Disclaimer: I don't own Beastmaster, or any of its characters.

(A/N): This is set around the third season time period. I don't remember of Cuipira made it out of her prison or not so I am basing it off of that she never did. I am not basing this around any one episode to keep the original storyline and time period as they were in the show.

Ciara could tell that the men in the woods weren't friendly. The trick was how to alert Dar and Tao to the danger without letting the men in the woods know where she was. She looked around and found nothing within reach that would make enough noise to wake Dar and Tao without making too much at the same time. The men were creeping closer, they were going to be upon them any second. Just as she was about to give up and cry out she remembered something, she was wearing shoes. Not the soft soled things Tao and Dar were wearing, but hard soled boots. After hours of walking and moving around the boots had become loose, loose enough for her to kick off. She quickly wiggled her foot until the boot was nearly off before placing a not so well aimed kick to throw the boot closer to Dar and Tao. The crunch of rubber on leaves woke Dar, who looked around. He must have heard the racket the men were making in the woods because he quickly shook Tao who woke with a start.

Dar had just gotten hold of his weapon when the men burst into the clearing. Normally Ciara would stay away from fighting. But Dar and Tao were her only friends at the moment, and she really didn't feel like trying to explain herself to the men attacking them. So she jumped down and joined in the fray. She realized very soon that unarmed she wasn't much help. She rushed for her bag, where she had put her knife. The men were wielding roughly hewn bone axes and other similar rough weapons but that didn't mean she wasn't in danger. She reached her bag and fumbled with the clip. But she never got to her knife, she didn't need to. Ruh, who had snuck into the woods unnoticed, leaped into the clearing, batting away the nearest men with brutal force. Once the men saw the tiger they bolted, not wanting to deal with one of nature's deadliest creatures. Carefully Ciara took her hand away from her bag, but Ruh didn't seem to notice or care about her. Tao came over to her.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She nodded and stood, her hands shaking with residual adrenaline.

"Who were they?" she asked.

"They looked to be King Zad's men," said Dar, "But for some reason I don't feel like they were his."

"What do you mean? They were all dressed like Zad's men, who else's could they be?" asked Tao.

"I don't know but I do know this spot is not safe for much longer."

So the three picked up camp and left the spot. For an hour or so they walked before they stopped again. As they lay down to sleep Ruh showed up. She hadn't realized the large cat had followed them. Although she was still wary of him she didn't move. The tiger looked at her for a moment and she felt a pressure in her head. She thought nothing of it as she lay her head down.

In the morning Ciara was awakened by Dar and Tao moving around. She was hungry and the smell of cooking food didn't help. As they ate she noticed Ruh had disappeared again, probably to go off and find food of his own.

"So, where are we headed?" she asked, trying to sound casual.

"I think we should continue on to Xinca, we can at least get some information there about where some of my clan are."

"I will send Sharak on ahead."

"Sharak? Who is Sharak?" asked Ciara.

A sudden screech above her head made her look up. A large golden eagle was soaring just above the canopy of the forest.

"Oh."

The bird made one more pass before it flew off. Dar kept moving, focusing on getting to where they needed to be. Little did they know, they were hurrying into more chaos.

The sorceress looked down from her look out spot. Her long hair pulled back as always. This strange new human was a puzzle to her. She looked to be not of this world, but it felt as if a long missing puzzle piece had just found its way back to its proper place.

"Ancient One?" the sorceress asked.

"Yes, what is it?" asked the man.

"Who is this human?"

The old man looked and she saw him tense up the quickly relax.

"Well, this is interesting."

"What is?"

"This human female seems to be here to balance out the world."

"What do you mean Ancient One?"

"She is here to take the place of the demon that protected the forest, she will slowly learn the language of the forest and eventually she will pass and be reborn as the new protector, while the other demon is trapped."

"Is that good?"

"Not entirely considering the last one wasn't exactly a walk in the woods."

A few minutes after the eagle had flown off he returned. For a moment he and Dar communicated before Dar turned to them.

"We'll be okay if we don't draw any attention to ourselves. We should hurry, we don't want to be around Xinca longer than we have to."

Ciara and Tao nodded, although Ciara was a little hesitant. She did everything but blend in with the people here. She decided now was a good time to point that out.

"What about me? I don't exactly have a change of clothes that match here," she said.

The men looked to each other before Tao dug into his pack and pulled out a long cloak. She looked at the object with dismay. It was woolen and darkly colored; it was going to be hotter than hell in there. She sighed and took the cloth from Tao. As they moved closer and closer to the supposed city Ciara could see signs of industry; at least the kind that existed in this world. There were more 'roads' and some of the underbrush had been cleared to allow easier access. Tao stepped off to the side of the road all of a sudden and led them down a small hill. Hidden inside the root system of a tree he reveled a rolled up piece of parchment paper.

"My people aren't far, they're hiding in the deeper parts of the woods on the other side of Xinca, keeping an eye on Zad's men."

"How long will it take us to get there?"

"A day or two at most if you want to avoid the city all together. Less than a day if we go through."

"I say we go around," said Ciara.

Dar and Tao looked at her questioningly.

"I don't know about you but I would think it suspicious if someone was walking around with a cloak on in the middle of a hot day. Wouldn't you?"

They nodded. Tao wrote something on the paper before putting it back where he found it. They made it a good ways before making camp for the night. That night Ciara got little sleep. She kept waking to someone calling out something in the night. She thought it was coming from the forest; but Ruh, who had joined them when they made camp, never stirred and she was sure his hearing was better than hers. She also had a screaming headache, which didn't go away after the third aspirin. But as she laid down for the eighteenth time that night she thought she heard someone tell her goodnight: in her head.