Episode 6: Falling

21st of Parvulis

The vision came again, but more vivid. He could smell the death that lingered in the air, and he could hear the echoes of screams that should have died long ago. He heard water boiling and whips cracking. His vision locked in on a door, and he started to walk towards it. Looking down, he saw chains wrapped around his torso, binding his arms to his sides. He pulled against them, and they began to cut into his skin. Suddenly he fell and the door opened, letting in a light that shone like a beacon. He stood and walked towards it.

The passage of light led Jeremie back to consciousness. Slowly, he sat up and held his head, taking a long moment to recover and re-orient himself. The Wise Man heard Ulrich and Odd talking, and he concluded that he'd been asleep a lot longer than he had intended. He crawled out of the tent, hearing the back end of the other boys' conversation. "I'm telling you, Aelita will totally crack first!" Odd said.

Ulrich shook his head. "No way. I'll bet you twenty silver right now that Kitten holds out a lot longer than Laura does."

Odd smiled and nodded. "You're on!" The two boys shook hands, closing some deal that Jeremie had missed.

"What are you two talking about?" Jeremie asked.

"We're betting on who will crack under the pressure of a demon first." Odd explained, "Care to place a wager?"

The Wise Man was surprised. "You're gambling about who will get possessed first? That's horrible!"

Ulrich disagreed. "It isn't gambling unless you lose."

Jeremie rolled his eyes and went about his morning routine. When the girls woke, they packed up and began their journey again. By the afternoon they reached Cheystead, a town that had begun as just a farming community until they discovered gold in the nearby mine. Many people had flocked there to make their fortune, producing a boom town.

Or at least that's what the group of heroes had expected to find as they approached. Fortunes had turned in Cheystead, it seemed, however. The town seemed almost desolate, and the fields, which should have been overflowing with crops, were decorated only with the occasional dead stalk. "The earth here is dead, and the fields are a fire hazard," Aelita said quietly as they walked into the village square.

As Jeremie entered the town hall to speak to the mayor, Laura bought a quill and paper to post a message on the board in the center of the square. As she pinned it to the board, she noticed a message written on fancy parchment. She read it in horror, and the Fair ran back to the others. "Kadic has fallen!" She exclaimed, pointing to the message board. "I don't know how they got the message so fast, but Kadic fell to the drow."

Yumi covered her mouth. "That's horrible news! Now they only have to take Carthage and Lyoko is lost!"

Ulrich raised his eyebrow. "I don't think it'll be so easy to take Carthage. I've heard that the streets change every time you go outside." He half-laughed, "That's probably just an expression; nevertheless it will be a long time before Carthage falls."

Laura crossed her arms. "Still, we've got three major cities in this country and if two of them have fallen, we're much weaker. I guess we can forget going to Narza for help after this."

"Or Heartwood," Aelita added quietly. There was a sort of sadness in her voice that didn't seem to find its roots in empathy for the humans.

Jeremie rejoined them, and Laura relayed the message to him. A flash of fear crossed his face, and he asked, "Did the message say anything about the magistrates?"

Laura shook her head. "No, but it said that many citizens had faith in the magistrates' ability to protect them and ended up dying in the battle." She placed her hands on his shoulders. "Don't worry, my love. I'm sure Patrick and his parents made it out safely."

Jeremie sighed and nodded. "I hope you're right." He looked over his shoulder and motioned towards the road. "Anyway, we should get moving. There's no reason to stay here any longer."

The others nodded and headed back towards the road. The autumn leaves crunched under their feet, dryer than they should have been, even at this time of year. A farmer sprinted towards them and shouted, "Hey, you! Princess!" Laura seemed confused, but she turned as the farmer approached her. "So this is where you've been? Your country needs you and you're just walking along without a care in the world?"

She shook her head. "No, that isn't what's going—"

"Save your excuses! If you want to do something, why don't you start by helping your people?" He crossed his arms. "Can you irrigate our farms?! It hasn't rained since the 12th of Matrinalis! Can you save our crops?! We can't even make bread! Can you put the gold back in the mine?! We don't have any source of income! Our children are starving!"

Laura bit her lip nervously. "I—I'm sorry, I can't do anything about that. The only hope we have to save your children and farms is to defeat Xana. Then it will rain again."

"What good are you, then? A princess who cannot help her people? Disgraceful!" The farmer spat before he stormed off.

Aelita looked at the Fair, and with more courtesy than either had shown in weeks, she suggested, "I can irrigate the farms, if you need me to, though it may be too late to save the crops."

