AN: Here is the next chapter of Shunned One. I would like to thank Ice Queen of Candracar & Wilhelmina Vandom betaing this fic.

I would also like to thank Ice Queen of Candracar, Wilhelmina Vandom, Darkness-Lightness, Lisifa and The Crazy Talk Kid for reviewing.

Disclaimer: I don't own W.I.T.C.H. or D&D

Chapter 8: A Leader is Born, A Secret Revealed and Heroes Arrive

The next morning the group was discussing what to do. They knew they had three to four hours max before they needed to start heading back up to the entrance. They were thinking of sending two people to do a quick scouting mission then come back to tell the rest what happened.

This was just so they could get a glance at what was on the last floor and if there was something very strong down there. Every one knew Irma would be one of the two because being both ranger and rouge she had the stealth and power for the job. The only problem was who the second person would be.

Hay Lin had the stealth but lacked physical strength to be much of a fighter and they needed her to conserve magic for when they went down there as a group. No one else even had any experience in the skill except Will but she did not specialize in it like Irma or Hay Lin did.

"We don't have much choice." Will said getting up as she added, "I'm the only one with both stealth and combat skills besides Irma, so me and her will go." This made the side of Cornelia that was worried about the half-elf's latent leadership ability stir.

Cornelia overall did not hate Will for this still dormant ability but couldn't help having the common reaction most people in charge had when their position was threatened by another, she feared it.

Cornelia mentally gave her head a shake, 'She is just trying to impress every one so she can become part of the group, that's all. I bet even if she has the ability she would not be interested.' The noble blooded druid thought to her self as the group talked over the final decision.

In the end they all had to agree Will was the best choice to go with Irma and so the two went down the hallway towards the set of stairs that lead to the final floor. After they left Irma asked, "So you ready for the biggest fight of your life?"

Will looked over to Irma, her face was clearly confused, "We don't know if there is any thing down there yet." She said wondering if the other tomboy had been hoping for a huge battle or something.

Irma shook her head with a playful smirk on her face, "No, I mean with Cornelia, she is probably worried you're going to be challenging her for leadership of the group."

This made Will shake her head frantically, "I am not trying to be leader, why does every one keep thinking that!" The half-elf said frantically hoping that she had not made Cornelia hate her.

Irma just laughed as the red headed half-elf's panic attack then said, "Oh, don't worry, Corny was not supposed to be leader any ways, Elyon was. Back when our group was formed it was tough getting used to having such a mixed group and Elyon sort of just kept quite hoping that if she did not try to lead then it might have made it easier to make friends with me, Hay Lin and Taranee."

Irma stopped for a moment to think then spoke again, "Corny took the position of leader just so some one was keeping the group organized. The only reason Corny and me fight all the time, besides have clashing personalities, is also to encourage Elyon to act as the peace keeper. We were hopping it would bring Elyon out of her shell, but as you can see it did not work." The ranger said sadly as they approached the stairway.

Will then asked, "You mean all those fight are staged? Great, that means I messed things up even more then I thought."

This got Will a light swat on the side of head from Irma to knock some sense into the half-elf's head. "You did not mess up any thing, Elyon gave up long ago and Corny and me fight because that's just how we do…They just had s useful purposes as well at one point." Irma said firmly so the half-elf did not get the idea she did something wrong.

Irma then put on a friendly face seeing how Will was now getting worried. "Don't worry about it, lets just back to our job. We can worry about the leader problem once we get top side." This being said got a nod from the half-elf and they quietly made their way down the stairs.

As they reached the bottom they heard noises coming from the room as well as a loud scream. "NO! Please don't eat Blunk!" This made both girls quickly rush to ether side of the entrance and peek into the next room.

It seemed that the final floor to these ruins was just one massive sized chamber but what was in inside was not what they were expecting. In side were four of the most dangerous races in the world Goblins, Hobgoblins, Orcs and Bugbears.

Goblins were tiny in size, vast in number but were a cowardly race that was not much of threat unless they had creatures like the Orcs, Hobgoblins and Bugbears to lead them. All Goblins share the same physical appearance of being short in height with long arms that hang down to their knees, having flat faces, broad noses, pointed ears and wide mouths with small sharp fangs. Their foreheads slope back and had yellow eyes and had reddish brown skin.

Hobgoblins were distant cousins of goblins and were the exact opposite of them. They were the size of the average human and being very aggressive warriors they did not posses the cowardly nature of their smaller relatives. They did share the same reddish brown skin and yellows eyes but that was where most of the similarities ended. They were a military breed and often bullied their small relatives into working under them, so to make use of the Goblins' vast numbers.

