I mentioned my upcoming birthday to a reviewer (July 16, if anyone cares), and that brought up the point that Letha's birthday is the same as mine. She is an SI after all, with myself as a base (though she's gone through so much, I regard her more as a sister of sorts now. Weeeeird sisters). Point I'm getting at, is that I thought it would be good to establish some things about Letha's timeline.

She was abducted sometime during earlyish September, when summer's cooling down but it hasn't really gotten cold (in Western New York, that is, as you'll recall she was on Lake Ontario). And Terca Lumireis was enjoying spring when she got there (I say so, because I don't recall the game making any specific reference to the season). So she's probably somewhere in early to mid summer herself, but still about twenty and a half years old. Weeeird.

Letting you all know, Accessblade has chosen her prize, and we've discussed when it'll get worked into the story. You'll ALL know when we get to it. Dreamer's Samhain and I have been discussing the second place prize, and at the moment it is on reserve to be cashed in at her discretion. I'll make a note of it when it comes, for anyone interested.

Angelic:

Amnesia. Yeah, I'd never play it. One thing watching it on youtube, then you can just laugh at how the person playing it is whimpering and screaming like a wussy little girl. Play it myself, and I'd become the wussy little girl (though at least with less actual screaming). Alan Wake (name of the game and the main character) bears a slight similarity to Silent Hill but is overall less frightening. Though it does do things like throwing freakin' trains at you at unexpected moments. Awesome plot too. And music.

Shut up, me, this is not a game review.

Right, so, I would like some awesome friiiiies with my awesome saaaauce! :D I have no idea what I've just asked for...

Some Bloke:

Yep, expected people to be conflicted about the Cumore killing. Part of the reason I wanted to go ahead with it. Now I have to live up to the bar I've set for myself, and make sure you all don't decide "this is the point where things started slipping downhill." A challenge~

Totally nothing wrong with a guy saying he likes Yuri. And I can keep a straight face all of five seconds after saying that. (At least I kept the "Y" capitalized...) But yeah, Yuri is badass and Raven is awesome, and they probably won't let me get away with letting Letha get away with all the last chapter for too long.

GalactaLlama:

Firstly, all I did was read your name and then was cursing about the Llama song trying to get stuck in my head. It's trying again as I speak.

Next, awww jeez! This is the kind of review that gives me a warm fuzzy glow and makes me want to crank out five chapters at once. Nothing would make me happier than if I could manage to get responses like this on a wholly original piece of work (I have several ideas I someday hope to strongearm somebody into publishing), and knowing there are people who appreciate FTaBV so much gives me hope that it'll happen.

The Smurfette Principle:

A short, near speechless review tells me as much as a long one! It tells me I can leave someone speechless. ;) Yay me~ I'll just pretend it didn't take me a week of struggling over one scene to manage it.

Woah, lots of chatter and review replies in this Author's Note.

x x x

Chapter 43: Quarter Moon

x x x

The minor confrontation left an awkward tension in the air as I finished making our spaghetti dinner, and I wasn't sure what to say to break the silence. Nothing that wouldn't just fall flat and die came to mind.

It was actually Raven who tried first, and as Raven, not Schwann.

"So, when ya gonna tell me what that thing is?"

I put down the pot carefully, shaking my robe's sleeves so the folds of cloth I'd used as pot holders fell naturally again, before turning to give him a disappointed look. Hadn't he just promised?

Raven had moved to sit on a rock, closer to the spring and the small fire he had helped me start to boil the water with. "Hey," he waved his hands in front of him in that gesture people use to say 'chill out' or 'it's not what it looks like.' "I really swear I won't tell anyone! But ya gotta tell me or I'll just die of curiosity!"

"Curiosity only kills cats," I said dryly. Not caring that I was being pretty obvious, I picked up my bag from where I'd left it leaning against his rock and moved it out of his reach. My player was stashed in there again, though I didn't slip it into the hidden pocket like normal. If Raven did decide to snoop and couldn't find it, that would be a dead giveaway that I had a hiding spot.

"Oh c'mon!" he begged, "Can't ya even give me a hint?"

I dug through the bags to find something to use as a colander. "Okay. One hint."

"Just a hint won't hu-wait, you will?" he perked up, obviously not having expected to win. Or at least, not without wearing me down through endless nagging first. "What is it?"

"It's broken," I deadpanned. The archer facepalmed and groaned.

"I kinda guessed that part already." He lowered his hand and gave me a pleading puppy dog look. On him it looked more like a past his prime hunting dog begging for that tasty looking sandwich you just finished making.

