Sorry for the wait, I know it's been forever and I don't like excuses. This chapter is extra long. I have spring break next weekend and will hopefully post another chapter then. Hope you guys enjoy!

Chapter 9 (The Search, Forest, and "Brick, we're lost...")

Boomer's POV:

She's gone and it's all my fault…. My thoughts rush back to the scene.

I fought with six guys; Butch had been helping me train with a sword so I did pretty well. That's until HE came… Six foot five, 600 pounds of pure muscle, his face had three scars racing down from his right forehead past his lower-left jaw and to his left hand. Once he came up to me he raised a hand and all the other fell back. His lips curved into such a twisted smile that I cringed. I didn't notice that his left eye was missing until he was three feet away. He lifted his tree branch and swung at my head before I even realized what was happening. I blacked out

When I opened my eyes I saw the man with Bubbles over his shoulder, a small stream of blood fell from her mouth. I jumped up and tried to run after the man. He hopped on a horse with Bubbles over his shoulder and rode out of sight.

I realized I had forgotten something, Blossom! I run in the carriage to find her nowhere to be seen. Sounds of a fight come from the opposite side of the carriage. Rushing out, I find Blossom, her clothes raged and dirty; bow out and shooting every man that got close. I found out quickly it was NOT smart to get in between Blossom and her fighting. She shot an arrow at my head! I ducked but it was a close call. I kept my distance until Blossom shot down the last man.

"Good job, If I didn't know any better I'd say your better than Brick with a bow." I said as Blossom lowered her bow.

"Where's Bubbles?"

"Taken…"Blossom's eyebrows shot up.

"What! You didn't try to save her!" She yelled in my face.

"I don't have time to explain. You need to just get on a horse and find Brick and the others."

"I'm not leaving your side until we get Bubbles back!"

"NOW!" I commanded. Blossom looked surprised and just nodded her head. I grabbed the only horse that was left and Blossom hopped on. "Will you be fine on your own?" I softened my voice.

"Yes, I'll be fine."Then Blossom rode out of sight.

So here I am now, alone in the forest tracking down the bandits that took Bubbles. Thoughts and visions of Bubbles run through my head over and over. Her laughter, her small smile, every little detail about her becomes my motivation to keep going. The sun sets; through the trees orange light filters the hidden pathway. Little animals scurry around in front of me and in the trees.

Hope flares in my chest when I see a flame flicker in the distance. Silently, I creep toward the flame. To my bitter disappointment it turns out to be only a small campsite with a single flame. I shuffle around the campsite to see the person who made it. I hear a shuffle up above me.

"Hello!" A boy a couple of inches smaller than me pops up on my left. A psycho smile plasters itself on the boys face complementing his wild brown hair and wide amber eyes. I jump a little. "Oh, you don't need to worry about me, I'm not scary! Plus, I'm not gonna hurt you. At least, I don't think I am. Are you a bandit? Are you gonna steal my food? You don't look like a thief though; you look too shy. Although, who knows they do say it's always the quiet ones and you are pretty quiet aren't you?"

"Umm…."

"You look like the quiet type. I bet you're really nice though! Yeah, I was right. You're NOT a thief, a thief would've interrupted me by know so you're cool. My name's Cory by the way. You look like a Thomas, what's your name?"

"My name's Boomer…" I start but yet again I'm interrupted.

"That's cool. Reminds me of a boomerang. I'm fourteen, how old are you? I bet your fourteen too."

"I'm actually…"

"Yeah, I know why you're here."

"You do?" I ask while shock covers my face.

"You're looking for the group of bandits carrying the blonde, right?" Cory's insane smile reappears. My mouth drops.

"That's exactly what I'm looking for."

"The campsite is right beyond the campsite." Cory pushes back some branches and a bigger camp with lots of fires and tents shows itself. "You can thank me later."

I turn around to ask him what that means and Cory's gone. I go to where Cory was standing. Examining the camp, I realize there were only three guards. Not smart on their part. I know I'm not the smartest person but I know you need more than three guards for a campsite like that!

I take one look at the rising moon and think to myself. "I'm coming to get you Bubbles. Don't worry…"

Butch's POV:

The moon rises as I go in search of the bandits. I didn't tell Brick because he would never have let me go. I didn't tell Buttercup because she would want to tag along. Nothing special has happened yet. I've just been walking through the forest humming to myself.

"What ya humming?" A voice questions behind me. Immediately I draw my sword and point it in the direction of the voice. "Whoa, keep your pants on Butch it's just me." Buttercup laughs and steps into the moonlight. The blue light frames her tanned face and turned her hair a blue that almost looked white. Her green eyes glow in the shadows.

