Ambrosia Software Web Board: Omen's Return (TS) - Ambrosia Software Web Board

As the night progressed, silence fell over the camp. Everyone, except Brianna, had gone to sleep by now, and the elf was only awake because it was her turn. She looked around, her gaze wandering towards the forest, dark and creepy in the night, and the undergrowth and bushes. She once thought she caught a movement there, but when she looked closer, it turned out to be just another shadow. Sleep was beginning to overwhelm her, and she rubbed her eyes, yawning. It was weird, that she would feel so tired all of a sudden. Tiny sparks danced in front of her eyes, and she thought she saw something moving again, but sleep was just so tempting. She should wake the others before she...
"That one's asleep, too." Whispered a male voice.
"Took her long enough, I daresay." Replied a female. "That is one weird human. Just look at her ears!"
"Look at this one!" Squealed a third voice, another female. "Look at her skin and hair... blue."
"Shh, don't be so loud, Rhia!" Warned the male. "They may be tall and look clumsy, but remember, one of their kind almost managed to catch Shi the last time we went out?"
"Well, that was an accident!" Protested the first female. "I didn't expect him to use magic."
"Anyway, we should be more careful." Rhia said.
"We shouldn't be here at all." The male remarked.
"Well, go away, then." Shi snapped, a little too loud, perhaps, since it made Brianna stir. She only moved a little, but Shi froze immediately. The other two took wing like startled birds, disappearing into the shadows of a nearby bush.
"Shi! Come on!" Rhia hissed, waving. As Brianna stirred again, she exchanged a worried glance with her companion. "Why didn't the magic work?"
"I don't know. But we better get help. Those humans are different." Rhia nodded, and they flew off.
Shi, meanwhile, did not move. She stared at Brianna as if afraid the strange human would eat her any minute. Brianna opened her eyes halfway, then blinked a few times at the sight before her, not quite believing it. She rubbed her eyes, but the image in front of her did not disappear, not even move. The tiny woman just stared at her with wide eyes, a mix of curiosity and fear displayed on her face and in her amethyst eyes. She stood about one foot small, with wavy, lavender hair. Part of it was held back in a high ponytail, but most fell freely to her waist. She was wearing a light green shirt, with short sleeves composed of the multicolored feathers of some bird, and a dark green short skirt, made of petal-shaped pieces of cloth, multi-layered to resemble a flower. Around her waist was a golden chain inlaid with a large (for her proportion) triangular piece of green crystal, which glowed strangely. Her wings were semi-transparent and shaped like those of an insect. Brianna had heard of those creatures. "A fairy!" She exclaimed, sitting up.
Despite her situation, Shi took the trouble to correct her. "Phaerie!" She said with emphasis. "The stress is on the second syllable."
"Sorry." Brianna replied automatically.
"Ah, never mind." The phaerie waved her hand nonchalantly. "Humans always make that mistake."
"I'm not quite human." Brianna replied.
"Really?" Shi inquired, her curiosity stirred. This one didn't seem so bad after all.
"Really really. I'm half elven." Brianna smiled reassuringly. "My name is Brianna. Pleased to meet you."
"My name is Shi'nayne. Call me Shi." The phaerie smiled back at her. For a long time she was silent, and just as Brianna wanted to speak up again, she continued, hesitantly. "Uhm... what's an elven?"

Brianna opened her mouth to reply - then stopped, abruptly. How do you explain an Elf?

"Well," she began, "they're sort of like humans. At least, they're about the same size. They have pointed ears, like mine, and their hair is usually a light colour. I got mine from my mother, who was human. They're more inherently magical, too."

"Oh," Shi exclaimed. "That must be why -"

She stopped abruptly. Brianna quirked an eyebrow, but otherwise made no comment.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking," Shi resumed, "what are all you big folks doing way out here?"

"We're on a quest. An enemy stole a powerful crystal that's somehow tied to the wellbeing of the land, and broke it into six pieces. We have to find all of them, and put it back together. The first piece is apparently in the ruins of Abydos, some way south of here, and that's where we're going."

"And what happens if you fail?"

"Well, I gather that all of Cythera will be overrun by a race called the Undine. They're water elementals, so eventually all the land will disappear."