I snorted at the comparison, "Alright, alright." Picking up the pot again I slowly poured the water out into a small metal strainer I had found in Raven's bag. "It's kinda like a music box."

"A music box?" Raven rubbed his stubbled chin, "Really? Seems too small fer that." I just shrugged and began shaking the pasta in the strainer to remove the last of the water, already having given him the one hint I promised.

"Where'd ya get it?" I said nothing, though the silence was more of taunting sort (like a game of verbal keep away) instead of an uncomfortable one like before. "Okay then, how'd ya lose it?" Keep awaaay~!

He grumbled a little bit as I kept my lips tightly shut and twisted in a smug little smile.

"What song was it?" he tried. Heheh, singular. There were so many songs on that thing I don't even remember what's on my playlist.

I began humming "Brothers" from FMA (yeah, don't mind so much when people overhear me humming) while working on the sauce next. Nothing fancy, just tomato sauce with some seasoning. If I'd been cooking for just myself, I would have preferred a touch of melted butter with chopped black olives, but I was fully aware most people didn't share my particular tastes in that respect. Just because they'd never thought of it before...

Raven listened to my humming, head cocked as if trying to place the melody, and a slight frown was starting to form as he couldn't. Ha, take that mister nosy man!

Dinner was like a game of twenty questions without any answers. I got tired of it pretty quickly and started to just ignore him completely until he got the message. With just the two of us it felt lonely, and I wished we could find some safe topic neither of us would mind talking about.

"I'm bored," I announced, to try and remedy the situation.

"Should we take that quick dip we never got around to back in town?" The dish cloth I was using to clean up with smacked wetly against the side of his face. "Alright, yer loss."

"I'm sure it is." The sky was getting rather rosy purple, we'd probably be out of sunlight soon. Time to set up camp for real.

We relocated to a spot further along the cliff side, downwind from the oasis, and set up our tent there. Camping right on the spring was dangerous. As the best water source for miles monsters would flock there, and would probably get pretty testy about a tent and a pair of cocky humans hogging the watering hole for themselves. There was no guarantee the scent barrier would deter them if they were thirsty enough. The important thing was that we were in sight of the water.

Full dark had set in, and Raven and I sat by our small fire as the heat of day was slowly bled off by the night. I stared dreamily at the flickering light and smoldering coals. Then, again mindful of our approaching deadline, I looked up into the sky. The moon was waning, almost at the last quarter. We had time yet, but it was slipping away faster than I'd like. I told myself not to think about it.

A beautiful night, a tent to sleep in, a fire to sit by. Companionship. It stirred something in me, old memories that wouldn't quite surface, and I had a very strong need to hear a story.

"Once upon a time," I started, and stopped just as abruptly. What came next, I wasn't sure. The stories that came to mind wouldn't make sense to someone without an Earth background, or would be plain insensitive to tell to Raven specifically. But still...

"Oh, time fer another one of yer stories?" The fire snapped, a few sparks rising up and into my peripheral vision. I still stared at the moon, our celestial hourglass. "What's it gonna be this time? More adventures, or weird futures, or maybe another ghost story?"

I closed my eyes, resigned to the story that was clamoring to the forefront of my mind. "...Once upon a time, there was a man who served in the army. He had made a distinguished career out of it, but chose to resign. When asked why, he told his superiors that he was afraid that he was beginning to enjoy the killing too much. Rather than risk losing himself and his humanity, he chose to retire and live on a farm with his wife and young son."

Raven quieted, apparently at a loss from this odd start. I wasn't sure how much he, as a knight, might relate to this. Without any input from him, I opened my eyes and let them wander across the stars as I continued. "He was happy, his wife was happy, his son was happy. Farm work was hard but fulfilling. His wife gave birth to twins. They took joy from just being together, without the fear that a war could take him away from them forever.

"Then, while he was out hunting, a band of thugs came to rob the farm."

Brave Vesperia glittered. A log in the fire shifted.

"When he came home, the man found his wife and children had been murdered, their home ransacked, and everything of value stolen. The loss of his home and possessions he could have accepted, but the loss of his family filled him with implacable rage and hatred.

"He hunted down each of the men that had been members of that party, made them each suffer, and killed them brutally. Some took him years to find, about twenty all told, and had even set up happy lives of their own. But in the end, find them he did, and they all died at his hand."

I had to pause and catch my breath, sipping from my canteen. Raven was still quiet, and I realized I wasn't used to telling a story uninterrupted like this. Usually there were more people listening, and somebody would have had a comment or question by this point.

"The man knew he had crossed that point he'd feared before, and could not return. He became an assassin, a killer for hire, and was a damned good one. He held onto some of his principles, but didn't fool himself by calling himself anything but a murderer.

