Viggo Mortenson is the voice of Adar, in case you haven't read my Big Book of OC's, in my profile. I loved him in Hidalgo; I wanted to see him play a cowboy again. XD Also, Danny Devito is the voice of Tishrei; his performance in The Lorax sold me there. It's perfect!

Not included in the Big Book are Nicole Kidman, providing the voice of Kislev, (who is slightly unhinged) and Maggie Smith as Nisan. When you imagine Minerva McGonagall's voice coming out of this odd old woman, you will agree that the fit is excellent. ;D

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The Wandering Third Clan

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It took a good long while for the paralysis spell to wear off a strong person—an hour and a half or more. Pi had spent the dark, frightening trip across the ruins praying that it would last long enough for the spell to wear off. Maybe she could have found the right split second to make an escape and run for help. But the spider skittered along at such a speed, the distance between the library and the garage was covered in less than an hour.

And to think, it had taken her three whole days to find her way back in the snow…

There was to be no movement on her own any time soon, that much was clear. Which was odd; because she had heard Alpha re-cast the spell on Dixie a few times over the trip. Whether it wore off her faster because her tininess, or because she had inherited the amazing strength of the fifth clan, or for some other reason or a combination of them, Pi couldn't fathom. All she knew for certain was that it was getting on Alpha's nerves, and that she wished she had a similar ability to shake the spell.

The spider carried the three of them right into the garage, which had been left lit with candlelight. It seemed that Alpha had spent the afternoon preparing especially for his meal in the morning. A small cage of sticks and twine had been constructed, its door open to welcome an occupant; and she immediately got a bad feeling that it was meant for her. A jagged, broken slab of concrete had been laid beside it, covered neatly with a scrap from an old tablecloth, like a primitive altar. Their talisman sat in silence on top of the cloth, humming and filling the air with that same malevolent buzzing. As if it had a voice of its own.

Alpha called out a command to his spider in the mother tongue, which Pi found she couldn't understand anymore. The thing came to a halt, its front arms still carrying her like a hunted beast. He dismounted, and walked a few steps to place the baby on the altar.

"Don't move," he warned her, as if she could understand, and turned back to lift Pi effortlessly into his arms. He carried her to the cage, which she now saw was only big enough for her to lie down or kneel inside. He carefully stuffed her into it and shut the door, baring it shut with another stick. Walking over to a different side of the rudely crafted cube, he reached through the bars and grabbed her by the wrists, tugging her closer.

"Poor, blessed Pi," he said absently. "It's a shame, all the trouble you've come into. Seems it just comes looking for you, doesn't it? How were we to know that the fifth clan would be this troublesome to us? And here, after you managed to conquer the third clan, at last, I thought we were finally a match for them."

He reached for a loose string, part of what was holding the wooden bars together, and began tying her wrist tight to the bar as he continued, "I suppose that was a slight miscalculation on my part. I keep wanting to believe that my priestess is strong and clever enough to face whatever is out there—she is an extension of myself, after all. I want you girls to be perfect, as long as you are serving me. Oh, it was the same with Mu. When things couldn't have been going better for her, she goes and gets herself ripped to shreds. And by those Jaco-Punks, no less.

"And so, it seems, it has gone with you, Pi," he continued, as he tied her other wrist to the opposing bar. "Better, perhaps, if someone had let that fearful 1 take your head off, after all. Tishrei let them slaughter your sister for me. But feh—I have to kill you myself, today.

"Well… Not myself, per se. You need replacing, after all. And now that your use is spent, Delta is the next oldest, am I correct? Don't kid yourself, girl; this was the way it had always been planned, and you know it. Don't worry, though. I'll make sure she's spared the pain of remorse, just like you were. Delta will be nothing but happy to harvest your soul for me. You'll make a fitting appetizer, for the child to follow.

"I can't remember eating such a meal in my whole life. And I do thank you for your compliance," he concluded, and rose to walk away. Pi tried and failed to lift her head to see where he was going, and hoped he wasn't going to fetch her sister. Thankfully no—he stopped short beside the altar and stomped his foot angrily.

"Be silent!" he snapped at the baby. "Damn you, be silent!"

And there was silence. Then the rustling of fabric against fabric. He had picked her up, which made Pi fell sick. If only her hands weren't tied, and if she could move, she might have killed him, herself.