Orcs had gray skin, coarse hair, stooped postures, low foreheads, and porcine faces with prominent lower canines that resembled a boar's tusks. They also possessed lupine ears and blood red eyes.

Though Orcs were big and menacing creatures with great physical strength they were also a bit stupid. But they were smart enough to make use of their great strength to be quite dangerous and with the other races present they were even more so.

The final race the Bugbears were despite their name a part of the Goblinoid race and were biggest, strongest, and meanest of them all. They were large and muscular, standing over 7 feet tall. They were yellowish brown in color with thick, coarse hair that was brown or brick red in color. Their eyes were like those of a savage animal that were greenish white in color with red pupils, and had wedged shaped ears. The Bugbears' mouths were full of long, sharp fangs and their noses are much like a bear's nose and posses the same sense of smell. This feature is what gave them their racial name along with the bear like claws they posses, but these claw like hands were just as dexterous as a human's hand.

This had Will gulp at the sight while Irma whispered, "I don't know about you but I think this is out of our league." This got a nod from Will until they heard another scream, "Please spare Blunk!"

Both girls turned their attention back to the room and noticed a large fire in the middle of the room surrounded by Bugbears. Hanging over the fire on a spit was something that only a Bugbear could stand to eat, a Passling.

Passlings were a race of greedy little creatures that would try to sell any thing they could get their hands on. Plus they were one of the smelliest creatures to ever exit. Hard to imagine with their keen sense of smell that they could stand their own stench.

Will had dealt with many Passlings in the past and it was because of their 'services' that she had managed to survive when Belcoot and his group were not around to help her. She could not let this one be eaten…Even if it did probably try to steal from these creatures to begin with.

"Let's get back to the others and try to plan a rescue." Will said and was heading back up the stairs with a very stunned Irma trying to keep up.

Once they were a safe distance away Irma started yelling, "Are you insane! There has got to be hundreds of them in there and that's just counting the Goblins! I don't even want to know how many Orcs, Hobgoblins and Bugbears there are!"

While Irma was yelling this, the door to the room where the others were, swung open to see the wide eyes of the four girls. "Please tell me this is one of your jokes Irma!" Cornelia said in horror getting a nod from the others girls who were thinking the same thing.

Will just shook her head as she said, "No there is an army of all four of those races down there and they are about to have roast Passling for breakfast." This got Cornelia looking at her in even more horror.

"And this concerns us how!" The druid screeched making Will cover her sensitive half-elf ears. There were many advantages to having heightened hearing but it came at a price in these cases.

"My hearing works just fine, or did until you all started yelling any way." Will said with great annoyance as she waited for the pain to go away.

Once it did she continued, "Passlings have practically saved my life in the past so I think it's time I returned the favour. If none of you want to help that's fine but I'm going." Will said, then turned around to leave.

They were all shocked at the look of determination that had been on the half-elf's face. As they walked away Taranee called out, "Will, wait!"

Will turned around to see the dark skinned wizard rushing to catch up as was Hay Lin and Irma. Cornelia and Elyon looked like they wanted to rush over as well but looked like fear prevented them.

"You can't go alone, besides this is a stealth mission so unless you cast an invisibility spell on your self you're going to need help." This got a nod from the other two present.

Will was shocked as she asked, "Why did you suddenly change your minds?" This got a smirk from Irma who said, "Got to keep our new friend alive or Susan will kill us for letting you go and get your self eaten. Plus we got to save those Bugbears from poisoning them selves on Passling meat."

This got Hay Lin giggling while Taranee rolled her eyes but still had a smirk on her face. Will was feeling a great deal of relief that she had help but before they could plan a rescue there was something they needed to do first.

Will then walked back to were Elyon and Cornelia was and said something to help end their mixed feeling about helping and staying behind. "It's better you two stay behind since Elyon is the princess after all. We can't risk her any ways; I should have thought of that when I made my decision." Will said looking a little guilty at her over sight.

After a moment Will said, "Hay Lin, you stay with Cornelia and Elyon and if the rescue stirs up too much trouble your specialty with illusions should keep those things from finding you three."

This strategy had shocked the group because of how solid it was. Magic was a rather limited resource among the four races they were about to face and a lot of them were not too bright either. It was a good plan and every one was starting to see a glimpse of what Cornelia deep down knew was going to emerge one day. Will was starting to become a leader and it was coming faster then the druid had hoped. The fact that Will was brave enough to go rescue the Passling when the rest of them would have left it also spoke volumes of the half-elf's abilities.

