"Where is he? Matthew! Matthew, you twit, come here!"

Sirius jolted at the sight of a young boy who appeared out of nowhere.

He was wearing a red cloak, the kind street brats wear, and it covered all but his head. His short, blonde hair hung freely, and it looked like it hadn't been brushed in months. The boy, who looked about sixteen, ran up to Hector and bowed.

"I heard you the first time, milord. I was busy. Now maybe you should take back that comment about my being a twit."

Sirius was mortified at the boy's attitude. "I beg your pardon!"

Matthew laughed at the sight of Sirius and the Fallen. "Hey, who's this tightwad? Must have a stiff upper lip to afford havin' an entourage at his beck and call!"

Sirius ground his teeth, trying to control his sword. He had a right mind to kill the boy right then and there, but that would be impolite.

Hector glared at the youngster. "Please excuse Matthew," he apologised, "he doesn't know how to control his tongue. Matthew, this is Sirius, leader of the Fallen. Sirius, this is Matthew. He used to be my brother's spy."

The two said nothing, giving each other dirty looks.

Hector looked back to Matthew. "So, what did you find?"

Matthew bowed again. "According to Lord Pent, there is a mass exodus from Reglay at this point in time. Everyone is leaving. Apparently they fear something terrible will happen; they think staying in the city will endanger their lives. The demon may be staying there – the people probably think he would try to massacre them. That's quite unlikely; if he is there, he's lying low.

Sirius muttered something about a demon having some nerve to barge into the capital of Etruria.

Hector nodded. "And what action is Pent taking in response to this?"

Matthew winced. "Absolutely nothing. He says this is Ostia's problem, although he says he will contact Archsage Athos on the matter if things get worse."

The marquess grimaced. "By then, it may be too late."

He turned his horse and glanced back to his emissary. "Contact Lord Pent immediately. Tell him we will be there straight away, and we are bringing all our finest men. I suggest he do the same."

Matthew frowned. "Marquess Reglay will not like this."

Hector smiled. "And you can tell him to shove his fancy title up his backside, because Marquess Ostia is coming with mercenaries in tow!"

Skarmandros replaced his hood, and the image faded. Tears were running down Jo's face.

"Now do you understand?"

Jo wiped her face. "There are still some…details I find confusing. I still don't know why, exactly, you killed the marquess, and the ten others before him."

Skarmandros sighed.

"If there's one thing I learned from my time in Castle Ostia, it's that the Ostians are brash and greedy. I suffered under my father's reign. It was only when his plan was revealed that I realised how much.

"He had no compassion, no feelings for others whatsoever. Both he and my brother only cared about themselves, and they would do anything to get what they wanted, no matter how risky. They went so far as to try to kill me off.

"No one should have to suffer like I did. No one should be forced to live like a prisoner. All my life I had wanted to leave that castle, explore the world…

"The only way to stop something like this from ever happening again is to destroy it at its source. It's actually more of a protest than an act of genocide. If I keep killing off marquesses, they will realise that I'm doing it for a reason. They will figure out something is wrong, and change it; it would make the world a better place."

Jo's eyes widened. "I guess that is a pretty original way of protesting, but it won't work. They will take it the wrong way, and they will come after you, just as they are now. I know you're trying to do something good, but right now, you haven't done much to improve the situation. You might think that Ostian rule is harsh and unjust, but the people have lived that way for millennia, and believe me, if they thought there was something wrong about it, there would have been a war against it years ago.

"Different people have different opinions. Myself, I'm Pheraen born and bred, and we have no trouble with Ostia whatsoever. You just think differently because of the events of your past. Just because one marquess was like that doesn't mean they all are. Forget about it, put your past behind you.

"You can't just get someone else to help you up out of the rut you've dug yourself into. You have to find a way out yourself. Confront your hunters and tell them the truth. Only by facing your fears will you overcome them. Then things will change, and you will be free."

Skarmandros closed his eyes. He couldn't believe he'd been wrong so many years. How could he have been so stupid?

Suddenly a thought occurred to him. He remembered a decision he had made a long time ago. It had cost him everything, but why had he made that decision? It was because he had wanted to be free; he had wanted to make a change, and he didn't want for his father to get away with his horrible crime…

Think, boy. Do you want to die here, as a traitor and a murderer, or as a free man, a misunderstood whelp? The young lord Matthew almost laughed out loud at the amulet's miserable attempts at trying to be helpful and insulting at the same time. A free man, definitely, he thought.