"You'll spend the night toying with me like this, won't you," he hissed. "You little brat—you're worse than your father! I'll have to watch you closely all night, won't I? Fine. If your final wish is to be meddlesome, I'll be merciful and grant it. After all, how much damage could a bug-eyed, sniveling baby like you really cause in a few hours?"

Another brief pause, and then the gentle creaking of the spider's metal joints as the wizard sat upon it with Dixie in his arms.

"I shall play your game, 10 of the fifth clan. And I shall win. It will be a small price to pay, for how well you will serve me. Dawn will be delicious, indeed."

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Thank goodness, the light of the half-moon cast enough light to see the map by. They had been racing through the ruins for close to an hour, and they seemed to be making pretty good time. But they were now in an unfamiliar part of the city, running in the opposite direction they usually went. They were in the middle of a small neighborhood, in the middle of a suburb near the library. Pi's garage was in another neighborhood on the other side of the suburb.

The neighborhoods winded through the city like a maze. 5 had carefully mapped them all, and knew exactly where on his map they were. But one map could only be so detailed. There were so many opportunities to take shortcuts, to slip through abandoned homes or scramble under deteriorating fences, which could save them the time of winding through the maze. It was tempting…

But out in the dark, in a strange area, with nothing but the straight lines of their only map to guide them, it could also be too easy to get lost. With so much at risk, they decided together that it wasn't worth it. Better to do it right the first time, no matter how time consuming it was, than to have to waste time backtracking later. Even though her impatience was getting the better of her, 7 had to agree to this, as well. But it was also wearing her out, as anxiety ate away at her energy and resolve. After an hour and a half of dutifully staying the course, they had to stop for a short rest.

"We're doing really well, so far," 9 assured his friends as they sat down on the curb. "We've already covered a lot of ground, and as long as we keep sticking to the map, it'll stay that way. 5, how much longer, do you think?"

5 studied the map quickly, and sighed unhappily. It didn't matter how far they'd already come—the distance that remained between them and their destination made him want to weep with frustration. "Another three and a half hours, at this pace," he answered, shaking his head. "It is good time… I just wish there was a way to go faster."

Between them, 7 sighed wearily, lifting her helmet and letting her face sink into her hands, exhausted. "He took my baby," she whispered. "I can't believe he took my baby, and I couldn't do anything to stop him. Did you even see the way she looked at me…?"

5 hated to see his big sister so distraught; it was strange and awful. He wondered if he was somehow responsible for what had happened—he was sure he must be, in some way. But he kept that feeling to himself. If he said it out loud, his dear companions would only confirm what he knew in his heart to be true. None of this nightmare was his doing.

He rolled up the map and twisted around to stuff it back in his pack. Looking up and off into an adjacent house, he suddenly noticed something odd that filled him with hope. There was firelight flickering in a lower story window. Could it be…?

"Hey, guys, take a look at this."

They both looked up to see where he was pointing. When they noticed the light, they both gasped in surprise. 9 was so surprised—or perhaps alarmed—that he jumped to his feet.

"That can't be Alpha, can it? Do you think it's one of the other clans?" 7 wondered, daring to be hopeful.

Before her husband or her brother could answer, an arrow flew out of the sky and caught her helmet by its raised beak, sending it flying off her head and onto the sidewalk with a clatter. She snatched her spear from the ground and leapt to fighting stance, ready to fend off whatever was firing at them. 5 peered through the dim moonlight, looking for a target, glad that his crossbow was already loaded.

Too bad; I was saving this arrow for Alpha's ugly face…

"Who goes there?" a rugged voice called out, not a few yards away. It's owner moved suddenly out of a shadow, into sight. He was very dark in color, himself, and armed with an impressive longbow, so for a second they thought it was… But no. His eyes weren't glowing, and whatever his closure was, it wasn't bright enough to see in the dark. He also seemed to be wearing some kind of hat. This was certainly not the monster who had attacked them. He was a stranger. But who could he be?

The stranger crept forward a bit and asked again, "Who goes there? Who are you?"

9 made a face, squinting at the stranger… And then his face lit up. "Wait a minute. Adar? Is that you?"

The stranger suddenly lowered his bow and peered back at them. "9! What are you doing out here again?" he exclaimed, running up to meet them. "We hadn't planned on seeing you around for a good long time."