Taranee was the first to speak after the moment of silence, "That's a good idea, it does take a bit out of our stealth ability but we do need to insure Elyon's safety before doing any thing. If we are going to save the Passling we need to go now and that means we can't wait to give them enough time to go up a few floors so hiding would be the best bet." The wizard said in agreement.

Will nodded at this analysis and added, "Even if the Orcs or Goblinoids do find them, Elyon, Cornelia and Hay Lin can blast them with magic or get attacked by Snowflake."

Elyon did not want to be protected because of her status as heir to the throne but she knew they were right. 'If only I had brought Silvia then we might have been able to scare them away but she was too big to enter the ruins.' The princess thought to her self, wishing her powerful familiar was here with them right now.

While Elyon was wishing this the three members of the rescue team were coming up with a simple but effective plan. Taranee being able to cast the very useful second grade spell Invisibility would make it easy to get in and free the Passling and if they got caught, Taranee would provide something to distract the enemy.

The three girls made their way back down the stairs to the large chamber and once again heard the Passling screaming, "Please no! Blunk not make good roast!" This caused Irma to say, "Did we forget to mention his name is Blunk?"

This made the other two roll their eyes at the fact that Irma could make jokes at a time like this but they had to admire it as well. Taranee cast her spell on the three of them but this drained a good portion of magic for the young wizard. Both Will and Irma knew she only had enough magic for the diversion, maybe a few combat spells, but not much.

They then quietly made their way into the chamber and made their way to the large fire in the middle of the chamber. During this second trip they noticed that at the far end of the chamber there was large hole in the wall with more members of the four groups coming through.

This meant that the bulk of their forces were still under ground and the hole looked like it was only recently made. This meant they had come shortly after Susan's last check of the ruins and if all four racers were here together that means they were going to be a new group of raiders.

'That would not be good, their numbers are probably far greater then the group of human raiders from 40 years ago.' Taranee thought to her self as they made their way over to the screaming Passling.

When they got there they saw the Bugbears were enjoying the Passlings screams of terror as he slowly rotated over the flame. This was where the plan was tricky because the invisibility spell would end if they tried to attack and it would be tricky to free the Passling known as Blunk with out getting the creatures in the room to back off first.

They knew they would need Taranee's little distraction if they were going to pull this off so the wizard started casting the spell. This instantly made her visible for all to see but before any of the four races could even yell out Taranee's spell was completed.

She cast another second grade spell called Pyrotechnics, a spell that required an already existing fire as a source to create one of two effects. One of these was a cloud of smoke that could be used to make those with in it to choke on and blind them. This version was only good for about twenty feet from the fire source so it would not do.

The second option, on the other hand, would be perfect for their needs. It created fireworks that practically filled the chamber with blinding flashes of light that caused many to be blinded and/or panicking at the sudden action.

While chaos ensued from the decoy tactic the now visible Irma and Will freed the bound Passling from the long stick he had been tied to which no longer had a fire underneath. The fire had been consumed by the spell and since it had been, it made it easier to free the prisoner/meal.

The scared Passling was smart enough to realize that he was being rescued and nearly jumped for joy until all three girls yelled, "Run!"

With this the group made their way to the stairway but as they did five of the Orcs had recovered from the blinding lights and were now heading after the group of four.

The Orcs had been slowed down by the panicking Goblins that got in their way but they were still closing the gap between them and their prey. The three girls and Blunk the Passling were half way up the stairs when Taranee tripped.

"We got you now human!" the Orc that was in the lead yelled out as it closed in on the wizard when all of a sudden a blast of pink and red energy struck it in the face killing it instantly.

Taranee looked back only to see Will flying past her with sword covered in the same pink and red energy. She slashed the next Orc and if it was not for the fact Will's sword was infused with her eldritch energy it might have survived but that was not the case.

The last three were shocked and confused at this sudden attack plus they were to busy pushing aside the corpses of their fallen allies to see Will continuing her assault. The third Orc's final sight was Will's blade coming down on top of his head just before it split down the middle.

To free her blade from the skull it was imbedded in Will's foot slammed into the dead Orc's chest and pulled back on her weapon at the same time. This not only freed her weapon but also sent the dead Orc's body flying back into one of the still living ones and was making a struggle to deal with sudden weight.

The fifth Orc on the other hand was now trying to attack the half-elf who had just slain three of its comrades in a great rage. "Die half breed!" It roared as it swung its sword at Will.

Will blocked the swing but the attack partially damaged the blade by the sheer force of the blow. It also made Will stumble back wards and land next to Taranee. The raging Orc was about attack again but Will recovered enough to thrust her sword into its heart.