Laura shook her head. "They don't want your help; they want me to do something. But I cannot help them." She held her head in her hand. "Gods, this is getting so much worse."

4th of Frumentum

Heagrove was a small town, but richer than others they had visited by far. Most of the brick buildings were covered in painted cement. A crier stood in the center of the town, shouting the news he'd heard. He ran up to the Heroes when he saw them, and he smiled. "Have you heard anything new?" The crier asked. The Heroes reported the news of Xana, and he frowned. "Yes, I've heard. You aren't the only refugees who have passed through here. We've gotten refugees from Heartwood and Falcon's Bridge."

Jeremie folded his arms over his chest. "How many?"

The town crier shrugged. "Six of one, half dozen of another. No one really… amazing." His eyes sparkled as he said, "But we got a couple of interesting characters a few days ago. They didn't say where they were from, but they said they were looking for the only remaining tomb of one of the Witches of the Wilds!"

Yumi scrunched up her nose. "The Witches of the Wilds?"

Aelita explained. "The People call them the Asha'bellanaren, the Women of Many Years. They're extremely powerful magicians, most of whom entered Uthenera just before the human invasion ended, and it is said that they can enter and return from slumber at will. I can only think of one that survived long enough to make it to Arlathan, though. Humans have found most of their tombs."

Laura returned her gaze to the crier. "Did they say why?"

He shrugged. "Not really. They mentioned some ancient tome that tells of dragon taming, though—I imagine that's what they're after. Maybe they want to tame a dragon, or maybe they think that the dragons will reward them if they return the book."

Odd laughed. "Sounds like dragons take their reading very seriously."

Yumi eyed him playfully. "Is there anything dragons don't take seriously?"

Aelita looked at her with wide eyes. "I'm sure there must be something!" She thought for a moment. "Maybe knock-knock jokes?"

Ulrich shook his head with a laugh. "You keep thinking about that, Kitten. You let me know if you come up with anything."

Jeremie looked back at the crier. "Is there any other news?"

He thought for a moment, and then snapped. "Oh, yeah! Yesterday some guy came riding through here and said that pretty much every city in Replika is free of Lyoko control!"

Laura jumped. "What?! How did they overthrow us so quickly?"

"Oh, you're the princess, aren't you? Pardon my rudeness, milady." He bowed. "The soldiers caught word of Xana, and they started marching back this way. Won't be long now before Cortex falls, and gods know that I don't want to be around there when it does." He offered one piece of advice for the princess before he left. "Be careful, milady. There are many people who seek you dead if it will further the rebellion."

There was a flash in Laura's eyes that almost looked like fear, but it might have also been a glare from the sun.

10th of Frumentum

Laura's head was pounding. She'd gotten almost no sleep over the past six days, and consequently she was on edge. Jeremie had tried to convince her to sleep, but she waved him off. It was obvious that she was losing her touch on reality—her blonde hair was unkempt, and dark circles had formed under her eyes. The day before she'd attacked Ulrich when he had tried to speak to her, and she was embarrassed to learn what she had done as well as extremely distressed.

It didn't help when Aelita had said that she needed to sleep, or the next time she slept the spirits would tempt her and she would accept far too easily. Laura had responded by shouting nonsense at her, and she was so out of touch that the Outcast had begun to wonder if a spirit of madness hadn't already taken her.

Wandering into the next town, Laura was asked to remain outside with the aravel, as they didn't want to alarm anyone by showing them their princess taken by madness. She tried to focus by reading the books Jeremie kept inside the aravel, but her mind wandered, making the letters dance across the pages. Laura tried to cast simple spells, but her exhaustion caused the fire to either flicker out or burn uncontrollably. For the sake of herself and the aravel, she collapsed on one of the beds inside the aravel, and she closed her eyes.

What felt like only moments later, but more likely was hours, Laura was yanked off of the bed and thrown against the back wall of the aravel. She held her face in her hand, noticing the blood that had begun to run from her eyebrow.

Laura stood and turned, face to face with a man nearly a head taller than her dressed in leather dyed black and purple. "Who are you?" She demanded, summoning a fire between her hands.

"I am your death!" The man shouted, revealing a pair of ebony daggers. Laura screamed and sent fire at the assassin, distracting him enough so she could slide between his legs and out of the aravel.

She kept running into the village, shouting for the other Heroes as the assassin chased her. She turned and threw fire at him, setting the grass next to him on fire, and she tripped over an elevated sidewalk. She crawled away, using a nearby tree to pull herself off the ground. He threw a dagger at her, slicing her leg and startling her back onto the ground. The assassin stalked up to her, and he prepared to slash at the princess. She screamed, covering her face with her arms.