"It's a long story," 9 answered, shaking the man's hand.

"Well, it looks like you succeeded in that mission of yours, after all," Adar commented, noticing 5 and 7 behind him. "Sir, ma'am," he greeted, with a generous tip of his hat to each of them. It appeared to be a cowboy hat, salvaged from the wardrobe of a child's doll. And while it spoke silent volumes of Adar's personality, 5 was extremely confused. Beside him, his sister was already simmering.

"You know this man?" she angrily asked her husband, folding her arms defensively across her chest.

"Um… Again, it's a long story," he excused feebly, then turned right back to his friend. "That's the rest of the third clan in that house over there, isn't it?" he guessed, pointing down across the street where the fire glowed.

"Yessir, it is," Adar agreed brightly. "Best you all come and regroup with us. The clan's gonna be happy to see you again, 9; and your friends, too. It's been a long time since we've had any good company…"

Adar's whole being wilted as he made that last comment, drooping in despair that he didn't want to bother them with, but was too big to be hidden. A despair that needed comfort and love to heal. 5 knew that feeling all too well; of course he would know it when he saw it. What could have caused this man such deep and terrible grief?

But the cowboy shook his head lightly and resumed his friendly smile. "Anyway, y'all follow me on back. There's always room for a few more."

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As they followed the calico-skinned stranger that 9 had called Adar, 7 wasn't certain which emotion she was plagued with the strongest. Confusion? Impatience? Fury? Betrayal? All of a sudden, her anger at the monster who had kidnaped her child was contending for priority, against her anger at her husband, of all things.

Adar seemed nice enough, and 9 was apparently more than willing to trust him; but it wasn't the man that bothered her so deeply. She couldn't get her head around it, that her own husband had known this stranger and all his people, and had never mentioned it, in any way, ever to her. Now, what else did he know that he hadn't shared with her?

They were married now—their first anniversary was coming up at the end of the season. They were supposed to share these sorts of things with each other. As much as it stung, she wasn't sure if she was completely angry with him, yet; all she knew for sure was that she felt very, very poorly about it. Perhaps even too poorly to open up to this stranger, no matter how good a host he turned out to be.

"So," Adar commented to 5, "you're the one-eyed brother my friend spoke so highly of?"

"Um, I guess I am," 5 clumsily agreed. Surely, he felt just as conflicted as his sister did. But to his stammering, Adar smiled brightly.

"9 spoke highly of you all, when he was with us last year," he recalled. "He said that five of you had been killed, and that he was on some quest to bring you all back. Some of us hadn't believed it was possible. But when our Nisan said that it was completely possible, I knew at once that he would succeed. Looks like some people owe me something," he explained with a playful wink. Then he turned to look at 7, and she instantly noticed a twinkle of wonder in his eyes.

"And you're his lovely lady, of course. He spoke highest of you. In fact, he wouldn't shut up about you, if we gave him an inch."

"Mh-hm," she answered flatly. Her obvious mood only discouraged the man for a split second, and then his smile returned, knowing and a bit mischievous.

"He told us that the woman he loved was so stunning, so perfectly glorious, that even when she was mad enough to bite his head off, she was still the most beautiful creature on God's green earth. I can see now that he was right about that. You are a formidable and beautiful woman, indeed. He's lucky to have a woman like you on his arm. Lucky rascal, indeed," he concluded, giving 9 a playful punch.

"Cut it out," he insisted bashfully. Before he could go on insisting that his friend was exaggerating, 7 looked over at him with one eyebrow raised quizzically.

"You said all those things about me? Really?"

"Well, it's the truth," he answered sheepishly.

That was a little too much for her mood to stand against. Feeling mightily flattered, she gave him the barest of smiles, which she couldn't help but let grow into a grin. She was still less than pleased with him; but perhaps she would try to be understanding. The very notion made her mindset turn in the complete opposite direction. Something truly important must have happened with this third clan, for her 9 to hide them so well. That must be it. Why else would he be so secretive all this time?

She hadn't realized that her husband—who she thought she knew so well—was so good at keeping secrets. You learn something new every day, she decided.