The Orc had a look of horror on its face as its last thoughts were of it realizing it had been killed by a mere half-elf. As Will tried to free her weapon though it snapped, the damage from before had taken its toll on the blade.

Will looked at the broken sword that was still left in her hand thinking Susan would be mad at her for breaking her gift until she heard Taranee and Irma scream, "WILL!"

This made the half-elf look up to see the last Orc still alive thrusting its spear at her, striking her right in the middle of the chest. The force of the blow made Will stumble against the wall of the stairway and the spear was being readied to deliver another blow. To counter Will dropped the remains of her broken weapon to fire an eldritch blast from each hand. The two bolts were more the enough to kill the Orc before it could attack again.

Taranee had finally got back to her feet and was rushing over to Will as was Irma; both were worried about her injury as they asked rather loudly. "Are you alright?" Then noticed Will was not bleeding at they checked the spot where Will was hit.

"What the?" A confused Irma said and she moved some of torn fabric of Will's tunic out of the way to see the chain shirt underneath "Is that…" The ranger started to ask when the Passling known as Blunk yelled out, "Mithral! Trade with Blunk for pretty mithral?"

Will still recovering just grumbled out, "Need to keep moving." And started heading up the stairs as the others heard what sounded like a large fight was happening down in the chamber. Most likely the confusion from Taranee's spell had them temporally fighting among them selves. This meant they should do as Will said and keep moving and hope they could meet up with the others and get some distance from here, before the four races could organize them selves again.

Once the reached the top they saw Hay Lin, Cornelia and Elyon waiting for them. "Shouldn't you guys be hiding" Irma said as Taranee started looking through her pockets for something.

Elyon was the first to answer Irma's question, "We wanted to be able to provide cover fire if they were following you, glad to see they are not. What is all that noise though?" The princess asked, hearing the distant sounds of the battle below.

Irma smirked, "Taranee put on a little light show for them and now they are so panicked they are fighting among them selves for the moment." As she said this Taranee found what she was looking for and took out a wand.

Taranee then pointed the wand at the entrance to the stair way and suddenly a large stone slab appeared inside the stairway, just on the other side of the doorframe. "There, that should buy us some time once they get their act together."

Irma looked at Taranee with slight annoyance, "You could not have done that back at the bottom of the stairs because?" This made Taranee back away as she squeaked out, "I…forgot I had that wand."

"How could you forget about something like that? It's not like a lot people carry a wand that can cast the spell Wall of Stone with them every where, you know!" Irma growled out until Will spoke up just loud enough for every one to hear. "We need to keep moving."

With that the half-elf started heading down the hall leaving Irma and Taranee worried and the other girls confused. "Why dose Will look so depressed?" Elyon asked as they watched Will walk away.

Irma thought back to the fight and knew it was two things that had caused Will to become depressed. One was the sword that Susan had given her had been destroyed and Irma knowing how half-elves were treated, getting a present like that was probably very important to Will. The second, and possibly the biggest of the two, was that Will had shown something that she had most likely wanted to be kept hidden, Will was a warlock.

Any one in the group would know what an eldritch blast was if they saw it but Irma knew better than most of the group. After all, the type of ranger she was trained to be was an Arcane Hunter and warlock fell under that category so she knew what Will was the second Will used her powers.

'She probably kept it a secret out of fear of us hating her for it.' Irma thought to her self then answered Elyon's question. "Probably just realizing she took the life of a few Orcs, plus her sword got destroyed in the fight. From what I could tell it was probably a present from Susan so Will's upset she lost it so soon." It was a bit of a white lie but Irma thought it best to wait until they were safely above ground before telling them what really happened.

Unfortunately a very stupid Passling decided to open his mouth, "Why warlock need sword? Warlock's power did better then sword." This made Will freeze in her tracks, now the rest knew her secret and both Irma and Taranee were trying to refrain them selves from murdering the stinky creature.

"Warlock? What warlock? No one here has warlock powers." Hay Lin said in a state of confusion until Cornelia spoke up. "I think it means Will." This was said in tone that indicted a level of fear that every one understood why. Cornelia had been taught by her mother to be wary of all warlocks. But at least she was never encouraged to hate them much to the relief of the other girls.

But before any one could say any thing else a loud bang was heard over where the stone slab was and saw a Bugbear was starting to smash through the obstacle. Out of reflex Will unleashed another blast of eldritch power from both hands but this only wounded the Bugbear, not kill it.

