Change of plan. I've added another chapter before 'Parting'. So that makes twenty-five or six planned chapters... Enjoy this one!

Chapter Twenty-Two: What Now?

The robbers headed off to the nearest village, along with Meggie, Mo, Resa, Elinor and Darius. They had gone in hope for some decent shelter. If the townspeople didn't welcome them they had been planning to beg for an abandoned farm or something of the sort. Fortunately that wasn't neccessary. Apparently the news of the death of the Adderhead had travelled far, and fast. The particular village the robbers had chosen was just beginning to celebrate is freedom from the tyrant. When the robbers set foot in the village some young boys immediately recognized Mo and the Black Prince - soon they, too, were a part of the party and feast.

That first night, the robbers had a feast of delicious foods and drinks. After that the village people invited them to tell stories, sing, and dance. Dustfinger was swept off in a dance when some women didn't see his injured ankle. He ended up crashing into a waltzing couple and brought a total of seven people to the floor. To his relief everyone was good-natured and happy. They all forgave him and apologized, too. Dustfinger sat and showed the children fire tricks for the rest of the evening, with Farid.

Meggie hung out with Resa, Elinor and Darius. Some children, young girls and a few boys, came to her and begged her to sing a song. Since Meggie felt that she couldn't sing she told them a fairy tale, read to her a long time ago by Mo, instead. They were enchanted, and soon a large audience of youths had collected in front of Meggie. Even a few adults had come, as well. When Meggie was too tired to tell any more stories Resa took over. They loved her tales just as much.

Mo, meanwhile, stayed with the Black Prince and the other robbers. A few children, mostly young boys of about ten years of age, had shyly come over to them. One brave one had timidly asked Mo to show him his scar. He was quite used to this treatment, so he pulled up his sleeve. But then the boy also noticed his maimed hand, and ran off to join his friends, jabbering loudly about how the Jay now had nine fingers. Soon a whole group of children had surrounded Mo. The Prince chuckled, and said -

"Sometime's it's nice having a bear around. People leave you alone." True enough, few boys were brave enough to approach the giant black beast or his master.

When his torso began to ache badly again Mo decided to go to sleep. The villagers offered him and the robbers the house of a man who was away on a trip to Ombra, but they politely declined. They were all too used to sleeping outside. Mo and the Prince chose a large tree to sleep under. Meggie and the others, meanwhile, longed to sleep under a roof for once. They took the house instead.

The next morning the villagers welcomed them once more. After a hearty breakfast everyone relaxed around the village. Meggie took Farid's hand and went to a pretty little stream near the town; Dustfinger spent some time with the Prince. Resa, Elinor and Darius explored some houses; they wanted to see what real medieval homes looked like. That left Mo sitting under a tree, thinking.

But then Snapper came.

The fool Snapper. He had pranced over, still enormously happy that they were finally in peace. Then he had called out to Mo - "Bluejay! Where are your fellow escorts? You look lonely without the Prince and his bear!"

"Shut up, Snapper." Mo said without looking up. The anger was bubbling up dangerously inside him, though, and it made him clench his fist.

"You should always keep some guard around, Jay! Who knows what would try and cut off your head like the deceased Wildcat did? I take my hat off to you, you did a good job with the beast. Cut him up nicely, didn't you? For a moment I thought that you were having fun."

Perhaps it was the mockery in his voice, perhaps it was not. It didn't matter, because something in Snapper made Mo explode from the inside. He sprang up from his seat and grabbed Snapper around the collar. With his other hand, he began to clobber Snapper in the face.

The robber gave a frantic shout of surprise and pain. He kicked out at Mo and tried to get him off. Unfortunately for him Mo was furious, and beyond any more reasoning.

Snapper gave Mo a hard punch at his injured rib. The pain made him let go of Snapper - only for a moment. There was blood flowing from te robber's nose, and already there was bruises on his face. Snapper leapt forward, also not very happy. Mo kicked him behind the knees and knocked him to the ground. He was about to beat the living out of Snapper when someone grabbed his arm from behind.

"Bluejay! What the hell are you doing?" The Prince wouldn't let go of him. Snapper scrambled back and got up. His eyes were wild with fear, anger and astonishment. His face was an ugly mess of blood and dirt. The Strong Man had come, too - he restrained Snapper. Soon there was a crowd of robbers standing around them, looking mildly interested or surprised.

"What does it look like?" Mo didn't take his eyes off the Snapper.

