Chapter 9

The highest towers of Malchior's castle were just starting to become visible above the leafy forest canopy when Starfire stopped, looking around suspiciously.

"What's wrong?" Robin asked, pulling the reins of his horse. The red-haired girl, who had been flying in front of him, held a finger to her lips.

"Shh," she warned, and everyone held their breath to see what she was listening to. A high pitched shriek in the distance rang in their ears.

"That's just a hawk," Gar told her, furrowing his brow in confusion.

"I don't know what this 'hawk' you speak of is," Starfire replied, looking up at the sky with a frown. "But it is not indigenous to this realm, I can assure you."

They were silent for a few minutes while they waited for whatever it was to pass over head. Slowly, three dark figures began to appear in the sky. Three large figures.

"What are those?" Robin asked in wonder.

Feathered wings spanned out six to seven feet on each side of the creatures, much like a very large bird. Their bodies, however, appeared vaguely human, despite the fact that their feet were clawed, and soft down covered them completely. Short, pointed beaks covered half of their faces. Two of the three were a red color, almost identical to Starfire's hair, and the third was a dark shade of black.

"I do not know," admitted Starfire, biting her lip nervously. "But I do not think they mean us well."

As if to prove her right, the black one swooped down screeching shrilly. Victor quickly dove out of the way, as the bird-creature's sharp talons were aimed at him. The horse he had been riding reared in surprise and bolted away.

"Get ready for it!" Robin ordered, instinctively taking his role as leader. The others didn't protest, and instead just got ready for the monster to attack again.

Lifting itself back into the air above them, the creature squawked at its companions, as if giving orders. With what looked almost like nods, they dove towards the ground, the dark one leading their flock.

"Go!"

On the loudly spoken command, they jumped into action.

Starfire's fists glowed as she created spheres of green energy in her hands to throw at their attackers. Few of her bolts of energy hit their targets, but they startled the creatures enough that they slowed in their descent.

Raven's hands became engulfed in darkness, and several rocks and loose branches around them began to float in the air. With a furious wave of her arm, the floating items flew towards the bird-creatures. Her attack hit them with more accuracy than Starfire's had, possibly due to the fact that the orange skinned girl's attack had disoriented them.

Victor flexed his muscles threateningly and cracked his knuckles in anticipation, as one of the bird-creatures fell with a high-pitched screech. As soon as it was within his reach, he swung one of his fists at it. The blow sent the monster into a tree, knocking it out.

Swinging the staff he had made the day before, Robin easily took out the other two by jumping into they air and delivering hard hits to their backs.

As they fell to the ground, it was clear that the second red bird was down for the count. But the third one, their dark leader, was still struggling to fight.

Pulling out his sword, Garfield used the hilt of his sword to force the bird-creature into unconsciousness.

"Why didn't you just kill it?" Victor asked, walking over to make sure the creature wasn't just playing dead.

Gar shrugged. "I couldn't kill an animal… not even if they attacked us first."

A small cry from Raven turned everyone's attention to where she stood, looking down at the first bird creature that had been taken down. Slowly, its bird-like features were changing. Feathers disappeared, and wings and talons turned into regular arms, legs and feet, until finally there was nothing there but a strange girl with the same tangerine skin and vibrant hair as Starfire.

The native gasped, and quickly kneeled down to examine the girl.

"She is of Tameranian blood," she confirmed. "She is one of the many that have been abducted by Malchior."

"That's amazing," Victor whispered, looking over at the second creature, as it also turned into a young woman.

As the third one also returned to her regular form, Starfire let out a delighted squeal and flew over.

"Do you know her?" Raven asked, watching as Starfire lovingly examined the third woman. Unlike the other two, her hair was jet black. Her skin though, was the same shade of orange.

"My sister," Starfire replied, gently feeling for a bump where Gar's sword had hit. She was relieved to find nothing there. "Blackfire. She went missing several months ago, though we just believe that she had run away. She was always, I believe in your language it is called, a rebel."

Robin nodded, and kneeled down next to her.

"Is this as far as you go?" he asked gently.

"What do you mean?" Starfire asked, looking up in confusion.

"Well, we have to keep moving," Robin explained. "But we can't take them with us."