Well then, the amulet retorted, you'll have to be part of my plan a little while longer…

The beautiful white stallion leapt out of the woods, carrying a man dressed in long purple robes. Behind him came a chestnut mare bearing a maroon-clothed lady wielding a longbow, and clinging to her shoulders was Matthew, grinning as usual.

The purple-robed man gracefully dismounted, followed by the lady. Matthew stayed on the horse, watching cautiously.

The pair approached Hector and his army. The man looked angry, whilst the woman remained calm.

The man walked right up to Hector's horse and looked up into the marquess' eyes, face twisted in disgust.

"Since when did I give you permission to bring soldiers into my land? As Marquess Reglay, I control all military activity in the province! Your men shall have to remain at the border until I have approved them."

Hector frowned. "This is an important matter, Lord Pent. We have reason to believe that the demon responsible for the assassinations in Ostia is hiding out here. Did you not say this was Ostia's problem? We should be allowed to deal with this."

Pent grew even angrier. "Did you not hear what I said? Your soldiers cannot enter my territory until I have approved a contract giving you permission to do so. Until that happens, their presence here is illegal and will spark resistance from my forces.

And as for the demon, we should let Archsage Athos deal with him."

Hector glared. "I will not have the future of Ostia rest in the hands of some crackpot old grey-bearded fool! This is our problem; we should take care of it! Thousands more will die if the demon is not destroyed!"

Pent ground his teeth. "Do not call my master a fool! You have seen the Archsage's power firsthand; you of all people should respect his authority! Was it not for Athos, we would not have stood a chance against the Black Fang, let alone Nergal and those fire dragons!"

"That is enough, both of you!"

Pent and Hector looked to see the maroon-clothed woman step forward. "Lord Hector! Lord Pent! Stop this fighting! If what Lord Hector says is true, then we must come to a solution immediately. Put aside your differences for once! Honestly, the two of you give men a bad name."

Pent bowed his head. "I am sorry, Louise. You are right. We must come to a conclusion on the matter."

Matthew yelled out from atop the horse. "Um, Lord Pent? I, er…I have an idea."

Pent nodded to the thief.

"We could, um…combine forces to make a big army and then we could enlist the help of the Archsage…that would make us a lot stronger, wouldn't it?"

Hector smiled. "Good idea, Matthew. Perhaps that way, we may just stand a chance against this foul creature."

X was pacing, and Jo was sitting on the bed, looking worried.

She sighed. "I wonder if Skarmandros will be all right. I'm so worried. We don't even know where he is. He could be…" Jo sobbed. X walked over and placed his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure he'll be all right. Skar can handle anything."

Suddenly, a silver-tipped arrow whizzed past and hit X in the leg. Groaning, he fell to the floor, bleeding heavily. Jo screamed and leapt up as a brute wearing blue armour walked in and put an axe to X's throat.

"There's another one in here!" he cried. "Capture her!"

A wyvern swooped down, crashing through the ceiling and sweeping Jo off her feet, its rider holding her captive with a longsword.

Jo was horrified. "You're Ostian, aren't you? What are you doing? This is madness!"

The axeman snorted. "I am Marquess Hector of Ostia. I have a great army outside that will move on command. If you try to escape, you will be slaughtered."

"I am only going to ask this once. Where is your demon friend? I know you have ties with him. If you fail to comply, you will be arrested for withholding information."

X whimpered. "We don't know where…he…is…"

Hector punched him, and he cried out in pain.

"Stop it! You're hurting him!" Jo cried.

Hector snorted. "That's the idea. It's called aggressive negotiations."

"Now, what about you? Will you cooperate?"

"X is telling the truth. We don't know where he is. He just left somewhere without telling us where he was going. If he knew you were coming, he would have said so, OK? Now let us go. We haven't done anything wrong."

Hector laughed sarcastically. "Funny, that. You've been travelling with a killer for a while now, helping his escape, and yet you say you haven't done anything wrong? Ha, ha. That's very funny."