Adar led them to the house where his clan was camped, and they followed him in silently, marking their surroundings as best they could. Without the help of the milky moonlight outside, it was very dark and hard to see. But their host seemed to know right where they were going. Soon he brought them around a corner and into a small dining room; across the room was an open doorway that led to the kitchen. The firelight shone quite clearly from there, accompanied by many voices.

"Whenever we come this way, we always make sure to make camp in this house," Adar explained as they walked across the floor. "It is a fine house, to be sure; but Tishrei, our elder, believes the humans who once lived here were of our people."

"Your people?" 7 asked, curious in spite of herself.

"We were created by one if Israel's children," Adar answered proudly. "He was of the Hebrew nation, and so are we. We weren't the most beloved people, there at the end. But we do what we can to keep our heritage alive, until this land can sustain humankind again."

"That's what we've been doing, too," 5 agreed, trying to be friendly. "We live in a library, cataloguing and restoring old books."

"A library? That big black stone building on the other side of the suburb? You live there?"

"You know it?"

"From a distance. We were in that area, back in the wintertime; just after the new year began. I wish we had known you were there. We would have liked to see you."

7 swallowed hard, suddenly feeling a little sick. Pi had said before, that the third clan had tried—almost successfully—to kill her. That had been the night before they had found her unconscious in the snow, beaten half to death with stones.

I had nearly forgotten about that, she thought, feeling uneasy. They were probably well within their rights, she was still buried under that spell. But still…

She had no time to ponder that further. A small streak of tan rushed up out of the dark and threw itself onto 9, tackling him to the ground with an overjoyed squeal.

"9! 9, you're back! You're alive!" cheered the voice of a little boy. "Mum said there was no way you'd survive, and she sure had Hadassah scared, but I knew you could do it! I just knew it!"

9 sat up and hugged the boy right back. "It's good to see you, too, Daniel," he said in a much lower, contained voice. "Wow, look at you! Have you gotten bigger?"

"Nope, but I've got new patches," the child answered, showing off several mended cuts and different colored patches on his elbows and forearms. "Look at 'em all! I'm all daring and dangerous!"

Adar gave a short, amused laugh. "We're thinking of calling him Joseph, from now on. He'll be nothing but a coat of many colors, the way he carries on."

7 wasn't as amused as the others. Her mood returned with a vengeance, and she began to tap her foot suspiciously, earning her husband's undivided attention.

"If this is yours…"

Mortified, 9 jumped right to his feet. "No, no, no, no, no! It's not like that, I swear!"

"I'm afraid that he's mine, now," Adar interjected, scooping the little boy up and planting him on his hip. "Everyone, this is Daniel. Daniel, this is some of 9's family—that's 5, his brother, and his wife, 7. Say hello."

The boy was silent for a long moment, his wide, wondrous eyes stuck on 7. "She's real pretty, Adar," he whispered shyly.

Even she had to give the child a smile. He was so adorable! But instead of smiling at Daniel's antics, 9 made an odd face.

"What do you mean, he's yours, now? Cheshvan's his father. Where is he?" he asked, sounding very concerned. At the mention of it, Daniel gave Adar a pitiful, baleful look.

"Yeah, uncle, where is dad? If you tell them, will you tell me, too? Will you tell me now? Please?"

"Daniel, that's enough," Adar insisted, his being suddenly darkening. He set the boy back on his feet and said as evenly as he could, "Why don't you go find your grandfather, and tell him we have some unexpected guests?"

Daniel looked disappointed, but nodded his head excitedly, happy to be useful. He dashed off to do as he was told, leaving the four adults at a standstill in the dark.

"What was that all about?" 5 wondered nervously.

"We'll tell you as a family," Adar answered sadly, shaking his head and leading them onward. He was suddenly so upset. What on earth could have happened to these people?

Another member of the third clan met them in the doorway. It was a woman with skin of dove-gray calico, and threads of soft yellow hair in a braid down her back. She wore a light blue bandana tied around her head, which framed a lovely but very sad face.

"Oh, look who's back," she noted blankly. "We hadn't expected to see you again, Bearer."

"So I heard," 9 agreed, just as blankly, and extended his hand. "How are you, Kislev?"

The woman didn't move to shake his hand; instead, her eyes darted around nervously and she changed the subject a little too quickly. "My son hasn't been so animated in months. It is good to see you alive, after all."

"Wow," 5 commented. "They really didn't have much faith in you, did they?"