"Years came and went. He became well known for beating the odds and getting the job done. His talents were even called on to save kingdoms and peoples from falling to crazed despots and men steeped in evil." I did not know the particulars of those stories, barely remembering what was mentioned about any of them in the book. I should've looked for more by that author while I had the chance...

"Finally an ironic job was given to him. He was tasked to guard the very son of a king he had killed. The king had been a good man who had fallen prey to evil magics years before, and whose death was necessary to save his kingdom. The king's spirit was at peace with his end.

"But the young prince did not appreciate having to rely on his father's killer, even if he saw the necessity. And the assassin did indeed save his life on more than one occasion. He even saved others, a priestess and what remained of her people, who were fleeing a terrible fate of slavery in another world. A world like their own but different. That the assassin would try so hard to save people threw the young prince into an even greater turmoil inside."

I paused my narrative again, still nothing from Raven. "In a moment of anger, the young prince shot the assassin with a crossbow. He had not meant to, and because it was an accident the assassin did not react in time. He knew the boy was no killer, and that's why the boy was able to kill him."

"What?" Raven finally broke in. "Well, that's a fine tale, ending with the main character dyin' like that."

"Ah," I smiled, glad for the response, "but it's not the end."

"What else can there be after death?" There was an odd note to Raven's voice, both wistful and bitter. And this was why I hadn't wanted to tell Raven this story. Eyes shut once more, I told myself I wouldn't get emotional about the next parts.

"The priestess had been witness to the scene. She rushed to the assassin in the hopes that she could save him. To her eyes that had seen so much death, it was already hopeless. But the young prince had little such experience. With a spell she forced the blood in the assassin's body to move, fooling it into believing itself alive even though the heart no longer beat in his chest."

I felt terrible. There was a gritty noise, as if Raven had shifted uncomfortably in place on the sand.

"The assassin woke, puzzled that he should be alive, and reassured the boy prince that he was alright and held no grudge. But he already knew it was a sham. From talking with the priestess he learned his time was limited. It could be as little as a few hours before his walking corpse fell lifeless again.

"With this knowledge, he knew there was only one thing to do. He left the prince with new guardians, and sought out the sorcerer that had been aiming for the prince's life. When he confronted the evil man, the sorcerer summoned a demon to slay the assassin for him." That had been a very smug moment for me. I had seen, clear as crystal, how this would turn out from chapters away. It was still very satisfying to read.

"Demons are cunning and malicious, always seeking loopholes in order to harm whoever summons and control them. If the spell is broken or their master's command is impossible to fulfill, the summoning backfires and the demon kills them. And the arrogant summoner commanded his demon, 'kill this man.'

"But the assassin was already dead, and while asking, 'how many times can a man die?' with a laugh the demon turned on his summoner and dragged him down to hell."

"Damn..." Raven let that sink in, "Not a good way ta go."

I nodded, "Demons are never interested in quick, painless death." And here came the part that had really stood out in my mind, what had made these bare bones of a story unforgettable, even as the meat was lost in the jumble of stories kept in my head. "And it would soon be time for the assassin to truly die.

"He returned to the priestess, and in her compassion and empathy she gave him a gift. She sent him to another world, just like his own, and to just a short time before his wife and children had been murdered.

"When the robbers descended on the farm and began threatening his wife, the assassin came. The leader of the robbers demanded to know who he was, what he wanted. 'I know you,' said the assassin, 'there is no redeeming you,' and in a single blow killed him without mercy. The same for the second in command, who tried to strike out at the assassin in retaliation.

"And then he turned on the rest of the robbers, 'For some of you, there is hope,' he told them. One by one, he named all of them, and gave predictions of what would happen to each in the coming years. Many included words along the lines of, 'if you do not stop now, this woman's husband will find you in this many years, and kill you in this way'. And it was chilling because he said the words as plain truth.

"He pointed out some men, and told them to return to their hometowns and actually ask that girl's hand in marriage. Told one to take a certain fork in the rode and help the widow he'd meet. She would be wealthy, and he'd live his life in happiness. He spoke of men fulfilling their dreams, having successful businesses, meeting women they could love. And told them that, if they were to kill the woman or children before them, they would have signed their own death sentences and live in fear as they heard about their comrades dying one by one.

"The robbers turned as one and fled, leaving their fallen behind. And the assassin collapsed. The wife rushed to him, thinking to help him in some way. She did not recognize him as he was much older than the man she knew as her husband, but she thought there was something familiar about him. The assassin died in her arms, finally at peace, just as his younger self returned home."