Jo yelped and pushed the wyvern rider to the ground. "You people don't get it! Skarmandros is just misunderstood. He's been scarred by the past, and it has given him a twisted opinion on the world. He's just trying to put things right, but he goes the wrong way about it. If you knew him, you'd understand-"

"WHO ARE YOU TO ARGUE WITH ME? I AM THE MARQUESS OF OSTIA! WHATEVER I SAY GOES, OK? I AM NOT GOING TO PUT UP WITH SILLY EXCUSES! I understand the situation perfectly well. Now, I am giving you one last chance. Where is he?"

"That marquess fellow has a bad attitude. He doesn't deserve his position," Jo muttered, rubbing her bruised arm.

X disagreed. "He's just trying to do his job. Obviously, this whole thing has affected him pretty emotionally, and he just wants justice."

"If only people these days talked and put aside their differences. That would make things a lot better and avoid all this confusion, instead of just fighting all the time…" Jo sighed and stood. "Now, let's find a way out of this dungeon."

X shook his head. "No. We should wait until the marquess returns. Then we will explain everything."

Jo looked at her cellmate sadly. "I don't think he will listen to us. Remember what he said about Uther being his brother? I think he will want to squeeze every drop of information from us, and, besides, he 'is not going to put up with petty excuses'…"

Suddenly her eyes widened. "X, does this place look familiar to you?"

"No."

"X, Skarmandros is…here."

"How do you know?"

"I don't mean it like that. I just know he was here…once. I can see him even now."

"What are you talking about?"

The dungeon corridor was dark and dingy, the only source of light being small torches on the walls, giving the place an eerie feel. The soldiers dragged Matthew through the long tunnel as shadows of spiders danced on the walls, their silhouettes exaggerated, making them appear as beasts awaiting their prey…

Matthew looked around. In various spots along the passage were grimy cells. The lord was shocked as he saw the prisoners in the cells. They were thin and frail, and there were both men and women. Some were quite young, but most were well past adulthood. It was clear they had been there for a long time. Most were bruised, and some even had chunks of flesh ripped out of their backs, as if they had been whipped.

They all stared out at him helplessly. Some even cried out to him, but he could not assist them. So, my father's plan has already been put into action, he thought. Something must be done to stop this madness.

He looked into one of the cells and noticed something odd. In the cell was a young blonde girl who looked about sixteen, and a cloaked man with a scar down his face. The girl had a bruised arm and was staring at him, bewildered, whilst the man appeared to have been arrowed in the leg and beaten. He, however, took no notice of Matthew, as if he didn't exist.

For some strange reason, Matthew thought they looked familiar, although he had never seen them before in his life.

The strangest thing, however, was not the girl's reaction to Matthew. It was not the fact that she was shouting Skarmandros, Skarmandros! as if she knew him; it was not the fact that only Matthew appeared to hear her voice.

No, the strangest thing was that the two prisoners appeared almost transparent, like ghosts…and that the girl appeared to be seeing him in the same way.

"Didn't you see him?"

"No."

"He was right there, just as he was all those years back! He looked like a ghost, obviously, because it had happened in the past, but the strange thing is, it looks like he saw – and heard – me, too!"

"You're mad."

"It's true!"

"You didn't see him, did you?"

"You were shouting at something that wasn't there. You embarrassed me."

Jo sighed. "Is your leg better now?"

"It's not bleeding anymore, if that's what you mean."

"Are you all right?"

"At least I'm not crazy."

"Neither am I. I saw him clearly, just as I'm seeing you now, except…transparent."

"I don't believe in that superstitious mumbo-jumbo."

"And yet you believed Skarmandros' curse story."

"That's dark magic. It's different."

"Whatever."

Matthew turned to his captors. "Who were those people back there?"

"Which people?"

"The ones in that last cell we passed. The girl with the bruised arm and the man with the injured leg."

"I don't know what you're talking about. That cell is empty."

"Go back there! I saw people in that cell!"

"Fine, we'll go back, but I'm telling you, there's nobody in there. You're just trying to delay your execution."

So the guards took Matthew back to the cell. And, sure enough, it was empty.

"You lost him."

"I didn't lose anything, Sirius. You just keep yer panties on. We'll get him back."

"I thought you were desperate to avenge your brother. What happened to Mister Furious back there, eh?"