"Well, in their defense, I sounded like a lunatic."

"Yes, you did," she remarked, examining her guests with a calculating eye. "And you actually succeeded? You're crazier than I thought."

Adar ended that dialogue by putting his arm around her. "My sister-in-law, Kislev," he introduced. "She's Daniel's mother." To this, she finally gave them a proud smile.

"Then… You're married to his brother?" 7 commented, quickly figuring the family tree. Before she had finished speaking, Adar hurried to hush her; but it was too late. Kislev's smile turned to an icy glare, and she began to shake a little. Without another word, she pushed her brother away and stormed off furiously.

"I should have warned you," he said, sounding exasperated. "We can't really talk about my brother, not in front of her; and not in front of the children, either. She's forbidden it, and we respect that wish. She's only trying to protect them."

"Adar…" 9 laid a gentle hand on his friend's shoulder. "What happened? What on earth happened to you?"

"Come inside, and we'll try to explain," he answered, leading them forth. "I doubt even you would believe something this fantastic."

"Try us. You might not believe some of the things that have happened to us, recently."

Inside the kitchen, it was shadowy from the firelight, shining from a cabinet beneath the sink. Wherever the walls weren't cast in flickering shadows, they glowed red and orange from the flame. It was also a little smoky; but the broken sink pipes provided a little ventilation for the initial shelter. The clan sat inside in relative comfort, tending the fire and seeing to their belongings. It seemed that they had just arrived and were still in the process of settling down for a while.

But at seeing their Adar return with an old friend and two strangers in tow, they all jumped up and ran to meet them. As the clan accosted them with questions and greetings and excited introductions, 7 couldn't help but notice that this family looked a lot like her own in many ways. There were men and women, girls and boys, brothers, sisters, parents, and even a giant of their own.

But she also couldn't help noticing that their number was smaller. She counted Adar, who the clan called their Bearer; Kislev and Daniel made three, and his little sister Hadassah made four; Iyar the giant woman, Adar's sister, made five; and paint-stained Av, a teenaged girl, made six. The children, she quickly learned, hadn't even been made their creator—they had been carried and born from their mother, like Dixie had been. So, technically, that only made four.

7 wasn't sure how she was suddenly so good with figuring numbers, or why she understood their importance. In any case, the third clan was clearly missing people. That was ominous. She took a moment to listen as they spoke to her husband; they seemed a little too glad to see him alive.

"We really thought you were done for, kid."

"Yeah; if your mission hadn't killed you, we were scared that something… else would."

"You must be some kind of clever, and very sneaky. Not to mention lucky."

Something had this clan scared to its core, and 7 bet her own life that it was something to do with Alpha and Pi. Or Mu, or whoever else he had brainwashed before. Likely, she realized with a sinking stomach, it explained why some of their clan was missing.

"Silence!" called a strong, deep voice from the cabinet. Everyone turned around to see another three people coming out to join them. The two men were definitely older in age, and looked very much alike, with heads and torsos of Adar's brown calico, and limbs of neutral blue. The tops of their heads were both capped with odd looking caps, woven from white threads, and their grizzled faces were partially hidden by long, sage-like beards. They were probably brothers, maybe even twins. The one feature to tell them apart was the purple cloak around the older brother's shoulders, and the staff he leaned rather heavily on as he walked.

The two men flanked an older woman, colored just like them; except where the men were brown, she was pure, crisp white. The threads of her black hair were long and tumbled gracefully around her face, though she wore a large shawl over her head and wrapped around her shoulders. She had a vacant sort of look on her face, a look that was strange and very familiar at the same time. And she walked on the arm of the cloaked man, regally as a queen. It appeared at once that they there married. Little Daniel trotted along at her other side, holding her hand with a cheerful smile.

Add three to the original four… That still only made seven. Two were still missing.

"Look, yaya, you were right!" the boy said to the woman, pointing to the newcomers. "He did come back, just like you said!"

The woman nodded vaguely and patted Daniel on the head. Her husband broke away from her and ran to them, laughing joyously all the way. He picked 9 out of the crowd and squeezed him into a bear hug from which there was no hope of rescue.

"You bet he came back, you bet he came back," the old man cheered. "Ha, we knew you couldn't stay away for too long, kid! Welcome back!"

"Tishrei, please!" 9 gasped, trying desperately to squirm out the old man's iron grip. "I can't breathe!"