Apparently I zoned out for awhile because Buttercup waved a hand in front of my face.

"Hello, earth to moron, again, second time today I had to do this and its getting annoying." Irritation comes off her in waves. I smirk.

"Sunshine I didn't know you cared."

"What are you talking about?"

"You came after me." That leaves her speechless. Curiosity overcomes me.

"Why did you come after me?" I ask. Her eyes flicker around trying to think of something. I study her. Her hair shines. Her eyes glow. She bites her bottom lip. Her clothes are ragged, ripped, and dirty. She has scars, cuts, and bruises everywhere. All thoughts leave my mind but that image of her.

"I came because someone has to keep you out of trouble." She looks up; apparently happy with her answer. I decide I'm gonna have some fun with her.

"I can't believe you came. You're just gonna hold me back." I turn around, put my hands behind my head, and close one eye keeping the other locked on Buttercup. Her face turns red.

"I can't believe this! I'm just as good as you are with a sword!" Shouting, she punches my arm, HARD. I grit my teeth and shot her a fake amused glare.

"That's cute." I laugh. Buttercup punches my arm again HARDER and storms off. "That girl can punch." I smile to myself and follow her.

Brick's POV:

"Brick, I think we're lost." Blossom states.

"No, Blossom I have the map right here." I hold up the map behind my back so she can see.

"Are you sure Brick?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

Boomer's POV:

I decided earlier that I would get Bubbles when the moon reaches its peak. Now I'm creeping through the bushes around one of the side entrances to the camp. Men walk past each other every once and a while and start talking. I arrive at one tent that is filled with light, laughter, and music. One man, obviously drunk, waddles out and comes over to my bush. He doesn't notice me and pukes right beside of my face. I hold in a gag.

I walk out of the bushes with clothes that smell like a mix of meat and beer. The drunk I saw earlier is currently sitting in the bushes gagged, hands and feet tied, and in his underwear. I walk into the party tent and see about twenty men in there as drunk as they can be and singing random songs. One very tall man walks over to me and gives me his goofy smile.

"Hey Joe, how ya liken' da party?" The man's words slur together. I smile back and come up with a plan.

"Hey, the party's great! Um… I sort of forgot, what did we do with that blonde girl again?"

"Oh, the blonde, we sold her to the fairies."

"So she's not here…"

"Nope." I inwardly moan. Now I have to find some stupid fairies.

"Intruders!" A guy yells as I run outside. Well I guess the gigs up. I draw my sword as three guys come running at me. They pass me. Confused, I turn to see a boy and girl weaving through the tents slashing anyone who got close. The boy stops to look around. Wait a sec, is that… Butch?

Buttercup's POV:

So yeah, we found the camp. Now we're running from more than thirty bandits all because Butch had to be stupid and messed around with the guard's stuff.

"You should've stayed back Sunshine!" Butch yells over his shoulder.

"Whose fault is it that we're being chased right now? Oh, it's yours!" I scream in response. I'm getting sick of him complaining that I came along.

"I mean it would've been a LOT easier if you didn't come along."

"SHUT UP!" I throw the closest thing to me at the back of Butch's head. It turns out I throw a small guy at him. The guy wraps his arms around Butch's neck and tries to stab his neck with the small knife he has. My eyes widen. Luckily, Butch throws the little guy off before he can do anything.

"Are you trying to kill me?" Butch's eyes light up with anger. Guilt wells up in my throat.

"You made me mad!" I choke out.

"Let's just get out of here." Butch scowls and looks away.

Brick's POV:

"Brick we're lost…" I roll my eyes. "Brick, we're lost…" I sigh and keep going. "Brick are you hearing me?"

"Yes Bloss, I hear you…" I mutter under my breath.

"You need to speak up." Biting my bottom lip, I close my eyes, and sigh. "Brick… Brick… Brick…" My breathing increases. My blood pressure rises. "Brick, we need to stop and ask for directions." I take a deep breath and slowly blow out. This is going to be a LONG trip. "Are you giving me the silent treatment?"

Boomer's POV:

I chase after Butch and Buttercup once they reach the woods. Everyone stopped chasing them a couple minutes ago.

"Just give UP already!" Buttercup yells exasperated. "You're the only one still chasing us which is useless because you'll never catch us!" She throws a pinecone at me and it hits me on the nose.

I stop chasing them and grab my nose. The second I stop chasing them they slip away into the shadows. I pull away my hand and see blood in my palm. (Great, now my nose is bleeding.)

"Hey Boomer! I'm guessing she wasn't there or you would've had her by now." Cory falls down from a tree and lands like a cat.