"I made a mistake, okay? Those people were telling the truth. We should let them go."

"I don't think so."

Hector glared at his subordinate. "What do you mean? They're innocent. We should get the clerics to heal them up and then they can go."

"They have information. We should interrogate them first."

"They don't know where he is. Weren't you listening?"

"I meant personal information. They know things we don't, like his motives and such. Especially that girl; she's a real good looker."

The marquess slapped Sirius clean across the face. "Now is no time to discuss your personal fetishes, Sirius. This is (pardon the pun,) SERIOUS."

"Ow…" Sirius held his aching jaw. "Er, well, I still think we should question them, milord."

Hector shook his head. "Nay, Sirius. I gave them the wrong impression. We should apologise and release them. Besides, we can question the demon when we capture him."

"What are you talking about! The idea was to kill the demon, not capture him! The marquesses must be avenged!"

"It would be disgraceful to just kill a man without letting him have a say. Besides, I'm eager to find out how he got away with this for so long. After that, you can execute him properly."

As the marquess left the room, Sirius muttered to himself for a few moments before turning to the door.

"Get a troubadour in here, will ya! Mr. Big Shot just whacked me across the face!"

"I think you were right, X. Maybe I am going crazy."

X chuckled. "Oh, really? Are you seeing little rainbow bunnies now?"

"No, but I'm hearing voices in my head."

X's eyes widened. "What…kind of voices?"

"Oh, so now you're interested in what I have to say."

"I'm just wondering, because…Skarmandros and I communicate telepathically."

"You're kidding me."

"No, it's true. What's it saying?"

"Well – hang on a tick, it's saying something else now…"

X is a big doofus-head. Don't believe a word he says.

Jo laughed. "He says you're a doofus-head and that you can't be trusted."

"Hoi!"

What's this about X saying you're crazy?

"If you want to respond to him without me hearing it, just think your response. That's how I do it." X said.

"OK, I'll give it a try…"

I saw your ghost, Skar. I really did. These soldiers were coming down the passageway dragging you…just like in the past.

Interesting,the voice said.It was me as Matthew, wasn't it?

Yes, it was, Jo responded. Oh, Skarmandros, please tell me you're not dead.

The voice laughed. Nay, Josephine, I'm not dead. You saw the events of the past. That means you are prescient.

Pre-what?

Prescient. You can see the Past and Future. Do you have nightmares?

I used to, Jo answered, confused, but not anymore.

Then you have reached the climax of your psychic ability. You have these visions rarely now, yes?

I used to have lots of them as a child. They frightened me terribly.

Do you remember any of them?

No.

A shame.

Are you all right? I hope you're not hurt.

No, I'm fine, Jo. What happened? I sensed a disturbance.

The marquess came and captured us. We are in his dungeon right now.

Hector, eh? Are you hurt in any way?

Not particularly. Only a bruised arm, but X was wounded in the leg and he punched him…

Hmm. The actions of nobles are hard to understand sometimes.

You are not concerned?

He'll survive. He's had worse.

Oh, Skar, where are you? I miss you terribly and I'm so, so worried…

You need not to worry. I am in a safe place, far away.

Will you come to rescue us?

No, if I know Hector he will show mercy. Besides, if I went anywhere near there I probably wouldn't come out alive.

Please, Skar, I need to know where you are! It would make me feel so much better.

I cannot tell you. I merely say I am in company of an old friend.

OK. I'll leave you at that.

You are a nice girl, Josephine.

Thankyou.

If ever you need to contact me again, just think me a message, all right?

Please don't go.

Sorry, Josephine, but I must. I have business to attend to.

All right, but I'm getting mighty sick of this cell.

For the last time, I'm not going to bust you out! It would just make the marquess angry. I'm sure if you just wait it out, he'll realise his mistake and let you go.

Yeah, that's what X said.

If all goes well, I'll see you soon, OK?

Got it. By the way, why did I see that vision?

You were probably just lonely.

I swear I'm going to kill you for that.

You can try, but you won't get anywhere.

Jo sighed. As much as she hated to admit it, she really did miss Skarmandros.

X grinned. "So, how was your conversation with the Easter Bunny?"

Jo punched him, square in the face.

"And don't tell me you didn't deserve that!"