"Oh, belay that," he answered, thumping the younger man back on his feet. "You've got no lungs for that," he pointed out merrily, as if it were the time for joking around. Then he turned slightly and noticed his other guests, and his grin grew even wider.

"And of course, you completed your mission! I knew you would," he babbled on, bent on crushing them as well. Before he could, 7 threw up her hands in defense.

"Please don't," she insisted. He courteously backed off at once, but retained his smile.

"Personal space issues, I remember you," he teased, snatching her hand and shaking it vigorously. "Tishrei, elder of the Jaco-Punks. And you must be the legendary 7, my dear. No one else could be as glorious."

"Yeah, hi," she mumbled back, not sure what else to say while he shook her hand back and forth like a fish. It was nice to know that some of this clan had had faith in her husband. At that same time, a long while back, she had lacked that faith, herself.

When Tishrei finished his earthquake of a handshake he turned to 5, who immediately slunk back behind his sister, using her as a shield.

"It's alright, I'm good, you don't have to…touch me," he insisted feebly.

All the third clan took a long moment to enjoy his antics—even Kislev ventured a new smile, trying hard not to laugh. But looking at her husband, 7 found that 9 was not impressed or amused; mostly, he looked anxious and worried. She felt the same. And he seemed to understand it just by looking at her face. He cleared his throat, still catching his breath.

"Tishrei, look at me, please."

The crowd quieted down, and the old man turned to face him. "Why so serious, my friend? This is a happy moment, is it not?" he insisted with a wave of his arm.

"I have a few questions for you, sir."

"…Don't you always?" Tishrei replied, his smile turning a bit rueful.

"Just three or four, for now, if you don't mind."

Tishrei nodded slowly, and then beckoned teenaged Av to his side. "Take the children back to the cupboard, my dear. We wouldn't want them here for this."

Av sighed, looking put out. "Must I?"

"I'm afraid so, bubby. It won't be long."

The girl rolled her eyes, and scooped toddling Hadassah into her arms. "I never get to do anything around here," she muttered as she walked off, taking Daniel by the hand as she went.

"Now then," Tishrei resumed once the youngest were out of earshot, "what is it you wish to ask me, 9?"

"First of all: earlier this year, around January, you were near a library, yes?"

Tishrei was silent for a moment, thinking back. "Hm… As a matter of fact, now that you mention it. You were in that area, as well?"

"We live in that library."

"You don't say…"

"What were you doing out there? Isn't it out of your way?"

"We're a nomadic clan, 9, and you know that. We were on our way to our winter dwelling; we would have been there sooner, but we were trapped by the snow. When it let up in January, we were finally able to travel. It's a shame that we missed you."

He didn't sound very enthusiastic about that, though.

"Did anything unusual happen on your way?" 9 asked coolly. "Did you… leave anything behind?"

The entire clan gave a short gasp in unison, realizing where this was going. Tishrei's face went dark and frightened.

"…Did you find something?"

"You could say that."

The old man shook himself and laughed nervously. "Not… Not a girl, am I right?"

"She wasn't dead, Tishrei."

"No. Don't tell me—Pi is still alive?"

"I'm afraid she is."

"Very alive."

"She is definitely alive."

The crowd erupted into fearful murmuring. Near the back, Tishrei's wife hung her head sadly, as if she had known this would happen. Nearer to the front, Kislev began to tremble violently. Adar and Iyar noticed at once and ran to steady her; as soon as her sister's large arms had her safe, the poor woman collapsed and fainted.

Pi had definitely worked her magic here, once.

"Oy vey," Tishrei muttered despairingly. "We thought we had destroyed her! And now she's taken one of yours, hasn't she? And after you've worked so hard… Oh, this is my fault!"

"It's not how you think," 9 interrupted. "We managed to escape her magic the first time. But this time it's gone deeper. And it's gotten much worse."

"Worse? Who has she taken from you?"

"She hasn't taken anybody," 5 said defensively. "Someone's taken her, and my niece, and we're trying to get them back."

The clan was silent, rather dumbfounded, looking to each other in confusion. Their clever, crazy friend was trying to rescue the witch? Perhaps he was crazier than even they had thought. Before Tishrei could point out how perplexing it was, his wife walked up through the crowd to stand before their guests.