"No more land?" Shi squeaked. "That's terrible! Where will everybody live?" Brianna shrugged. Shi thought hard for a moment. "This could be serious, I need to tell somebody about this!" She fluttered off a short way, then fluttered back. "Please, don't tell anyone about me, OK? We're not supposed to let ourselves get seen! Anyway, you're much nicer than the stories we're told about big people! I might be back later, I'd like to help! Byeee!"

Brianna blinked as the phaerie flew off. "What a remarkable creature," she thought to herself. All tiredness had left her, so she could make a pretty educated guess as to what had caused it. Still, judging by the moon, it was time to rouse her relief.

She woke Trundaylan, then spread her bedroll in an open space near Sean and Dalia. Anyone observing would probably have overlooked the fact that this placed the Ronin between herself, Katerei and Velcarn.

"That was a very unusual crystal Shi was wearing, I wonder what it was?" Brianna thought, as she invoked her trancelike rest state. In a few short moments, she gave every appearance of being deeply asleep.

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The next morning came, and Brianna awoke to see almost everyone already up and about. She got up and stretched, looking around for something to do. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a movement in the forest, and a little later she saw Shi's head pop up between the branches of a bush. The little creature waved her hand energetically, then flew off again towards the forest.
Brianna looked around until she spotted Katerei and walked over to her. "I'll be back soon... I just have to check something." She said quietly. Katerei looked at her questioningly, but nodded nonetheless, figuring she'd get an explanation later. Brianna wandered off towards the forest. She hadn't walked for long, when she heard somebody laugh. She looked up to see Shi, and two other phaerie, sitting on a low branch of a nearby tree.
The other female phaerie was dressed similarly to Shi, just that she had shoulder-long lime green hair and eyes. She looked Brianna up and down.
The male was dressed in trousers and a shirt of the same color, had short, brown hair and attentive golden eyes, and seemed generally suspicious of anything more than two feet tall, and Brianna was definately too tall as far as he was concerned.
"Brianna, those are Rhia-" she pointed at the female "- and Ti'kar." She pointed at the male. "Ti'kar, Rhia, this is Brianna, the half elf."
The two phaerie nodded knowingly, but Brianna got the feeling they didn't know any more about elves than Shi did. "Pleased to meet you." She greeted, a friendly smile on her face.
The two nodded again, and Shi jumped off the branch and fluttered down, until she was hovering just a few inches from Brianna's face. "They are here to see me off." She explained. "I've been allowed to come with you. Somebody has to see you big folks get it straight, don't we?" Shi smiled brightly. "Do you think your friends would mind?"
Brianna laughed. "I doubt it. I could introduce you to them, if you like."
"Ah, yes. Great idea!" Shi clapped her hands joyfully, but then her expression changed to serious. "Just... did you know..." Her voice dropped to a low, secretive whisper, "you have three Undine spies in your group."
Brianna blinked. "Why, yes. If you come with us, I must ask you not to reveal that, though. Let them think that we don't know who they are." Shi nodded gravely, and Brianna continued. "How did you know, though?"
"They're why we came here in the first place. We sensed them from far away. We knew they were up to something ever since one of them dropped that -" she pointed at the green crystal "-off in *our* forest. I observed him doing that, and he looked particularly nasty, I tell you. And ugly, at that!" Shi grimaced in disgust. "Anyway, " she continued, in her rapid voice, "I got the crystal as soon as he was safely gone, and a lot of work it was to get it home, at that. It was contaminated by the Undine's touch. They twist everything that is fair, that's what they do!" She put her hands on her hips, fluttering up and down, upset. "but as I said, I brought it home, and there we purified it. And I was chosen to keep it since I found it in the first place. And that's why we know they're up to something, and you just prove us right, and now, here I am."
Brianna stared at the creature in amazement, not so much because of the revalations she'd made, but because she had said it all without ever even once catching a breath, nor did she seem out of breath now. But before she could say anything, Shi began again. "Well, I better say farewell now, and then we go back to the other big folks, ok?"
Brianna nodded, and Shi flew back up to the branch. She hugged her two friends good-bye.
"Be careful among the big folks." Ti'kar warned her.
"And come back soon!" Rhia added.
"Yes and yes." Shi replied, then fluttered back to Brianna. She landed on the half elf's shoulder. "You don't mind, do you?"
"No." Brianna smiled, and set off back to the camp.
"Ah, good." Shi sighed with relief and sat down. "You know, you really are much nicer than the average." She chattered on happily as she waved her friends good-bye.

