(A/N I am not entirely happy with how this turned out to be honest, but I can't do any better (an I'm to lazy) sooooooooo... here you go!)

Chapter 30: Rodrian Meets Lorea

Lorea didn't like this. Not at all. She was tired and wanted to sleep. She wanted to be home, with her parents. Not with these... what had her Mum called them? Rebels. Lorea didn't want to be with these rebels. Her Mum had always said that they were dangerous, and wanted to hurt people. Lorea tried not to wail. Where was her parents now?

In one of the poorer districts of Capriolium, miss Lynn lived. Miss Lynn was an old woman, whom the rebels trusted with young prisoners, such as Lorea. Infact, about fifteen years earlier, Lorea's own mother once had been locked up in the basement of miss Lynn's shop. Miss Lynn herself was a retired prostitute. Her son had been one of the rebels leader, but had gotten "murdered". Ever since he had became rebel, Lynn had accepted all the rebels younger prisoners and kept them in her basement. Now, little Lorea was shuffed into the darke, dusty shop and down to the even more dusty and damp basement. Too shocked and scared, she just did as she was told.

Runa could tell that Rodrian wasn't in a good temper. They had been married for over a year now, and Runa could tell by just one look at his eyes which temper he was in. And now he was angry. Or rather annoyed. "What is it, dearie?" she finally got the courage to say.

"Don't call me that." he snapped.

"Sorry." she mumbled, "I just... You look a little bit down."

"Why do you care?" Rodrian wondered.

"Because we're married." Runa answered. "We're suppoused to take care of eachother."

Rodrian tried to supress a smile, but didn't succed. He sighed and settled down on the furs that laid inside of their tent. Runa settled down very close to him, which bothered Rodrian. "Now," said Runa, "What's bothering you?"

Rodrian bit his lip. Could he tell Runa or could he not? He decided that he could. "I have a niece." he said.

"So?"

How should he put this? How could he tell Runa? Tell her that his four year old niece was being kidnapped by the rebels, the group he had joined? Rodrian felt torn. Of course the rebels were right, the Emperor was no good to the Eastern Snowplains. But to kidnap a little girl, take her from her parents and put her in a cold basement was wrong. Not to mention that the little girl was Rodrian's niece, Rodrian's brother's own child. It didn't feel right to let his family suffer like that. He couldn't let his family suffer like that. He bit his lip, harder this time. Suddenly, he felt the taste of blood. "Hello?" Runa lightly pushed his shoulder, "Rodrian?"

"Yeah?"

"What's the problem with having a niece, then?"

"There is no promblem." Rodrian lied, "I'm just a bit shocked. I just found out." That was a lie. Marcia had told him that years ago... Rodrian suddenly realized that Runa was rather close to him. He shuffed her of, roughly.

"Can't you leave the tent for a while?" he snapped, "I have some things I'd like to think over."

Runa blinked. She hadn't expected Rodrian to shuf her of like that.
"Of course." she looked down, and quickly departed from the tent.

A golden eagle landed on Marcia's shoulder. She was walking at the Wizard Way, and people were staring at her and the magnificent bird at her shoulder. Marcia gently touched the eagles powerful beak before taking the letter from it's leg. Then she sent away the bird. She decided to read the letter later on, when she was at the Wizard Tower.

When Marcia safely had arrived at the Tower, she settled down and read the letter. When she was done, she was pale, shocked and trembling. Lorea, her wonderful little niece were gone. Kidnapped. By the rebels. By Rodrian. Marcia suddenly felt furious. How dared he do that to his own niece? His brother's child? Marcia let out a loud sob. Poor Cashmére, and poor Joseph. Who knew what was happening to the child?

Weeks had passed since little Lorea was kidnapped by the rebels. Rodrian knew that his brother and his brother's wife had been desperatley looking everywhere for her, but had not found her. Of course. Rodrian himself knew exactley where Lorea was. He had a rather powerful position amongst the rebels. But, no matter what position he had, he was going to free his niece from the rebels. Even though he himself was one of them.

Lorea drew the filthy, tattered blanket tighter around herself. It was hard to sleep with such a thin blanket, especially in a cold and not so welcoming cellar, and certainly not while being hungry. She wanted to sleep, she did, but she couldn't. Lorea sniffeled. She wanted her Mum to be there. Her Mum was gentle, these people who had her now were rough. They hit her, and laughed when they did so. Lorea couldn't understand why. What did they want from her? She rubbed her nose against her arm, closed her eyes and imagined her Mum singing to her. Her Mum and her Dad together, being happy. Smiling, laughing... Suddenly, she heard somebody open the door and her mothers voice stopped, leaving her all alone. Lorea whimpered. What did they want now? "Is this the girl?" a voice asked. Lorea had never heard the voice before.

"Oh, yes." miss Lynn answered, her squeaky voice sounding extra squeaky in excitement, "Yes it is."

Lorea opend her eyes. Infront of her stood a man with brown hair and green eyes. He looked a bit friendly, but Lorea didn't trust him. He wore a red cloak- her Mum had always said that men who had red cloaks were evil. And it had been the men in the red cloaks who had taken her away from her Mum and her Dad.