This was because Bugbears possessed much tougher bodies then Orcs but the blast still did major damage. While Will unleashed another blast she yelled out to the others, "Get moving!" The others did as she ordered and started running while Will finished off the Bugbear only to see several Goblins were right behind it. Now that the bigger creature was out of the way they were clawing through the opening most likely to attack the group.

Will did not move though and was unleashing blast after blast, taking down Goblins with single shots but their numbers were getting them closer to attack range. "Will, try following your own advice!" The half-elf heard Irma yelling behind her as the ranger had come to the half-elf's side.

Will's shock at this caused her not to notice that a Goblin was leaping at her but Irma cut it down before it could touch the red headed girl. Irma was not alone as once again Elyon, Taranee and Hay Lin were lined to unleash three Burning Hand spells at the same time.

Irma grabbed Will and pulled her out of the way and the three cone shaped blasts of fire roasted the incoming Goblin army as the flame swept over them. One last enemy, a Hobgoblin, came charging through after the flames had dispersed and was coming at them fast.

Just as Will fired off another eldritch blast to stop it a stream of flames shot past her and hit the Hobgoblin at the same time as the blast. Will looked back to see Cornelia hand was covered in flames.

"Might not be able hit multiple targets like Burning Hands but Produce Flame is still a good spell…Just so you know its going to take a while to get used to the warlock thing, it was kind of sudden you know." The druid said in tone that indicated friendship but the years of built in fear were still present.

The others knew this was still major progress and giggled as Will asked, "You mean none of you hate me?" Which Cornelia answered for the whole group by saying, "Of course not, silly."

The look on the Druid's face turned serious quickly though as she said, "Here they come again!" And with that Cornelia cast a spell called Entangle to make small vines grow out of the stony floor and wrap around the ankles of several Orcs, Goblins and Hobgoblins.

Once again chaos followed and the races present started fight each other as they got in each other's way to break free. It seemed teamwork and cooperation didn't mean much to these races. "We were afraid of these clowns?" Irma said as the group started running down the hallway.

Once they reached a four-way intersection Blunk said, "Follow Blunk! Blunk know secret short cut." And went down the path to the right. The others knew one thing, if a Passling said something like this to you during a crisis it was probably a good idea to listen to it.

The group followed after Blunk but not before Taranee used the wand that could cast Wall of Stone to create another stone barrier to slow the enemy down. Taranee had caught up just in time to see the Passling looking at a dead end as if something was there.

"Some short cut." Irma said in annoyance but then noticed Will walking up to the wall and pushed a spot on the wall and heard click. A section of the wall opened up and every one looked at her. "What? My fault my eyes are good at noticing these things?"

Both Irma and Hay Lin had to admit they heard both Elves and half-elves had this special ability to notice things like hidden switches and such, but never saw it in action until now. 'Wish I had those kind of eyes.' They both thought to them selves as the group entered the passage.

As they entered Blunk closed the passage behind them and traveled the dark hallway with only Cornelia's Produce Flame spell for light. After a few minutes they entered what could easily call a treasure chamber with all the gold, jewels, weapons and armour in the room.

"Where did you get all this you little thief?" Irma said as she looked around the room that got a counter statement from Blunk. "Not thief, businessman! Besides this all here before Blunk was."

"Ya right, you little smuggler." The ranger said as she continued to look around, once again getting another protest. "Discount Importer!"

As Irma looked around she said, "Well if this was all here before you were then it's alright for us to take some of it. Will, lets see if we can get a replacement sword in here for you." She called over her shoulder getting every one's attention, especially Blunk's.

For a moment the Passling looked like he was going to protest but then jumped behind a pile of the loot and started digging around. After few minutes, Blunk popped out the top of a pile like a jack in the box, holding up a single edged long sword much like Will's old one.

He then climbed out of the pile and brought it over to Will holding it out for her to take. "Warlock save Blunk so give this as thanks, please don't let mean boy take Blunk's other treasures." This made the others laugh as Irma let out a feral scream as she chased after the Passling for calling her a boy.

After they calmed Irma down Will drew the sword from the sheath to reveal a mithral blade. "Wow." Will said as she made few gentle swings with the lighter then normal blade. The others were also surprised at the blade as well.

"What is it with you and mithral?" Irma teased making Elyon, Hay Lin and Cornelia look at her as if asking her what she meant. "She says my armour is made of mithral as well, I'm not so sure though. Why would Susan give me something so valuable?" Will said as she sheathed her new weapon.