Brianna walked some distance towards the camp, half listening to the cheerful chatter of the phaerie on her shoulder. With the other half of her mind, she was trying to reason out just how their situation had changed.

The Phaerie could sense the Undine, that much was clear. What she didn't know, was whether or not the Undine knew that. She couldn't predict what their reaction would be on seeing a Phaerie enter the camp - and wearing a piece of the Crolna, at that. Brianna had realised instantly, on hearing Shi's tale, what the crystal must actually be.

She sighed. She was just too inexperienced with this adventuring; she needed advice.

Shi's chatter suddenly stopped. "Is something wrong?" She asked.

"Well Shi, I'm just not sure what to do. I need to talk to some friends of mine, who're following the main group but keeping their distance, and we don't have much time until the people at camp start to worry."

"And you can't go fast enough to get there and back?"

Brianna stopped and thought for a moment. "Yes, I can. But I have to do something first." She walked over to a low hanging branch. "Hop up there a moment, would you?"

Shi obligingly flew up onto the branch, cocked her head and frowned. "What are you going to do?"

"It won't take a moment; but promise me, whatever happens, don't get scared, OK?"

Shi smiled, and laughed brightly. "I wouldn't be scared of you, you're too nice!"

Brianna nodded, but was still concerned about Shi's reaction. She took a deep breath, and closed her eyes.

Shi blinked in surprise, as Brianna seemed to fold down onto all fours; her outline blurred, and reformed. In a brief moment of panic, Shi almost thought it was an Undine, before she realised she would have sensed that already.

Pacing about below the branch, staring up at her, was a black panther.

After a moment of surprise, Shi tried communicating with the cat.

Hello? Brianna?

Yes, Shi, it's me. Do you think you could hold on to me while I run?

I'll try!

Shi fluttered down from the branch, landing on the Panther's back and taking a firm grip.

I'm ready, she thought.

The great cat loped off into the forest.

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The Ronin had made a cold camp, lighting no fires, so as not to alert anyone to their presence. They rose at the crack of dawn, packed and prepared to leave. Sasha checked on Ferazel, who was still unconscious, while Trinias moved stealthily ahead to alert them when the other group finally moved off.

Sasha heard Ulf gasp, and looked up quickly. She saw a large black cat, with what looked like a tiny person riding it, pad quietly into their camp. She stared open mouthed as the small rider flew up into the air - and she had no more shock left to show, when the cat rose up on its hind legs, and became Brianna before her very eyes.

"Sasha, Ulf, this is my new friend Shi."

Shi flew back down and alighted once more on Brianna's shoulder.

"Hello," said Ulf. Accepting things at face value as he did, he recovered from the double surprise much faster than Sasha. Shi took one look at his cheerful, beaming smile, and took an instant liking to him. His size made no difference to her; when you're one foot tall, the difference between 6 feet and 8 feet is a trivial thing - both are tall!

Sasha blinked, making a deliberate effort to pull herself together after the twin shocks. Eventually, she succeeded.

"P-pleased to meet you," she stammered to Shi, before words failed her again.

Brianna grinned, then gave Sasha a brief summary of the new situation.

"I see," Sasha said when she was done, having had time to regain her composure. She thought hard. "I wish Flynn were here, he'd know what to do," she muttered to herself, frowning. "You're sure there are only three Undine in the camp?" Shi nodded, and Sasha continued. "All right, I think maybe it's time for a confrontation. We'll come with you to the edge of the camp, and wait where we can help in a hurry. You and Shi go in to camp, and we'll see how the imposters react."

"Is that all right, Shi?" Brianna queried of the small person on her shoulder. Shi simply nodded; she was finding Sasha's intense, focused anger just a little disconcerting.

Ulf hitched up Ferazel's litter, and they set off towards the other camp.

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Just before they reached the edge of the clearing, Trinias suddenly opened his chameleon cloak, appearing right beside them. He spied Shi, and his eyes widened briefly.

"Hello there," he cheerily greeted them.

"Hello Trinias," Brianna replied to his greeting. "This is Shi; she's a Phaery."

"Pleased to meet you, Shi," he said, eyes sparkling.

Shi made a mental note to have a word with somebody about the ridiculous tales they were teaching about the big people. Sure, there might be some bad ones; but she'd met four people in two days, and they were all nice. Although the darkly clad woman with the sword made her a little nervous.

Sasha quickly filled him in on their plans, and they made their way to the edge of the clearing. There seemed to be some kind of urgent discussion going on, with several of the others questioning Katerei about something - probably Brianna's absence.