There was silence in which I could hear the crackle and popping of flames as the wood shifted. "I'm not sure I understood all of that," Raven admitted slowly. "Does that qualify as a happy ending?"

I shrugged. "Probably not, but for the assassin it was more than he could expect. Not many people really get to live happily ever after. It's actually depressingly unlikely." The assassin had a hard life, one filled with mistakes and the hatred of others. But at the end he was able to use that life of his to ensure another version of himself wouldn't have to suffer his greatest regret. Perhaps that's enough. I laced my fingers together and stretched my arms skyward, "But even if it isn't perfect, life can still be worth it. If you look at it in the right light."

"Heh, not sure if that should be called pessimistic or not," Raven chuckled. "Doesn't seem like you."

"Au contraire," I slipped in a bit of French without thinking, and couldn't be bothered to worry about him noticing, not while I was still caught up in the story and the night around me. "It's very much like me. Put the bigger picture into perspective instead of trying to hide from it. I'm only one single thread in the whole weave, but my existence is just as important as any other thread. The world follows its own path, and even if we're bumbling around and screwing things up all the time, it's still rolling towards the end it's meant for.

"Thinking like that all the time, it's normal to just live to enjoy the moment, and let the good and the bad come when they will."

"I don't think normal describes a word that just came out of your mouth..." I giggled at that. "Seriously!" he protested, "Did ya sneak somethin' stronger along in one of the canteens? It sounds like you've been holdin' out on me!"

"Ha! I need no paltry mortal liquor!" I declared haughtily. Falling back so that I was lying on the sand, lifting my arms into the air above me, I spread my hands wide as if showing off the sky of cold shining stars and the gibbous moon. "I need only the ambrosia of the cosmos to show me the answers to Life! The Universe! And Everything!"

"Sounds like some pretty strong stuff ya got there."

In a loud whisper, I confided, "The answer is forty-two, you know."

"Okay, whatever that stuff is? Ya need to stop drinkin' it." Another spat of giggles from me, which died away and left silence again. Until- "Because the answer to all o' that is obviously my rugged, manly charm."

"Blasphemy!" I gasped, and we both laughed loud in the still desert night.

x x x

I was trying to push the fog back again. It was surprising how much effort it was taking. And all I got to show for it was more grass in the mass of shadow and mist. It kept trying to rush forward and pull me under again, like last time, but that no longer caught me by surprise.

The Voice was starting to sound exasperated with me. "You're starting to become more trouble than you're worth."

And I lost the fight against the fog once more.

x x x

There was nothing for it but to wait. Which sucked, because when you're sitting around and waiting it's hard not to fall asleep. And my body was demanding I get more rest, since I'd only gotten a few hours in during the past two-three?-days. Sleep wasn't all that appealing, what with all the disquieting dreams and the occasional flashes of blood and death I'd see against the darkness of my closed eyes.

Raven and I couldn't go haring off into the desert on our own or it would take ages before both groups stumbled across each other. So we had to sit tight until the others made their roundabout way to the oasis.

I hadn't found myself in a position of sitting around with nothing constructive to do since we were on the Fiertia, and at least then I had the knowledge that the ship was making progress. But sitting in a giant sandbox and waiting felt like I was wasting precious time.

Not that Raven seemed to mind. Just like on the ship the archer was happily snoozing away.

I briefly entertained the thought of throwing a bit of sand in his open, snoring mouth.

While contemplating how much sand would be safe before he'd be in danger of choking or suffocating (purely academic interest here!) I found myself looking absently in the direction of the spring.

Hell, why not another round?

On and off since my dreams the night before, I'd been trying to practice working aer more. I wasn't crazy about going back to sleep and having more dreams, after all. Sitting on the edge with my bare feet cooling in the water, I closed my eyes and tried feeling for the threads of aer Rita had brought to my attention before in Mantaic. There was an abundance of the silk smooth water element. That had seemed a good place to start practice before, and I set back into my pathetic attempts to gather it again. Safer than fire in any case.

Frankly, I doubted I had much talent for the choice element of pyros.

Like before, I first tried to separate the water aer from all the other elements. There was water element...there was earth...there were two that I had trouble categorizing, but guessed were probably dark and light... Warm aer that bordered the line of turning into actual fire... It was like having a very large handful of assorted bird feed, and trying to pick out all but one type of seed. Messy, time consuming, I lost quite a bit of the water threads as well, and when I was finally sure water was all I had in my hand I was positive there was a more efficient method I was missing.

Dropping my 'handful' I tried to think of a better way to start. Well, best would be if I would only grab the water to begin with. It must be possible to do it quickly, or magic would be terribly unsuited for combat use. And I know firsthand that it is formidable in a fight. Closing my eyes to shut out distractions, I tried to concentrate on the threads of aer without getting hung up on the physical environment.