She gently held her hands up in front of 9's face, if she meant to touch him. It looked as if she was feeling the air around him, searching for something. Perhaps she was blind…?

"It has happened," she murmured, staring into his eyes, again, as if she was searching for something. "It has happened, as I saw it. The child has been set free."

"Nisan, my dear, please don't," Tishrei implored his wife. But she ignored him, moving her hands instead to 7. The look in the woman's eyes was so familiar. What could it be? When she turned to 5, she gasped in wonder and gripped him by his shoulders.

"It was you," she whispered, awestruck. "You were the one I saw—the one who would free her, exactly as I saw it!"

7 finally understood. Nisan was the 6 of the third clan. She was their Prophet, the one who could always see the hidden truth, who could only be understood a patient few. Having her answer, she turned a bit sharply to her husband, and pointed back at 5 for emphasis.

"I told you this would happen," she insisted. "I told you this would come to pass! We could have done something!"

"This is far from my fault, Nisan! She killed our son—Adar saw it, himself! What else were we to do?"

"We could have been patient, like them. Epsilon was our friend. He would have wanted us to help her."

"She destroyed him, just like she destroyed Cheshvan! Like her sister destroyed Sivan, like they've all destroyed countless others! He would have wanted us to put an end to it!"

"Wait a minute," Adar interjected, pushing them apart. "I don't understand. Mother, what did you mean, she's been set free?"

"I don't understand, either," 9 added, coming to join his fellow Bearer. "You knew them. Pi was your friend once. Didn't you notice something strange was going on, that she wasn't the same person you used to know?"

"Surely, your clan acted no differently than we did," Tishrei pointed out. "What else would we have done?"

"You might have stopped to look at her," 7 suggested bluntly. "She had been enchanted the whole time. It only took my brother's one eye to see that."

"Enchanted… It doesn't atone for the evil she's done. The other elders and I haven't been able to meet for nearly three years, for fear she might stumble into our midst. She would look at our clans gathered together and see a feast! It's too dangerous."

9 shot Tishrei a glare. "That's it, isn't it? That's why you wouldn't let me tell my family about you. That's why you swore me to secrecy."

"It was best for everyone."

"We brought a monster into our home! If you had told me, none of this would have happened!"

"But it did happen," Nisan pointed out, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder, and bowing her head sadly. "It must always happen, for things to pass as they must. This is the tragic truth for all Prophets: always seeing, always waiting. It is our purpose."

Nisan seemed to have her head on much straighter than 6, who had been left to lose his mind in loneliness and neglect. She appeared to have been loved and nurtured, and probably better listened to when she spoke. She had a husband, who surely loved her in spite of his current exasperation, and many of the clan called her mother. And she was very eloquent, in her plain speech—7 had never heard the ordeals of the Prophets explained so clearly, in a way that made sense.

"All things happen the way they do for a reason Bearers," the woman concluded. "Even our petty ignorance can be used to great ends."

The rest of the third clan blanched at this. Their Prophet had tried to warn them once, and they ignored her out of fear. They had nearly killed a little girl. But, thanks to that fear, a chain of events had been set in motion that ultimately led to her salvation.

"So," Adar considered slowly, "our Pi has been under an enchantment? How is that?"

5 stepped forward to explain, because he knew the story best. "Her clan's Bearer is a wizard, who gets his strength from the souls of our living. He had been sending her sister out to kidnap people to sacrifice to him. When you killed Mu four years ago, he chose Pi to take her place. But she didn't go willingly—he cast a very powerful spell on her, to make her forget who she was. He turned her into a monster, like himself."

"If it was so powerful, how did you free her so easily?" the second old man asked suspiciously, speaking for the first time.

"It wasn't easy. It took a lot of love to break that spell."

"Love?" the man spat. "Who could love someone like that, enchanted or not?"

"Well… I did."

The man looked 5 over with a dubious, critical eye. "You're not much, compared to a pretty girl like Pi. I don't know what she saw in you."

"Not much. It was a fight, but I was willing to fight it. My family voted to kill her; I couldn't believe it was really that simple."

"And it turned out he had been right. About everything. Again," 7 concluded, giving her brother a smile. "All because he stopped to think about it, instead of acting on fear like the rest of us. We also thought he was crazy… Until he was right."