A kunai distracted the assassin, lodging itself in the tree next to his head. "Damn, I missed! That would've been a good shot, too." Yumi said, revealing herself to be hiding behind a column.

Ulrich charged out from an alley, engaging the assassin. "If you want to kill any one of us, you have to go through all of us!" He declared.

The assassin looked to over his new adversaries, and he then looked back down to the princess. He ignored the other two Heroes and walked closer to her. Aelita materialized behind the assassin and slapped him with Murray the Skull. He cringed and held the back of his head, giving Jeremie enough time to grab his fiancée and pull her out of harm's way.

The assassin charged after the Wise Man, and Odd slid down the slanted roof of a nearby building, pointing his arrow at the assassin. He fired it, pinning his foot to the earth. Yumi threw her Tessen fan, knocking the assassin forward onto his hands and knees. Ulrich sprinted over to him, stabbing him in his back. The Mercenary pushed against the assassin's back with his foot to remove the katanna.

The Heroes gathered together, and Odd kicked the assassin over. "I think that you had better start talking." Jeremie said flatly as Laura stood shakily and stood beside him. "Who hired you to kill Laura?"

The assassin had death written on his face. "I will say nothing," He wheezed, and he grabbed one of his daggers. Slowly, he brought it against his own throat.

Yumi rolled her eyes. "Assassins are always so melodramatic. I mean, can't they just give up if they fail at their job? Our lives would be so much simpler." She kneeled and went through his bags and armor. "Yeah, here we go; a description of Laura and 'her companions.' I guess they did their homework."

Yumi handed the note to Jeremie, who pointed to a symbol at the bottom. "Look, this is the symbol for Replika, only it's red and black, not blue." Jeremie looked up at the others. "I'm guessing the rebels are trying to end the monarchy."

Laura started shaking. "Holy gods, they want me dead! What do we do? Oh, Minerva help us!"

Jeremie folded the note up and placed it in his mother's book bag. "I'll hold onto this for safekeeping. When the war is over and Lyoko re-conquers Replika, the rebels will be charged for treason as well as conspiracy." He turned his attention to Laura. "You are going to get sleep. You're no help if you're half-asleep and you may kill one of us thinking they're an assassin." He turned back to the other Heroes. "And we're all going to be extra careful from now on. No one mentions Laura is a princess unless absolutely necessary."

Odd sighed. "I thought we were already being extra careful? Does this mean we have to be extra, extra careful?"

Jeremie glared at the Scout. "This is no time for your jokes, Odd. If we don't act fast, Lyoko will fall apart at its seams." Aelita waited for Laura to insult her, but the Fair said nothing, obviously too rattled to say much of anything.

Laura held her elbows, trying to calm her tremors. "Ugh, this doesn't seem real. I feel like if I close my eyes, I'll wake up back at the castle and everything will be right again."

Ulrich gestured his head in agreement. "I never thought I'd say it, but I really miss being home."

"I miss my parents, and Hiroki…" Yumi said, and she looked at her feet. "…and William."

"This is the furthest away from home I've ever been," Odd mentioned quietly, as if it were embarrassing.

"I should've listened to my father… I never believed him." Jeremie muttered, and he looked over at Aelita, who had taken a great and sudden interest in her toes. He looked away, and then back to the group. "Anyway, we should keep moving."

As the Heroes began to walk away, Aelita caught Jeremie's shoulder. He turned to face her, and she waited until Laura was out of earshot. "We're going to have to talk sometime,"

Jeremie shook his head. "What is there to talk about?"

She seemed flustered for a moment. "About everything that's been going on lately! We have to talk about you, and me, and Laura, and… and the blood magic."

He looked like he was about to say something sharp, but he seemed to think better of it and instead said, "I'm not sure this is a conversation we should have right now. There is too much for us to do to wallow in self-pity."

Jeremie hesitated, but Laura called his name and he ran after her. Aelita watched him go, cursing herself for not being more aggressive. She started to walk after the others when a whisper in the shadows beckoned her closer. Aelita looked questioningly into the darkness, and she backed away from it. "No, come closer," A voice echoed. "I don't want to hurt you. I need your help."

"If you want my help, come out of the shadows and say it to my face." Aelita said, crossing her arms.

A boy with spikey brown hair dressed in green magician robes stepped out of the darkness. Aelita recognized his robes as those given to magicians training in Lyoko's military, and for a moment she questioned why a battlemage would be alone in the middle of a war. "My name is Theo. I need someone with knowledge of elven runes to save my comrades-in-arms."