"Er, you were beating poor Snapper half to death?" the Strong Man said in his deep voice. The Prince shot him a glance that told him that he wasn't helping at all.

Mo shook off the Prince's hand from his shoulder. "Tell the Snapper to watch his smart mouth. Or he'll be sorry - I'll finish my job next time." It took him a while to realize what he just said. Feeling more furious with himself than with anyone else, he stormed off, leaving the other men standing in his wake, staring in confusion.

The Prince broke the long silence, looking back at Snapper, who was wiping the blood from his nose with his sleeve. "I think you'd better listen to the Jay, Snapper. You wouldn't be alive if wel hadn't... interrupted."

The stream was quiet and peaceful. Meggie wished she had a book with her. It had been a while since she had one in her hands. For her it was hard to live without words. Although she had been living in a world entirely made by letters for the last two months.

Farid sat beside her on the cold stone. He had dipped his bare toes in the water, but after seeing strange shadows in the stream, he had withdrawn his feet and chose to sat on dry rock instead. Meanwhile Meggie spied some fairies among the leaves of a nearby tree. She attempted to catch one, just like Resa had done, before, but obviously she wasn't gentle enough. She didn't have Mo's voice, either.

After a while they ended up sitting together on a rock by the stream. Small fish swam by in the water; there seemed to be water-nymphs in there, too. And several other creatures that Meggie couldnot find names for. Some looked dangerous. Farid was convinced they were.

"Meggie, you're going to stay, aren't you?" he asked her, holding her hand.

"Stay in the Inkworld?" Meggie looked into his black eyes. She shook her head, suddenly wishing Farid hadn't asked her that. "I... I don't know."

"What do you mean? You can't go home! I mean..." Farid looked so desperate. Meggie stared at the water again. She didn't know. With all her heart, she didn't know whether she would leave or not. She still felt out of place in the Inkworld. Meggie missed the real world, despite herself - she missed going to school, going to libraries, going on the computer, or just walking around on the streets... But how could she part with Farid? She wouldn't be able to do that. Never.

You left Mo, didn't you? You left him and Resa in the other world, you left them, so why couldn't you do the same to Farid? A voice from inside Meggie asked her.

No, no, no... The tears started to come again. What was she to do? Farid put his arm around her, but she barely felt it this time. Her mind was in turmoil. She slipped her hand inside her pocket, and felt the notebook, the notebook Mo had bound for her, so long ago... The pencil was there, too.

You're going to do it. You're going to write. Meggie slowly curled her finger around the pencil. She then drew it out - the notebook, too. Farid looked at her in horror.

"Are you... Are you really going to write yourself back?" he said in a husky whisper.

Meggie shook her head, and opened the notebook. She stroked its smooth endpaper as she spoke. "Farid... I don't think I can stay here. I don't belong in this world... No matter how beautiful it is..." she held Farid's shaking hand. "Just promise me something, Farid. Just one thing. If... if I leave, please... Don't forget me."

Farid held her hand so tightly that it hurt. Then he stood up abruptly, and strode away from her. "Farid! Come back!"

He didn't.

Meggie, holding back more tears, began to write with a trembling hand.

Resa, Darius and Elinor were relaxing at the village square. The houses they explored thrilled them all; but soon there was not much left to do, other than just stand around and talk. The Black Prince and some robbers announced that they were heading back to the Castle of Night, with Nettle, to scourge the ruins for survivors or something worth money. Resa hadn't seen Mo among those men. When she asked the Prince about him he just told her that Mo needed the rest. But his uneasy black eyes revealed to Resa that that wasn't the only reason. She didn't learn any more until hours later.

When Resa went back to Elinor and Darius, Meggie was there, too, with Mo. Feeling slightly puzzled, Resa came towards them. Where was the boy, Farid? What about Dustfinger?

"What is it? Is something wrong?" Resa asked, looking at everyone in their faces. Mo just shook his head and nodded towards Meggie. She had a notebook in her hand. It was the one Mo had given her the night before she disappeared into the Inkworld. Meggie handed the book to her mother without a word. Resa took it, and let her eyes fall on Meggie's tiny writing that filled the white pages of the book.

As she read on Resa felt surprised, more than anything. She had expected Meggie to want to stay in this world, but apparently this wasn't the truth...

"So, what do you think?" Elinor asked impatiently.

Resa didn't answer for a while. At last, she spoke. "When are we going back?"