A spark of insight, Hmm, actually, that might have something to do with it. I tried to follow the line of thought that was trying to escape from me. Aer makes up everything in this world, but it has to be, like, in different consistencies or something to make different things. Something besides elements. Otherwise, why would dense aer hurt people when theoretically their own bodies are just as dense concentrations of aer? Because, from what I've seen, harmful aer is always in a gaseous or liquid form. And later they make a point of saying solidified aer is safe. Yeah, still don't get that.

...That's whirling out of control. But basically, there might be differences other than element. If it were something like...different points on a light spectrum or radio wave frequencies, maybe...

Gathering aer was an exercise of thought, will, and blastia on the less tangible aspects of my surroundings. What if instead of consciously trying to pick out water from earth and what not, I just willed my 'hands' would pick up only water?

It was a weird thought, I wasn't entirely sure I understood it myself, but figured it was worth trying. Reaching out mentally (or spiritually, or blastia-ly, or whatever) again, making physical gestures to help convince myself I was doing something, I gathered the silk threads to me. Only water, only water, only water... I imagined my metaphorical 'hands' passing through the other elements without touching them, and picking up only water. At first, my 'hands' passed through everything, but eventually began scraping up bits of water threads in their passes, and then even more. Once I had a nice bundle in my lab (so to speak) I realized I had no clue what to do with any of it.

"Ah, um, Champagne?" I weakly tried while remembering one of Rita's basic level spells. Of course, just saying a name isn't all it takes to cast a spell or use an arte. They were more like a focusing technique or intimidation attempt, really. Even just a side effect of spending too much time with people who always call out their attack names.

My confusion over what to do made my focus waver, the jumbled threads of aer seemed to spasm as they tried to escape and return to their natural currents. I grabbed at them tighter in reflex.

A miniature geyser of water spouted up before coming back down in a brief rain on my head.

"Well..." I brushed damp hair from my eyes, "I guess that's something."

That was more or less the best result I got from my magic practice. I could separate water from the other elements, though I never managed to get as much as that first time again. Apparently a fluke, or I hadn't mastered the touch quite right... Once I'd had my fill of solo practice I switched over to my other field of study and pulled my dao manual from my bag.

Settling myself against a palm tree as comfortably as I could, I flipped through the pages to find more basic exercises and try to determine if I could pull off any of the trickier moves. I pored over the step by step instructions and diagrams, trying to visualize myself acting these moves out. There was a lot of information to absorb. I had to reread a lot of it several times before understanding exactly what was being described, and it didn't help that my eyes kept getting heavy.

When I finally set the book down with a sigh I noted the sun had traveled across a large chunk of the sky. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I tried to massage away my fatigue and building headache. Maybe if I got up and moved around I'd wake up a bit more thoroughly...

From out in the sands came a weird sound. I frowned, trying to place it. Not Phaeroh...or that weird monster we're supposed to fight soon (shit, almost forgot about that thing)... Hey, isn't it getting louder? It was, and I was able to pick out a heat obscured blob moving down a sand dune.

"-eeeEEEAAH!"

The blob resolved itself into Karol and pelted past me to a splashing halt in the water.

"...Doppler effect," I stated mildly to myself. Rita blew past seconds later. She wasn't shrieking madly like our youngest member, but would have probably blasted to ashes anything unfortunate enough to get in her way.

Shaking my head a little, but not really blaming them, I walked over to the dune they'd come over. I was about halfway up it when I saw the others crest the top. Cheerily I waved at them. Other than a responding wave from the ever-unflappable Judith, they didn't really acknowledge me. Though Estelle might have tried to raise her hand from courtly conditioning but failed to pull it off.

Once they'd reached my position I joined them in their slower but still enthusiastic beeline towards the water. "How bad was it?" I asked.

Blandly, Yuri said, "Not fun."

"We're almost out of water, and still haven't managed to find Alph and Layla's parents," Estelle filled in. "And no sigh of Phaeroh, though we thought we heard him..."

At the spring, where Karol and Rita were already happily wallowing in the cooler waters, they all drank gratefully. The princess filled her canteen and drank from that while Yuri simply gulped water from his cupped hand. Judith, when I looked to see, was industriously filling all the canteens.

Sitting back on his heels, Yuri looked around. Raven was still fast asleep in his shady spot and there was nothing else of particular interest around. "So Repede's still back in town?" Ah.

"Yeah, he's got free room and board at the inn," I grinned wryly. "Lucky dog's getting VIP treatment."