"Susan probably wanted to make sure you stayed safe so she gave you better then normal armour. It was her who told you to wear it under your shirt though right?" Elyon asked as the girls rested before asking the Passling how this was a short cut in they were in a small chamber with only one entrance.

Will nodded her head yes and realized that must have been why Susan told her to wear it under her clothes so the others did not make a big deal of it or point it out to her. 'But why is she protecting me like this?' The half-elf thought to her self but then got her mind back on getting out of these ruins quickly.

"We need to get going, is there another passage in here Blunk?" Will asked and got a nod from the green creature that then pushed a hidden switch in the wall that lead to small room. In the room was strange circle on the floor that Taranee pointed out was a teleport circle.

Blunk added that it would take them back to the top floor. As they activated the circle they heard the sound of something coming down the hall and saw Goblins entering the treasure chamber. The girls knew the Goblins must have found the switch but fortunately they were already teleporting out of there.

As they appeared in the new circle Blunk screamed out, "My treasures!" This got him a knock over the head from Irma. "Rather be back over a roasting fire?" She reminded him. This knocked some sense back into Blunk but he was still mopping.

They did not stick around for long knowing the Goblins would figure out how to use the circle them selves soon enough. As they re-entered the top floor both Irma and Hay Lin noted it must have been a part of a section they had not been in the first day.

"Looks like I need to make a few changes to my maps." Hay Lin said as they started to move again as they watched Blunk move to avoid activating any new traps that where on this route. The others knew the rouge/wizard was only joking but she seemed to lack Irma's knack for it during tight spots.

They thought they were home free until a large group of Orcs and Hobgoblins lead by a Bugbear blocking the path out of the ruins. Behind them the Goblins from earlier was coming up behind them leaving the group caught in the middle.

Will quickly came up with a plan to get them out of this mess and said to the group. "Okay, Elyon, Taranee, and Hay Lin clear us a way to the exit with the usual formation. Cornelia, you and Snowflake back them up. Irma, you and me will have to deal with the Goblins." This shocked every one how Will took charge, but they had to admit she did have battle plan that could work.

Will and Irma got ready to fight the Goblin army waiting for the charge. Both girls kept enough distance apart to fight freely but still close enough to block the Goblins from attacking the others.

The Goblins on the other hand were not looking for an up and close battle and opted for a range one as they starting firing arrows or launching small stones from sling shots at them. Will countered by firing back with her eldritch blasts, making them stop after several of them fell to the energy attacks.

The Goblins were forced to move into close range and try to swarm the two warriors but the Goblins were strong in numbers, but not in body and the hallway made it impossible for more than three or four to fight at a time. This made it easy for Irma and Will to cut them down quickly.

While they dealt with the Goblins the magic users were performing their combined Burning Hands spell to clear a path but there were too many. All the waves of fire did was keep the enemy at bay and Taranee was already running low on magic from her earlier exploits.

Will and Irma could not help them because every time they got rid of one group of Goblins another came up to take it's place. From some of the injuries a few had, it showed that they were not taking the time to avoid the traps further back, meaning enough of them where charging ahead that the traps could not kill them all.

"Irma, this is not good, at this rate they will over run us with sheer numbers once the others run out of magic." Will said, getting a grim nod from the ranger. "Ya, if the others don't bust us through soon, we're toast!" Irma replied, as she fought the Goblins horde.

The two kept fighting the Goblins until one dove at Will with a knife and struck Will in the left shoulder. This one must have been a stronger then normal Goblin because the knife managed to penetrate Will's mithral chain shirt making Will let out a scream of pain.

Irma, in a fury let a feral scream and cut the Goblin down before it could enjoy its small victory. The other Goblins started to shake with fear as the ranger turned her rage on them and started cutting them down in a flurry of slashes from her double-bladed sword.

The others looked back to see Will was hurt but could not stop their attack or they would be attacked by the second group of enemies. But both Taranee and Hay Lin suddenly dropped to their knees showing they had both run out magic.

Taranee had higher reserves then Hay Lin because her sole focus on wizardry while Hay Lin was trained in two classes so she ran out magic more quickly. But those two second grade spells from earlier had finally taken their toll on the more powerful wizard and now only Elyon could hold off the enemy.

Elyon had even higher reserves then Taranee due to her being a Gifted with both Cleric and Sorcerer classes but even she would reach her limit soon. Cornelia tried to help but all of her combat based spell were single targets only and not of much help.

Will had sheathed her sword and was using her one good arm to fire eldritch blasts at the Goblins while Irma cut them down but it was starting to look bad for the group. Elyon and Cornelia were both running low on magic. Taranee and Hay Lin completely empty and would be forced to fight in melee combat soon which was not their strong point. Irma was fighting against the Goblins with only Will to offer some level of support with her blasts.