"Yeah, the bandits sold her to some fairies." I look to the ground.

"Hey, it's not that bad. Fairies don't hurt people, well they don't hurt girls. They don't like human boys and they don't like being called fairies. Fairies are a slang term for two things, the Fey and the Pixies. You better hope they are talking about the Pixies because if they're talking about the Fey I doubt you'll ever see the blonde girl again. The Fey are very touchy if you breathe wrong they'll get offended. Hopefully you won't run into them. The Pixies are better; they just don't like human boys. They think us boys are stupid, ignorant, wanting to fight all the time, and have no manners." Cory swiftly explains but clear enough that I understand him. I laugh to myself.

"You just completely described my brother Butch." As I think of Butch I also think of a tough raven head girl. I imagine Buttercup in a pink frilly dress with little pixies all around her trying to do her hair. I can't help but laugh out loud. Cory starts laughing too. Though, he has no idea what we're laughing about.

"I can take you to the Pixies if you want. They're not that far away, plus, I don't have any friends so it'd be nice if I could stay with you a little longer. Everyone else I know says that I'm annoying and to leave them alone…" Cory takes a deep breath and slows down. "My dad and older brother died in a Scottish raid of our village. I was only eight. Old enough to remember the screams of the people and young enough that the Scotts didn't want me dead…." We start walking down an unmarked path as he starts his story.

Cory's POV:

The sun shines brightly through my window telling me that's it's time to get up and do my chores. I just pull my covers over my face to keep out the light.

"Oh no you don't…" I hear someone chuckle as my covers get ripped out of my hands and fall onto the floor.

I look up to see Darius; my seventeen year old brother looks down at me with his 'infamous smirk', as my mother calls it. Darius is the troublemaker of the town. He's not really a troublemaker. The people of my village are just too boring for him. He always challenges the Scottish guards that stay in the village. He makes deals that if he wins then they have to leave and never come back. He ALWAYS wins the one on one match, but the Scotts gang up on him and beat him up.

The reason Darius has to challenge them anyway is because the Scotts are invading Ireland. They've been doing it for awhile. Our village, the Village of Parthia, is on the border between Ireland and Scotland. The Scotts took over our village two years ago. Since then, our food and money supply has gone down. Dad says it's a passing thing but Darius isn't sure. He says that he will keep fighting for Ireland until his last breath.

"Hey, Pipsqueak, you know Mom will freak if you don't come down for breakfast. You're already late and Dad sent me to get you." He throws my work clothes at my face. "Put these on and come downstairs before Mom comes up and gets you herself. You and I both know that end well." Darius smirked as he closed the door behind him.

I ran down the steps from my room in the attic. Once at the bottom I slip on a small pile of hay and fall on my face.

"Nice job Squirt. You're REALLY gonna frighten off the Scotts by fallin' on your face." I look up to see Darius with his hand stretched out to help me.

"I could be tricking them." I say.

"What?" Darius looks confused as I jump on him.

"Sneak attack!" I yell as Darius turns around pretending to try and get me off of his back.

"No, it's too much! The weight of your fat little body is too much for me to bear!" He dramatically falls on the floor, gently places me on the ground, and pretends to die.

"I'm not fat." I protest. Darius opens one of his eyes and responds.

"Are too."

"Are not."

"Are too."

"Are NOT."

"Silence!" Our mother screams as she walks in the room. Darius and I both stand up and try to look like we hadn't just wrestled on the ground. "Both of you need to go and do your chores! Young Boy, since you missed breakfast that will be your punishment. Darius, you will do the horse stables instead of the Young Boy as your punishment."

"Isn't that rewarding him?" Darius protest.

"Silence! Now go!" She points at the door and watches as me and Darius exit our small house. Once out the door I smile at Darius.

"Yeah, yeah, just see how long you'll be smiling once you get to your orientation tonight."

Tonight is the most important night of my life. I am joining Darius's group that fights the Scotts. Of course I'll only be a serving boy until I turn twelve. Then I'll become a fresh fighter.

The group consists of both boys and girls. Wait, I take that back, one girl. Her name is Faith and she is my favorite girl in the world. She is sixteen and works as a servant for one of the lords in the area. Her father is a blacksmith so she brings all of the weapons. I used to think she was my big sister, until her and Darius started dating. Now she's just a good friend. A mace is her weapon of choice. She's really good with it, almost as good as Darius is with a sword.

"Hey, stop daydreaming and get ready." Darius hits me on the back of the head as we walk through the village streets. "Are you excited?"

"Yes!" We ride through the trail and talk about how stupid our chores are.

Once we get to the camp for the ceremony Faith greets us with a smile. Darius hops off of his horse and goes to see her.