Yuri kinda snorted, kinda laughed, "Good for him." He looked over at Raven's prone form again. "The old man give you any trouble?"

"Yes, loads. His snoring is a more formidable weapon than Rita's magic on a day when her fuse is cut extra short," I reported seriously.

Yuri rolled his eyes, "Don't I know it. Be glad you don't have to regularly share a room with him." He stood up and uncapped his canteen while walking over to where the archer was curled up on his side. Standing over the older man, he nudged a shoulder gently with one foot. "Hey, old man! Up and at 'em!"

Raven snored. Yuri's foot jabbed him a bit harder, "Hey, you don't want to make me do this, do you?"

A grunt, but Raven only rolled over a bit so he was sprawled on his back and snored again.

"Okay, you've been warned." Yuri up-ended the canteen over Raven's head, the stream of water pouring out and splashing over the archer's face and chest. The poor, no longer sleeping man spluttered at the rude awakening as he rolled out of the way.

"Fine way t' say 'llo!" he complained loudly.

"Hello," Yuri said without missing a beat. I had to cover my mouth with a hand to help muffle the laughter I was failing to hold back. "Just thought I'd let you know we'd be leaving as soon as we've taken a quick break."

"And ya couldn't have just waited til we were ready ta go before wakin' me up?" Raven continued to gripe.

"Shut up," Rita told him shortly, though it lost some of the bite as she was still smiling dreamily at the relief brought by the water she was sitting in.

Karol groaned, most likely at the prospect of going out into the open desert again so soon. "It'll be dangerous if we just keep going like this."

"If we turn back now, though, we'll only disappoint those poor children," Judith reminded him, though not unkindly.

"We have to keep looking for them," Estelle said firmly, not allowing any reluctance to slip into her voice. "And we may even find Phaeroh."

Rita nodded, "Yeah, we should keep trying for as long as we can." No one pointed out the irony of her words, when she'd been the one so opposed to this search in the first place. After all, the desert was hot enough without a blazing temper to deal with.

Yuri knelt by the water to refill his canteen. "It shouldn't be a problem to keep going, with this spring here. We won't have to go all the way back to town for a reliable water supply."

"You're right. We've already come this far." Karol seemed a bit shamed by the adults' resolution. Or maybe he thought his display was a lapse in his boss' responsibilities. Not that the rest of us were likely to blame him. I didn't.

The swordsman screwed the cap back on his canteen. "Everyone else filled up their water bottles?" Karol and Rita both looked a bit sheepish, as they'd been too caught up in soaking to remember.

"Here, I filled them for you." Judith handed Karol's bottle back to him, and then held out Rita's. "Here's yours, Rita." Once they took them and thanked her, the krytian returned to the pile of canteens she'd filled and started tying the spare ones back to the bag of desert travel supplies.

Amazing how sensible she is, when it's easy to think she's just being kinda spacey.

"So," I started with the air of a person making an announcement. They all looked at me. "You're tired, you're hot, you're thirsty, though probably less of the last two now, and I'd bet you're hungry." I smiled brightly and held up a frying pan and knife, "Late lunch anyone?"

The looks of gratitude at my implied volunteering were all the answer I needed. Though I still made Raven help, since he hadn't done a damn thing all day.

x x x

We'd been out in the desert another night (the moon was truly its final quarter that night) and were well into the next day. I was missing Earth luxuries like functioning air conditioners, functioning air conditioners in moving cars, and climate controlled motels. Hell, I'd be satisfied with one of those dinky little palm-sized, battery run fans.

Instead, I was trotting out my well practiced skills at escaping reality (well honed by boring lectures at school) to distract myself. My mind meandered from one topic to another, from books to games to music to tv shows to chinchillas to movies to music again. Yes, chinchillas. And they weren't even the most random thing that came up during that wild train ride. Don't ask.

"Heads up," Yuri alerted us. My attention snapped back to the fuckin' hot desert for the brief time it took me to notice the fuckin' weird monster skirting by in the not-distant-enough distance. Whatever it was, it was really weird. It looked like some kind of bug. Maybe a really huge dragon fly with four legs and less vibrant colors.

It had definitely seen us. Hands went to respective weapons, ready to whip them out if it made any move towards us. Giant gossamer wings buzzed a bit, kicking up a small cloud of sand under it, but not enough to lift it off the ground. I swallowed, gripping Oberon and Gemini Left a bit tighter for reassurance.

But then the wings slowed and stopped. The monster kept walking just out of spell and arrow range, and otherwise ignored us. We only relaxed when it was roughly the size of a cat in the distance.