The only ones not fighting were Irma's hawk, Taranee's owl, Hay Lin's cat, Snowflake and Blunk. The first three would have been of no use in this, while the large white tiger had to wait for the soon to come melee battle and Blunk being a Passling was not much of a warrior.

'So this is how it ends huh? Being killed by a bunch of smelly, ugly creatures and failing to protect my first real friends my own age? I got us into this mess and now they are going to pay for it." Will thought to her self bitterly. Susan, Sade, Abele and Yan Lin along with rest of the others girls' families will probably be out of their mind with rage at her if they find out it was her fault trying to pull of the insane rescue attempt. They would probably never know though, not unless there was spell to see into the past because none of the group was going to live to tell the tale.

Just as things looked their bleakest though, it seemed fate had other plans in store for the six girls. The blast of another Burning Hands spell swept over Orcs, Hobgoblins, and Bugbears from where the exit/entrance to the ruins would be.

Then as if to add even more hope to the girls a loud, deep voice yelled, "CHARGE!" Then a man in his mid thirties with long shaggy hair and beard dressed in half-plate armour and wielding a bastard sword dove into the enemy cutting them down with ease. A bastard sword was a bigger version of long sword and if one had special training could wield it in one had just as easily as its smaller counter part and this man showed he had such training.

Right after the man charged in a large blue creature joined it wielding a massive great axe and also dressed in half plate armour and letting out a loud battle cry as it started hacking away at the enemy. Every one but Will and Blunk instantly recognized these two, "Sir Vathek! Sir Julian!" Elyon cried out at the sight of the two warriors.

A few moments after the princess cried this out, four more joined the battle but were much younger, each were about 15 years old. But instead of joining the fight with the older men these four were joining the fight against the Goblins. The first was an Elf who was letting loose a flurry of arrows that struck down several of the small creatures while easily keeping Irma out the path of the deadly projectiles.

The Elf had a strangely greyish tone to his skin and was bald and was dressed in a purple tunic and gray pants and it seem he was of the ranger class. Irma looked back to yell out in joking tone, "Aldarn, you show off!"

This got her a grin from the Elvin ranger as the other three shot past him to dive into the fray along side Irma. The first was a boy with shoulder length reddish brown hair, brown eyes and was wearing leather armour and wielding an Orc Double-Axe, an axe version of a double bladed sword.

"Nigel?!" Taranee gasped in shock as the boy shot past her giving a grin before he started slaughtering the Goblins with speed and power greater then that of Irma's abilities.

The next one was a boy with black hair, blue eyes and dressed in a bright red and green coloured tunic and pants. On his back was a lute and he was wielding a long sword against the Goblins with moderate ease. All these marked him as a member of the Bard class, but did not look like he was going to make use of his music magic for a while due to the intense battle ahead of him.

The last one was boy with brown messy hair and green eyes and was dressed in a brown trench coat, white shirt, brown pants and brown leather boots. On his back was the sheath to the bastard sword he was wielding in his hands right now and cut down foe after foe.

"Ah! It's getting crowded in here!" Irma yelled out as she started having trouble attacking with three new comers joining the battle. "That's why we are falling back. Matt, Nigel and Aldarn, cover me while I get Princess Elyon and her friends out of here. Irma, go get the others. I'll help the red head." The one in the trench coat ordered.

This got a nod of acceptance from Aldarn and Nigel but the bard who Will assumed was Matt spoke up, "No fair you get to save the pretty one while we have to fight these ugly things." This made the two others boys laugh and Will blush a deep red at the comment.

Caleb ignored the comment but Irma continued the torment as she added, "Careful Caleb, you don't want Lady Susan to get the wrong idea that you're flirting with her favourite servant." This made Will blush even deeper and make her become light headed.

Caleb shot a glare at Irma that said, 'Just go get the others.' Then swept Will off her feet and carried her bridal style out of the ruins. Will all the while was trying to keep from fainting knowing Irma would have a field day if that happened.

As the girls made their way out side with Will in Caleb's arms the other three boys and the two older warriors followed after them. Once out side Caleb put Will down and stood in front of the passage. He then let loose a Burning Hands spell to incarcerate any of Goblins, Hobgoblins, Orc and Bugbears stupid enough to have followed them. Right after he was done Taranee used the last bit of magic that was in the wand to create another wall of stone to seal of the entrance/exit. Just to be safe though Vathek pushed a massive boulder right in front of the stonewall using almost inhuman strength to do so.