"Hey snail, you guys were supposed to be here before sunset."

"Sorry, we had chores. You know our mom; she won't let me take Cory anywhere before his chores are done. She thinks I'm a 'bad influence' on him." Darius rolls his eyes. Faith punches him in the arm.

"You ARE a bad influence." I hear a scream. Darius and Faith jerk their heads toward the sound. More screams come from the same direction.

"It sounds like it's coming from the village." Darius states.

"It would explain why no one else is here yet."Faith reasons. Darius looks over at me with concern glowing in his eyes.

"Cory, stay here. Faith and I will go check it out. We'll come back as soon as we know it's safe."

Out of curiosity I follow Darius and Faith through the woods and toward the sounds of the screams. We get to the village. I stop and look through the bushes. Flames cover the small cottages and spread down the street. People scramble in the road. Scottish soldiers fight farmers who only have shovels to use as weapons.

Darius draws his sword and charges straight into the fray. Faith follows him with her short sword. Faith takes out the first soldier in two blows. Darius and Faith fight back to back against at least twenty Scottish soldiers.

Soon all of the farmers have been taken down and the only ones left fighting are Darius and Faith. They work like a well-oiled machine. Each fighter does their part. Darius strikes and Faith blocks. Now, after about three hours, Darius is covered in bruises and cuts. One deep cut is placed on his right leg. Faith looks even worse than Darius. Her left arm bruised a dark purple an hour ago and a bone deep gash runs from her right elbow to her shoulder. I notice that she's struggling to hold up her sword. I think Darius notices too.

Next thing I know, Faith screams. Darius turns around to see a Scottish soldier jabbing his word into her stomach.

"Faith!" I yell. When I jump up I accidentally stumble out of the bushes. Everyone from the fray turns and looks at me. Darius has Faith in his arms and takes the distraction to run.

"Come on Cody, run!" I take off right after my brother.

We reach the dirt road that takes us to my house. I look ahead to see flames reaching toward the sky. Darius skids to a halt, the fire reflecting in his eyes. He turns to look at me, looks down at Fiona in his arms, and finally looks out at the bushes.

"Here, take Fiona over to the bushes and hide. Don't come to the house until I tell you to."

Of course, stupid me decides to leave Fiona and go to the house. I walk into the kitchen to find Darius bending over two bodies. He looks up at me with tears streaming down his bloodied face.

"Why can't you just do as you're told?" I look down at the two bodies to see my mother and father lying still and not breathing. Father's chest is bloody and mother's neck is slit. I feel tears streaming down my face. Darius comes and wraps his arms around me in a hug.

"Where's Fiona?" Darius asks, after I calm down.

"I left her…" I managed to croak out. Darius's eyes lit up.

"Come on, we need to get her." He clutched something close to his heart.

"What's that?" I questioned. Darius only sighed and looked away. Finally, he opens his hand and inside there's a small silver ring with a diamond in the middle. The realization hits me. "You were going to ask Fiona to marry you today…" Darius nods his head.

When we get back to the bushes, Fiona is nowhere to be found.

"Where'd she go?" Darius frets. He runs a hand through his hair.

"You were looking for her." We turn to see at least twenty Scottish soldiers surrounding us. One of the soldiers has Fiona by her neck.

"Let her go!" Darius screams. He punches the closest guard, but soon Darius gets captured. He looks to me and mouths 'run.'

I creep up behind the crowd of people.

"This is Scottish land now!" A man yells and I look to see Darius and Fiona chained and lined up on a stage. "To prove our superiority, we are now going to kill the leaders of your rebellion." I gasp. Fiona gives Darius a small smile before heading to a stool. She looks straight ahead and places her chin on the stool. Darius lashes out and yells. Three soldiers have to hold him back. SLASH! Fiona gasps as the axe comes down. The women in the crowd start wailing as I cry.

Darius is brought up to the Scottish captain's face. The Captain looks triumphantly down at him. Darius spits in his face. The Captain pushes Darius's face down against the stool.

"Anything else to say boy…" The Captain asks mockingly. Darius hair shields his eyes from view.
"Down with Scottish scumbags." Darius replies smugly. The axe starts its approach downward. I close my eyes. SLASH! I open my eyes and see that Darius's head rolled to my feet. Tears invade my vision. I turn and run into the forest sobbing wildly.

Boomer's POV:

How do you respond to that? Tears stream down my face. 'What if I lost Brick or Butch?' I think. The morning sun shines down from the trees.

"Here we are. The home of the pixies… good luck…" Cory whispers softly. I turn around.

"Wait…" I call, but Cory's already gone.