Judith pouted as she let go of the halberd harnessed to her back. "Drat. I guess we can't always be lucky."

x x x

Classic Hits

Karol: Hey, guys?

Yuri: What is it, Karol?

Karol: Will someone switch places with me? Letha's starting to get kind of weird.

Rita: Nothing new there.

Karol: I mean it! She's acting weird and it's starting to scare me.

Yuri: Why? What's she doing?

*Letha enters, moving across the screen and muttering under her breath*

Letha: Been through the desert on horse with no name, felt good to get out of the rain... In the desert you can remember your name, 'cause their ain't no one for to give you no pain...

*Letha exits*

Yuri, Karol & Rita: …

Yuri: What's a horse?

x x x

Somehow, Karol saw them first. "Look over there!" he shouted a bit hoarsely, and then coughed and spat a bit. Sand in the mouth. Judith told him not to take off that face wrap...

Yuri mutely handed Karol his own canteen and then raised a hand to shade his eyes. Squinting, he saw what the Ace had pointed out. "Let's go!"

Other than some sandstone cliffs, I couldn't see what they'd spotted, but I followed faithfully as they led everyone else across the sand at an angle from the direction we'd been going previously. Sure enough, it wasn't long before we practically were stumbling across a pair of bodies in the sand. The sun was nearly directly over head, meaning the nearby cliffs provided no protective shade from its harsh rays. The bodies were partially buried, and for a heart stopping moment I thought they were dead.

Estelle dropped to kneel beside them and cast First Aid without hesitation. One of the bodies groaned. Oh good, they're alive! The one that groaned shifted, and slowly sat up. "Ohh...my wife, where's my wife..." Even in his weakened state, the urgency and alarm were clear in his ragged voice.

"This woman...?" Karol asked, as if not entirely sure the other body was a woman. To be fair, she was wrapped up in similar clothes as us, and without greater familiarity he probably couldn't tell the difference between women and men's clothing. "She's right here," he assured the man. Estelle was already casting another First Aid to give her back some strength. Both of them were struggling to sit up at that point.

The princess' healing artes were a rudimentary treatment, meant more to keep them from dying on our hands within the next minute, so we'd have the time for a better solution. Yuri and Raven supported the couple to the shade Karol and I quickly set up with a tent, and Judith gave them water from the remaining extra canteens, watching with a careful eye to make sure they didn't drink too much all at once.

Dehydrated, sun exposure, overheated, and malnourished. But doing better once we spent a good hour sharing our water supplies and giving them light food from our bags that their stomachs wouldn't just rebel against and throw up. The two were getting livelier with every minute, and once they could speak sentences longer than three words without coughing, they kept thanking us over and over again.

"Thank you so much!"

"We're alive, thanks to you... You're our saviors!"

"Please, it's nothing..." Estelle replied demurely.

"We can relax once you're back home safely," Yuri said. Or tried to say. The man was still talking about how grateful he was.

"I'd like to thank you for saving us...but I'm afraid I don't have anything with me that I could give you..."

"Oh, please," Yuri waved a hand a bit brusquely, "we don't need anything like that."

"Virtue's its own reward, treat others how you want to be treated, yadda yadda yadda..." I mumbled to myself. Not loud enough to be heard by the couple, didn't want to come off as rude. Estelle heard and frowned slightly, which led to Rita elbowing me in the ribs. Ow...

"No, that simply won't do," the man decided. "Please, come to Mantaic so that I can pay you back for what you've done."

"Mantaic...?" Rita looked away from me (she'd been rolling her eyes a bit at how I was rubbing my ribs gingerly) over to the couple.

Judith caught on as well. "Wait, are you the parents of Alph and Layla?"

The wife seem startled to hear her children's names. "Y-yes, yes, we are!" Her hand covered her mouth while hugging herself with her other arm, as if wishing she had them in her arms. "Did you see our children back in Mantaic...?"

"We found them out in-" Karol started, but was interrupted by Estelle.

"Yes, we met them there." The Ace seemed confused, but Raven leaned over and muttered something in his ear. Probably along the lines of 'don't make the parents worry more than they need to' since the children were safe at home.

Karol's eyes widened a bit, and then he nodded. "They were worried about their mom and dad," he did say.

"They asked us to come and look for you," Judith told them, holding out the marble Alph had given her. Recognition dawned in both of their faces.

"Oh... This is terrible," the father moaned. "We have to go back to them..." He tried to leave through the tent flap, his wife at his heels, but Judith slipped in front of them and stood with hands on hips.

"Don't be so hasty. Do you think you two can go back by yourselves?"

The man looked angered at first, but the krytian's level stare made him drop his head rather than meet her eyes. "No, I guess...we can't..." At his own admission, his hands clenched at his sides.