"Then we shall leave them here," Starfire decided. "They are still strong Tameranian warriors. When they awake, they will be able to find the city by themselves."

Robin nodded, secretly pleased that she still wished to go with them.

"So, does anyone want to give up their horse?" Victor asked sheepishly. "Mine seems to have ran away."

"You can have mine," Gar offered excitedly.

"What? Are you sure?" Victor asked, frowning. "Are you sure you can keep up with those scrawny little legs of yours?"

"I'll just ride with Raven," he replied, ignoring the remark about his legs. Before Raven could protest, he had jump off his horse and scrambled up behind Raven. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he kicked at the horse's flank. "Let's go! No time to loose!"

Laughing, Victor climbed onto Gar's horse and they followed after Raven and Garfield.

-

"Curse them!" Malchior hissed angrily. "They managed to destroy my birds in less than ten minutes!"

He swiped an angry hand through the swirling mist he had been using to watch the events.

"What now?" Terra asked.

"I… don't know," admitted Malchior.

It was partially a lie though. He knew what he should do, but he didn't want to do it. He didn't think he could bare it if he scared Terra.

"Go to your room," he decided after a couple minutes of silence. "Lock your door and don't come out. No matter what, Terra, don't come out!"

Though it wasn't intentional, his last few words had come out loud and intimidating. Terra didn't even flinch.

"Why?" She asked, jaw set and defiance flashing through her eyes. "You're not going to go after them by yourself are you? Without any help?"

"I don't know what else to do," Malchior replied, slumping over his cauldron. "Please. Just… do it."

Sighing, Terra walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll go to my room," she agreed. "And I'll lock my door."

"And you won't come out until it's safe?"

"I'll go to my room, and I'll lock my door," she repeated. Before Malchior could continue pressing her to promise not to leave her room, she turned around and walked out the door.

-

"The sun's setting!" Victor cried out. "We're not going to make it!"

"Yes, we are!" Robin barked, spurring his horse to move faster. They had reached the green fields that surrounded Malchior's castle. The castle and the large stone wall protecting it was beginning to fade away before their very eyes.

It was a race against time, and as the sky grew darker, it became clear that it was a race they were not going to win. The wall appeared to be no more than mist when they reached the bottom.

Wasting no time, Raven quickly chanted a spell. Dark energy surrounded the five friends, lifting them off their horses, over the wall and across the moat.

It was gone.

All they could see was several acres of grass inside a circular moat. All five surged forward, desperately feeling at the air. They could feel cold, invisible stone beneath their fingers, but nothing to suggest a door.

"No…" Gar breathed, shaking his head. Next to him, Robin fell to his knees in defeat.

"We're behind enemy lines," the king muttered. "But not far enough."

"Can we not leave, and try again tomorrow?" Starfire asked hopefully, although the sadness on her face showed that she already knew the answer.

"No. By now, there's no way he hasn't sensed us," Raven answered, looking at the ground.

Victor clenched his fist, rocking slightly to the right. "After all that, we failed. We cannot have failed!"

In his angry disappointment, Victor raised his fist and pounded it heavily against the invisible castle. A dull, woody sound made everyone look over in surprise.

Stunned at what they had all heard, and what he had felt, Victor lightly rapped his hand in the same spot. He could feel the smoothness of polished wood beneath his knuckles, and the sound that resulted was not that of stone.

"A door!" Gar exclaimed, racing over to where Vic stood. The two boys excitedly felt around, feeling more confident as more and more wood was discovered. Gar stopped and suppressed a triumphant whoop as his hand landed on a large metal bar. Moving over, Victor got a strong grip on the metal and pulled back until the door opened.

Robin stepped forward, the possibility of victory once again in his view. He looked back at his companions, his team, and grinned. "Let's go."

Hey look! That was only, what, a week and a day or two? I'm being super speedy quick on this updating thing. Hopefully, this wasn't a fluke. Next update should be soon, I hope. I already started on the next chapter, and I'm hoping for it to be the most exciting chapter yet... hoping. As you may or may not be able to tell from that weird birdy bit at the beginning of the chapter, I'm not that great at writing action. I have such a clear idea in my head about what I want, but when I go to write it, it doesn't come out as stellar as I want it to. So, I guess we'll see.

Tammy Tamborine