have you, Aideen, thank you." Ivar smiled and winked at their fairy friend.

Aideen didn't respond but had frozen midair, gazing forward. She had tilted her head slightly to the side, and whispered: "I can hear him.."

The knights immediately grasped their mystic weapons and glanced around to see who Aideen had heard.

When Aideen didn't say anything more, Rohan said impatiently: "Who are you hearing? Where are they?"

Aideen now pointed her finger to her lips and shushed her favourite knight.

"I think I.. no I'm sure I heard Angus.."

"Where? Where is he? Is he here?"

Aideen shook her head. "O no, he's not here. His voice is very distant; I can barely hear him."

The knights remembered that Aideen had an incredible hearing, and in the past had come to their aid quickly after they had called for her.

"I can't hear him anymore.."

"Do you know where he called from?" Rohan's face had turned pink in excitement, glad to finally have a lead to his best friend's whereabouts.

"I think I do, follow me." Aideen flew upward but then turned. She didn't want to worry her friends, but she felt that they had to know.

"I think we should hurry too.." Aideen bit her lip and then continued: "I think Angus is hurt..", she turned her gaze downward: "..and I couldn't hear Garrett.."

o0o

He prayed to Dagda the carriage ride would end soon. With every small bump in the road he clenched his fists and he had to restrain himself from screaming out load. Angus would not owe the queen the pleasure of knowing how she was still torturing him. There wasn't an inch of his body that didn't seem to ache. He was unsure to the extent of his injuries, but he knew Maeve had damaged him mostly internally. It frightened him: he had seen soldiers die under Cathbad's hands because he could not heal their invisible wounds.

The slow ticking of raindrops on top of the carriage turned into a steady drum. Soon they could barely make out the forest around them, because of the thick curtain of rain that came falling down. The roads were turning into thick mud and the weels of the carriage struggled to get through.

Maeve realised their journey had ended for today, and they held up camp at a near open field.

Two tents were set up: one for the soldiers and one for the queen herself. As for Garrett and Angus, Maeve had a special accomodation prepared for them.

The two men were tied next to each other against a tree. "In any other situation this would've been funny," Angus thought.

It was only a few months ago when Angus was the first Mystic knight to meet Garrett. It was a nice spring day and he had been looking forward to spend it doing absolutely nothing. To his dismay he had run into Cathbad on his way out of the castle, and 'the old goat' had spoiled his plans by sending him on a mission to collect the healing herb. Reluctantly he went on his way to Blackwater Valley, while taking a little detour. Cathbad hadn't told him when he was expected back, so he figured he might as well make the most of it. It must've been fate, because when he arrived at his favourite fishing spot the prince of Reghed was occupying his usual place on the small floating platform.

Judging from his hairstyle Angus assumed the stranger must've arrived from another land. The golden pin that was attached to the blonde man's shoulder glistened and Angus grinned to himself. Clearly the traveler was a man of wealth, so he decided to take the friendly approach. After all, a little presentation of some Kells hospitality might earn him a nice reward.

He stepped on the platform and coughed softly to make his presence known. When he reached over to tap the man on the soldier, the traveler startled Angus by grabbing him by the wrist. The blonde man grinned mischievously as he turned around and looked straight into Angus's bewildered face. With one swift movement Garrett pushed Angus back and reached for his sword. Angus fell backwards clumsiliy and his head hit the wooden platform hard. He cursed himself as he tried to get up, but the tip of the prince's sword was now pressing against his chest.

"Sneaking up on me, were you?"

Angus raised his brow, granting the stranger his most honest look. "What? No, no, I just wanted to ask you if you were lost, so I could help you on your way!"

"Right, of course you were." Apparently the prince could look right through Angus's mask of sincerity. Garrett smirked at the former thief and then scanned his surroundings.

His head was still whirling when Garrett ushered him to stand against a great oak. Tying the Mystic knight of Earth to a tree was easy, since he didn't resist much after his fall. But once the dissyness had faded from his head, Angus started to put up a verbal fight.

"Do you know who you just tied to a tree? DO YOU? I'm a knight you know! And not just any knight, a MYSTIC knight! If I get out of here you beter run back to where you came from!"

Garrett rolled his eyes and assumed the scruffy looking man was boasting and lying. He searched for a piece of cloth to gag him, just for a final act of humiliation, while Angus continued his furious rambling. Right before the cloth reached Angus's mouth, the knight finally managed to say something of interest to Garrett.

"My friends will come for me, and they're knights of Kells as well as I am!"

While he uttered his muffled cries while struggling against the tight ropes, Garrett hid himself from Angus's sight. While resting up a bit more from his long journey, the prince decided he might as well wait here if there was any truth in Angus's rambling. He was eager to meet with Kells's most fiersome warriors, and most notably the Mystic knight of Fire. And when an overly confident Rohan had appeared, Draganta had severely disappointed Garrett.

After the stranger had left, Rohan untied Angus and together they waited for Rohan's clothes to dry. They returned to the castle with the story of a false ogre-like attacker they had beaten with one hand tied behind their backs. They never spoke of it, but Angus and Rohan hoped that Garrett would never reminisance to their friends about what had really happened.

o0o

And now Garrett would know how it felt.

The rain was still pouring down on them, chilling their bones. Angus slowly turned his head to look at the prince of Reghed, to see how he was holding up.

He was disappointed at first to see that the body of the Forest knight was still frozen. Garrett's eyes were open and seemed to be staring into an empty void. Just as Angus wanted to turn back his head he saw a small movement from the corner of his eye. His gaze was now locked on the prince, and after a short moment he clearly saw what he had missed before: Garrett had blinked.

"Garrett, are you awake?" Angus whispered, hoping for another sign of life from his friend. Again the prince blinked, twice this time, and slowly he saw his eyes turn in Angus's direction. For the first time in the past 24 hours a broad smile appeared on the former thief's face. With this minimal sign of life, Garrett had send Angus a shimmer of hope.

Angus shivered when the pain in his body seemed to flare op again. He suddenly felt exhausted and he was fighting to stay awake. If he would close his eyes now, he knew that he might never open them again. In desperation he thought of the last person that could help them: Aideen. He didn't know how far they had traveled, and if she would hear him, but he would try.

His voice sounded hoarse and weak when he called out her name. He saw one of the soldiers approaching to silence him, and he put all of his remaining strength in one last cry.

The Temra warrior had hit him with the back of his blade and a sudden darkness surrounded Angus. He welcomed it, as his pain immediately faded. He only hoped that it hadn't been in vain, and that his friends would be in time to safe Garrett.

TBC