"And now she's been kidnapped herself, by Alpha, their Bearer," 9 explained. "And he… He took our daughter, 10, as well. He's going to kill them both, if—if he hasn't, already. We're going to find and rescue them, if we can."

"Alpha? That horrible black thing?" Adar asked.

"You've seen him?"

"Once. When Pi was here last summer, she convinced Cheshvan to leave with her. I saw them go, so I followed them. I… I watched the whole thing. It was horrifying. I thought of mounting some kind of attack, but I was painfully outmatched. So I returned here, told the clan everything I had seen, and we waited. When she found us again in January… Well, you know the rest, I suppose.

"That was my brother, 9. And all I could do was sit there and watch as she sucked out his soul. That was painful."

"Do you think there's still time?"

"He will wait until dawn. That's how he prefers it, apparently. There's still time to act. Do you mean to destroy him, while you're at this rescue of yours?"

"We'll have to."

The second old man snorted petulantly. "Leave it be, I say. Leave him his feast and let well enough alone. With his pet monster out of the way, we will be safe again."

"It's not that easy, Teslev," 9 informed him darkly. "Pi has three little sisters, and the oldest of them is going to take her place if we can't stop him. If we leave Pi to be killed, her sister will end up enchanted, just like she was. And the cycle will start all over again.

"And in any case, I'm not leaving my only child to be sacrificed."

"That thing has killed my nephew, and my granddaughter, and numerous others from the second and fourth clans. He will kill them like the rest, and he will kill you, too."

"Then I'll die fighting for something. I looked death in the face and kicked it's ass, once. Alpha doesn't scare me."

"Or me," 7 added.

"Or me," added 5.

"Or me," added Adar. "This creature has taken a lot from me, too. If there's a fight to be fought, I want to be a part of it. With your permission, my friends, I'd like to join you."

Again, the clan began murmuring amongst itself. Tishrei grabbed him by the arm with a defensive look on his face.

"No, my son, no! We need you here, alive, with us. I've already lost your brother. Don't make me have to bear your loss, as well."

"9 is right, father. If we leave this be, we will never be at peace again. If the only way to end this is to end him, then I will help them do it. I've stood back and fretted with the best of you, but not this time. I refuse to do nothing again. By the God of our fathers, I refuse to be held prisoner to this thing!"

Nisan reached for his hand, closing her eyes and breathing slowly. After a moment, she opened her eyes and gave him a hopeful smile.

"Nisan, tell him he is to stay here," Tishrei begged his wife.

"Should you take up this journey, the God of Abraham would gladly go before you, my son," she said instead. "In fact, I believe He insists upon it." She turned to the fifth clan, particularly to 9, with a grave face.

"You would do well to take my son with you. He is a fair fighter on his own. And he would bring with him a powerful force that I fear is beyond your knowledge. Should you accept, Yahweh would surely grant you victory. The ways in which He acts are not of our will, and often frightening; but they are ways you can't afford to decline. Will you take him?"

7 wasn't sure what she meant by Yahweh, or all the talk of His ways; but it sure sounded like an invaluable advantage. The three of them looked briefly from one to another, and all nodded in approval.

"We would be happy to have the help," 9 agreed at last. Adar grinned bravely and hoisted his quiver back over his shoulder.

"What are we standing around here for, then?" he asked, walking right back to the door. "We have a wizard to deal with, and children to rescue! Let's go!"

Iyar stomped after him and caught his shoulder. "I'm going with you," she insisted.

"No, sister. Stay and defend them. I will be back; but until I return, the clan needs a guard."

Iyar was disappointed, but nodded resolutely. "Very well, then. Mazel Tov, brother."

"Mazel Tov," he agreed, and turned to leave before anyone else could stop him.

Before they could follow him, Nisan spoke to them a final time.

"Beware, fifth clan—Yahweh acts in stranger ways than even mine. You would do well to remember it."

"We'll remember," 9 answered, giving her hand a grateful squeeze. "Thank you, for everything."

7 paused to look the clan over. They were frightened. There was no way to avoid it. So many things could happen, now.

"Don't worry," she assured them, flicking her helmet back over her face. "Justice will be done tonight."

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Author's Notes…

17 pages of dialogue later, you've finally met the third clan! Congratulations! Hopefully, a few more things now make sense to you all. 8D