"That was way to close." Taranee said getting a groan of agreement from the others girls. Caleb had once again picked up Will and took her to the shade of a near by tree followed by the one Elyon called Julian. Once Will was placed in the shade of the tree she tried to pull the knife that was still in her shoulder out but was stopped by Julian. "Lets me do that, Aldarn bring over some of your bandages and herbs would you?" He called over to the Elf.

Once Aldarn had come over they gave Will a piece of leather to bite down on then pulled out the dagger. Will let out muffled scream of pain as they did so, then started to carefully remove her tunic and armour.

As Julian treated Will's injured shoulder Aldarn examined the knife and said, "Yup, normal Goblin fever inducing poison coating the blade. Nothing lethal it should wear off in few hours, especially with those herbs to help lesson the effects." The Elvin ranger said to Julian and Caleb.

Will had stiffened a bit when she heard the word poison but once she knew it was not lethal she felt better. Until the first signs of the poison kicked and made her start to feel ill. Julian stayed by Will's side while Caleb took off his trench coat and used it as a blanket to keep Will warm.

Julian then asked the girls to explain what happened. Once they were finished explaining Will managed weakly to speak up before Julian could respond "My fault…not theirs…punish…me…not…them." She said in the others defence. Will was starting to feel very weak because of the poison but like Aldarn had said it would only maker her ill for a few hours, nothing more.

Before the other girls could protest Will's words Julian signalled them to be silent for him to speak. "No, you did the right thing. In theory you did not do what you were told but if you did not then a certain little smuggler…" he started to say when a certain Passling yelled out, "Whole Saler!"

"…would be dead but it is up to your families, or in Will's case her care taker, to make the decision if any of you are to punished, not me." Julian finished as he ignored Blunk's protest like every one else did.

Once that was said Caleb went to stand guard with Vathek near the boulder just to make sure the ones sealed behind it did not try to dig them selves out. Before he got half way there Cornelia had ran up and wrapped her arms around him followed by a kiss right on the lips.

"Get a room!" Irma yelled at them, as Caleb broke free of the kiss staring at Cornelia in shock. When Caleb finally found his voice again he starts to say, "Lady Hale, what are…" But was cut off by a finger being placed on his lips.

"It is only fitting the brave knight gets a kiss from the damsel he rescued." The noble blooded druid said. This, of course, had Irma jumping in again with another comment. "So why is it that you and not Will that gets to kiss him then?"

This had Elyon, Hay Lin and Taranee giggle at this while Cornelia was glaring at Irma. Will on the other hand was looking downward as she thought to her self, 'Why would he want a kiss from me any way? I'm just an ugly half-elf warlock while Cornelia is of noble blood and prettier then me.'

Julian who was still sitting next to Will and could see the look of sadness on the girls face as she watched Cornelia flirt with Caleb, 'Ah, my son has yet another admirer. Wonder how long before he notices this young girl.' The man thought to him self.

Julian then pulled Will closer to him snapping her out of her train of thought as he said, "Rest, it will help you recover more quickly." He instructed. It did not take long for Will to do so in her worn out and weakened state and was soon sound asleep resting against Julian's shoulder.

An hour later Susan, Sade, Abele and Yan Lin teleported into the area to see the girls scattered around the area. Susan also noticed Will was lying against Julian and saw Will's armour was laying on the ground with dried blood covering the spot wear the knife hit.

The Elvin woman in a panic rushed over to Will's side while Sade started demanding answers. Julian retold the story and the four woman seemed to be a little upset but at the same time proud of the girls for their actions.

In Susan's case it was more pride and concern for her young charge. She was glad that Will not only managed to reveal her powers to the others, she also showed she had gained some level of confidence during the trip. The fact she was able to speak her mind enough to lead the girls on this little rescue mission was proof of that. 'Rest well Will, you have earned it.' Susan thought to her self as they all gathered around to teleport back to Susan's castle.

After they had left a shadowy figure in a pitch black cloak with the hood hiding his face appeared from his hiding spot among the trees about 20 feet away from were the group had been. If someone was around to see him they would heard him growl out. "I have finally found the little brat only to see she has found her way into the care of that woman." The man said, clenching his fists in anger.

"To make matters worse, those girls have ruined the plan of his highness by finding those stupid creatures already before they could launch even one attack. I better report back to his highness and alert him of this little mess. He will not be pleased to find that our plans will be pushed back several more months." The man added in another growled tone of voice as he held up his hand to activate the ring on his finger and teleport away.

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And there you go. Next chapter will be out next Monday.