"Rise up, girl." miss Lynn hissed, "Lazy kid..."

"Hello." the man said. He smiled at her. Lorea didn't reply.

"I'm glad to get rid of her." said miss Lynn, "She has given me so horrably much trouble."

The man lifted her up. Loreas heart beat faster. What was happening?

"Hush." the man said.

Miss Lynn chuckled. "That'll cost you." she said.

"What?" the man asked, "Lifting her up?"

"No, silly." miss Lynn snapped, "Taking her with you."

"Of course." the man said, dryly. He pulled out a bag, and handed it over to the woman. Miss Lynn held out the content of the bag onto her hand. It was lots of pale, yellowish coins. These coins were in the Eastern Snowplains known as Ivory Moons, because of their shape and the material used in them. Miss Lynn counted each coin, and made sure that they were not false by tapping her long nails at them. She smirked at the man. "She's your trouble now." miss Lynn said. The man opend his mouth, as though he wanted to say anything, but closed it again.

"Come now, Lorea." said the man. How did he know her name? Lorea's name? For the moment, Lorea didn't care that much about it. He at least spoke softly to her, and he gently stroke his hand over her head. Lorea yawned. The man carried her out of the basement, out of the place she had been locked into. He was strong. Even though she was young, she could see that. He put her down outside miss Lynn's house, and knelt down infront of her. "Lorea," he looked unsure now, as though he didn't know what to say. Lorea knew that look. Her parents used to look almost the same when they explained complicated things to her. "I'm your uncle."

Why was the man lying to her? Her Dad had told her that his brothers were gone and couldn't come back. The only sibling her Dad had was Marcia, Lorea's aunt. Marcia was nice, but Lorea didn't see her very often. That was because Marcia lived in another country. Lorea didn't know why. Why couldn't she just get to the Eastern Snowplains? She had to tell the man this. "No," Lorea said, "Dad doesn't have any siblings."

The man blinked, as though he was shocked. "But Lorea, your father is my brother."

"No." Lorea insisted, "His brother's are gone."

The man sighed. "Is that what he has told you?"

Lorea nodded. "Yes."

"Very well, then." the man sighed again. "Maybe you still could call me uncle?"

Lorea didn't know what to answer at this. She didn't want to make the man sad, or worse: angry. "I could call you uncle..." she said doubtfully.

"Or maybe just Rodrian?" the man suggested.

"Rodian?"

"No, Rodrian." the man corrected her, but he was smiling. The smile quickly faded. He cleared his throat. "I have to go and talk to miss Lynn about something." he said.

"What are you going to talk to her about?" Lorea asked. As she was feeling a little bit safer, she regained her natural curiousity.

"Nothing you must be bothered with." the man answered.

"Oh." Lorea said. She understood that answer perfectly well. It meant 'stay out of my buisniss'. The man seemed to notice that she now looked a little sad.

"But I'll be back as soon as possible." he replied. Lorea just nodded. She still didn't know what to think of this man. The man went back into the shop, and stayed there for a few minutes. Suddenly, a woman's scream was heard. Miss Lynn's scream. Lorea felt terrified. What happend in there? But the man came back out. He now looked nerveous. Almost as though he was trying to get away from something. He lifted her up again, and, very quickly, walked away to a darke alleyway. The alleyway felt very scary. Before she had been kidnapped, Lorea hadn't been very scared of the darke. But now that she had experienced some horrable things, she was terrified of the darke. She clutched tighter onto the man's cloak, and shut her eyes tightly. "Hush." the man whispered to her, "There's no danger in here."

Lorea tried to calm down, but it was hard. She opend her eyes- she remembered that her Dad once had told her that the best way to get rid of fears was to face them- and saw nothing scary. Instead, she saw a horse. "Have you been on a horse before?" the man asked her. Lorea nodded. Lots of times. With her parents. She told the man this, and he replied that he was not very shocked. Then, he lifted her up onto the horse- Lorea couldn't help, but to giggle at this. She didn't know why- and then he mounted the horse himself, and they rode of. Lorea asked him a several times of where they were going, but the man didn't answer.

Rodrian looked down at the little, sleeping girl that had curled up against him. They had been riding for three hours when he had realized that this little human only was a child, and couldn't stay up all night. Therefore, they had stayed for a break. Rodrian figured that it would be a rather long break. He couldn't get himself to wake the little girl up, and he could certainly not get himself to understand why he liked her so much. Was it the golden curls covering her head? The big, innocent grey eyes? Maybe because she was so curious? Or maybe because he could see his family in her very being? Rodrian almost was angry at himself for liking her so much. Why couldn't he just had let her be in that damp old basement? Sooner or later Joseph would have got his daughter back, anyways. But, well, now he had her anyways. Now he just had to keep her in a safe place until he could get her back to her home. Rodrian looked down at the sleeping little heiress again. He tucked her hair behind her ear. "Goodnight." he whispered, wrapping his cloak tighter around her little body. Then, also he fell asleep.

(A/N Yeah, and I won't be able to update very often the cming week/weeks because I'll be going on my holiday. Yaaaaaay! But I'll update as soon as possible. I promise!)