"Then just calm down for now," Raven soothed. I was impressed. There was just the right amount of authority in his tone, balanced with understanding. Well, there must be good reasons why the Schwann Brigade respect their leader even when they hardly see him.

At that moment we heard a long, trilling cry from out in the desert. Everyone stood as if frozen, heads turned in the same direction as if we could see through the canvas wall. Honestly, based on how loud the call had been it wouldn't be too surprising if we saw a monster's shadow descending on us.

"A bird..." the man whispered, surprise momentarily taking his mind from the issue of his children, "in this desert?"

"It sounds close..." Karol added.

Raven nodded slightly, "Sounds like it came from just up ahead."

"So we'll get to meet him..." Yuri murmured, taut with anticipation and an impatience to get out there, "it's about time. I was about to shrivel up in this heat."

When I looked curiously at Judith, her head was tilted in a listening position. But she looked puzzled by something. Could she already have realized it's not Phaeroh? Maybe she tried that krytian telepathic thing and didn't get any answer.

There was no question what we were going to do next. We'd come so far looking for Phaeroh, we had to go and see if we'd finally found him now that we were so close. Alph and Layla's parents would simply have to tag along for the ride. Too bad only I, and maybe Judith, knew it was a Red Herring.

I wonder if that's why Phaeroh made it. I'm pretty sure it was implied that he made it... Maybe it was to throw us and the knights off his trail.

Karol quickly had the tent collapsed again, needing very little of my help actually, and we were off in the direction of the bird-like cry. The only thing slowing our pace was that we had to consider the weakened couple, who weren't accustomed to monster hunting even on their best days.

We'd just entered an area where sandstone swept up in cliffs on either side of us so that we were caught in a narrow valley of sorts. A bottleneck, I thought, a bad place to get ambushed, and maybe a good place to hold off an army if you know how.

The trill came again. "Something isn't right..." Judith stopped and looked around, feet spreading apart to plant firmly in the sand. "Be on your guard."

Suddenly there was another cry overlaying the bird one, and it made me think of something trying to howl underwater.

"That's not Phaeroh..." Estelle realized.

Yuri eased into a ready stance of his own. "Yeah... There's something different about that voice."

I blinked, thinking the heat was affecting my vision when I saw a black spot in the air above and just ahead of us. But it didn't go away, and was getting bigger. "H-hey!" Karol squawked, noticing it too.

The black spot wasn't getting closer, it was expanding rapidly until it looked like a vortex straight out of a sci-fi. A bit of electricity seemed to lick at its edges and then it flashed. When the sudden light cleared, it left a floating blob like thing in the shape of a...a manta ray was all I could compare it to. But it was bluish, transparent, and globs of dark shadowy substance that kept emerging from its body to arc through the air before reentering its amorphous mass.

"What the?" Rita recoiled in revulsion, "It's disgusting!"

"Biology class abomination," I grunted. "Almost as nasty as the daphnia." Water flea. Goddamned nasty thing to look at with a microscope (I saw the friggin' thing's heart beating! Or something was moving in it...).

"I've never seen a monster like that..." Karol's voice cracked in horror.

Judith's voice was cool, "That's not a monster."

"If it's not a monster, what the hell is it?" Raven demanded, voice high and panicky. There was no chance for Judith to answer, if she had the answer, because the monster finished doing...whatever it was doing floating there, and, uh, swam through the air straight at us.

"Damn, looks like we have no choice," Yuri flung the sheath off his sword and spared a single glance back at our tag-alongs. "Out of the way, you two!"

Rita shot off a blast of fire into the monster's face, or where its face would be if it had one, more to distract it than anything else. It gave the couple time to retreat further back down the neck of our sand rock trap. It bothered me that the monster didn't make any noise or reaction of pain at all.

Goddamn, I bet this is the thing that took out the Crocodile Hunter.

x x x

Hero in the Shadows by David Gemmell. I AM SORRY, SIR, FOR CUTTING YOUR WONDERFUL STORY INTO SUCH A CRUDE, SHORTENED VERSION. Seriously, there was a lot more going on in that book. Letha was just telling the parts that struck the strongest chord in me. The impact is so much more amazing with the actual dialogue...

Medusa Butterfly, exit stage right. Judith is disappointed.

Classic Hits. Got the idea when I heard the song "Horse With No Name" playing on the radio at work. Also played with the idea of her reciting lines from "We Three Kings" but some people don't are adamantly against Christmas carols out of season. It was fun. (Though I thought the line was "can't remember your name" until I looked it up. That would make more sense to me...)