Fate Has A Plan Of Its Own

Notes:

This is a story I wrote for a subject at school.

Dar and BeastMaster are one and the same. Demon Curupira gave Dar the power to talk to animals, which is why he is caBeastMaster, as well as Dar by his friends.

I do not own the show BeastMaster, though it would be cool to see where they filmed it and to have taken part sighs

Late update by four days! I like finishing my stories before I post them so you don't have to wait long for updates, and yet I'm still behind.

On with the story.

Chapter 3

Catherine was up bright and early the next morning because Arina had promised that she would help her practise sword fighting more before breakfast. She picked up her sword, which had been Arina's when she was younger. They moved to a small clearing and started practising, Arina teaching her more blocks while Dar and Tao sat down to watch. Dar was up in an instant when he heard Sharak screech, even though he had a cold, and they all stopped. Sharak was flying overhead and Dar saw that Zad and Voden were close by.

"We must go," Dar said, still looking at Sharak. "Zad and Voden are coming."

It was too late, as at that moment the kings appeared.

"So, the BeastMaster did rescue you," Zad said when he saw Catherine standing with Dar and Arina. Tao was standing behind the older two, trying to stay out of trouble. Cath and Arina stood, ready to fight, their swords in front of them. Dar reached into his bag on his back with both hands. Pulling out the two halves of his staff, he fit them together and swung the staff in front of him in a circle.

"What do you want?" he asked, eyeing the two kings. When did they combine forces? Then he remembered how they had been together at the lake. Behind the kings were their combined armies, but there seemed to be too little of them. He had no more time to think about it as the army came towards them. It was a quick battle, and seemed too easy to Dar, as if the armies weren't putting everything into it.

When most of the army was either lying on the ground or bleeding, the kings retreated. When the entire enemy had disappeared, Dar stopped moving, and seemed to be trying to hear to something.

"What's wrong?" Cath asked.

"It's too quiet," Dar replied.

"Oh no," Arina said.

Dar searched around the battlefield, for what though, Cath didn't know.

"Tao!" Dar called. When there was no reply, he walked back to the girls. "They've taken Tao," he said. Spotting something behind Cath, he hurried to see what it was.

At his discovery, she saw a side of the BeastMaster she hadn't seen before. Anger and guilt seemed to radiate from him. Twirling his staff, Arina not Cath stepped close. There was nothing they could say. At the speed the staff was spinning, it would hurt if they got hit. Dar sneezed, and the staff slowed long enough that Arina could step forward and take hold of it, slowing it to a standstill.

"Come on," she said, "let's go back to camp."

When they reached camp, it was evident how much was missing with Tao's capture, even though they couldn't say that they always enjoyed him being an endless chatterbox. They sat down, Dar nursing a cold, Arina cleaning her sword and Cath's, and Cath stoking the fire.

"Once I've finished cleaning the swords, I'll go and scout both Zad and Voden's compounds," Arina said. "Even though they have combined forces, I doubt that they would have made one big compound for all of them."

"I'm coming," Dar said.

"Dar, it is half a day's walk to get to Voden."

"Plus you need to get better, otherwise we will have to leave you here while we rescue Tao," Cath said, making a cup of tea to help alleviate colds.

"But if I had of seen Zad and Voden earlier, Tao would still be here," Dar said.

"Dar, you can't always see everything that is coming," Arina said, handing Cath's sword back. "Like you said before, you didn't know Zad and Voden were on their way when you were at the lake until they were quite close. So you stay here and get better, and I'll be back as soon as I can. I'll be careful, don't worry."

Dar sneezed, and Cath handed him the cup of tea she had made. When Arina had finished cleaning her sword, she packed a bag and left, walking through the trees in the direction Zad and Voden had taken.

Tao struggled to get free, but he was held tightly. He had tried to shout when he had found himself surrounded, but a hand over his mouth had quickly stopped that. When they reached Zad's compound Tao was shut in a cage, which, he noticed, was the same one Cath had been imprisoned in.

'Why aren't there more guards?' Tao wondered. As he had been led to the cage he had seen that there were the same number of guards as usual, and he feared that this was so Dar let his guard down.

When he saw Zad and Voden coming towards him, Tao didn't know what was going to happen, but he knew he would be used as bait to lure Dar. He was told to get out of the cage and obeyed, but when he was told to kneel before the kings, he refused. A quick kick to the back of his knees brought him to the ground.

"The perfect bait," Tao could hear Zad telling Voden. "The BeastMaster will come running, right pipsqueak?" Tao didn't reply and didn't look up, until someone grabbed his hair and jerked his head backwards.

"Right, pipsqueak?" Zad demanded. Tao's refusal to answer earnt him a slap across the face, and even though it stung, Tao didn't let them see that he was afraid. He just hoped that Dar wouldn't fall into the trap that was being planned.

Peering from behind a tree, Arina watched as the gates were suddenly flung open and a party emerged. A small group of soldiers could be seen first, then Zad and Voden, Voden on his mare, Zad walking alongside. Arina saw Tao next, hands bound and head high, who was being forced to walk by another soldier, and then there was a bigger group of soldiers. When Arina saw the direction they were heading in, she followed them, keeping to the cover of the trees.

It was getting dark at camp, and the fire was burning brightly, illuminating the faces of the two who were sitting around it. Ruh was on his own, hunting, and Kodo and Podo were asleep in their bag.

"How are you feeling?" Cath asked Dar.

"Much better thank you," Dar said automatically, his mind preoccupied. Cath noticed this and knew what Dar was thinking about, and that he wouldn't stop thinking about it until they rescued Tao. They went to bed soon after, both exhausted by the day's events.

It was getting dark when Arina got to Voden's compound in time to see the party go through the gates. Knowing that Tao was inside and was probably the centre of attention, Arina searched for a place to sleep for the night. Tomorrow she would walk back to camp and a plan could be devised to rescue Tao. Though the usual plan was to sneak in, rescue the person, (usually Tao), and get out of there, that would probably need to be altered because Zad and Voden had joined forces.

It was lunchtime the next day when Arina got back to camp to find Dar and Cath telling stories to pass the time. Arina smiled as she heard Dar recalling an adventure, and guessed that he had probably been telling most of them. He sounded a lot better.

"I've found where Tao is," she said, and noticed that Dar immediately looked up. "I went to Zad's compound first and hid behind a tree. They came out of the gates before long, Zad, Voden, Tao, and some soldiers. They headed towards Voden's compound, so I followed, and they all went into Voden's compound."

"What are we waiting for then?" Dar asked as he stood.

"First we'll have lunch and then we'll go," Cath said as Arina sat down. Dar sighed and joined them. He was eager to be on the move, because who knew what was happening to Tao.

Author's Notes:

I will be updating Wednesday every week, and will try to remember to. The key word is try.

Thank you for reading, and please review.