"Time to go, I guess," Brianna remarked. She marched out of the forest with Shi still riding on her shoulder.

They'd hardly gone half way, when the three imposters suddenly turned and glared at them.

"You have no business here, Phaerie!" the false Sasha said, in a stern voice. "But it's clear, since you've allied with these fools, that they're now aware of our presence. We depart now, but we'll be watching!"

The shapeshifters rapidly faded from view. "You will not succeed!" came a strangely distant sounding voice, from the empty air.

The genuine Ronin rushed out from the forest, Ulf dragging the litter behind him, but they were too late to stop the imposters escaping - nor was it certain that they'd have been able to defeat them if they'd been in time.

"What is going on here?" Trundaylan demanded.

Sasha opened her mouth to explain, but at that moment, Ferazel stirred. He sat up, looking around and blinking. Almost immediately, his gaze latched onto the jewel Shi was wearing about her waist.

"A Crolna shard! Give it here, immediately!"

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I came, I saw, I wrote the travelguide!

As Ferazel woke up, Ulf suddenly noticed the fact that Gwydion was no where in the camp. As he was about to point it out to Sasha, who was right next to him, branches were heard snapping in the woods near them in the direction that the Undine had left in.

A scuffle was obviously taking place, and small jets of flame shot up from where the branches were snapping. The fighting kept on worsening, and the sky overhead clouded over with black clouds. Lightning struck down from them in the place of fighting and great billows of flame and smoke constantly erupted from this place. The many trees around it had burst into flame, and there were now small shockwaves being thrown about. The ground had begun to ripple with the force of the continually increasing-in-power shockwaves. Everyone had stopped all motion to watch this chaos, which ended in a blinding white flash and a wall of flame shooting up in a circle around the place of battle. It looked like a meteor had hit the ground where the chaos was.

Silence followed. Silence kept its place for five minutes, and then a weary and exhausted Gwydion emerged from the woods, dragging the carcasses of two Undine behind him.

'One of...*gasp*...' Gwydion breathed in a hoarse whisper, 'the...*cough*...things...escaped! I...*choke*...couldn't hold it...*gasp*...back...*pant* *pant*...'

Everyone was completely aghast at what had apparently happened. A human...had destroyed...-two- Undine.

Later, Gwydion had explained in more detail what had happened. He was walking about in the woods, looking for coffee beans, for he had spotted a couple on the ground. He heard some obviously angry and sharp speaking back at the camp, and was about to turn back when he saw three strange figures walking through the trees. He was about to look closer at them when they saw him. The three started to run, but Gwydion stopped them with a quick rune of flame. They were stopped by a wall of flame, which would have normally done no good against them -- but this was more powerful than any other rune they had seen, and they began to fear. As soon as Gwydion ended the rune to get closer to them, one of them dashed off as fast as it could, while the others began to fight. From there, the fight had gone on.

Shi stared unmovingly at the new human. Without even Brianna notcing it, she flew off to the scene where the human's oh so glorious battle had taken place. The once tall tress were only smouldering stumps now, and the undergrowth was totally gone. Not even the old oak where they sometimes used to celeberate had survived the fire. She bit her lower lip, staring around wide-eyed. Maybe she had been too quick with her evaluation of the humans. She turned to fly back abruptly, making sure to stay away from Ferazel, who was after the crystal that was *her* responsibility, and especially Gwydion, who had caused the devastation in the forest. She landed on Brianna's shoulder, listening to the human's boasting until she could bear no more. "That was totally unnecessary!" She burst out loud. "Look at the devastation you've created! Do you know that phaerie actually lived there?!"
Gwydion, who only now noticed the small creature, was too astonished at first to say anything.
"Those stupid Undine would just have gone away, without harming anyone, but you thought it necessary to destroy half a forrest!" She stopped shortly to observe the human's reaction, then continued, in a low, sad voice. "Say something, human. Explain yourself. What would you do if somebody set your - what do you call them? - your townhall afire... or even only your marketplace?"

Gwydion was numb with the idea of what he was done even the next night. He didn't speak to anyone, and found his own food using no magic at all -- just his dagger. He was making such a low profile that had he not created such destruction no one would have noticed him.

During the night, once everyone was asleep, he crept towards the scene of utter devastation and saw absolutely no hope for it, even though it was only a small area. After nearly killing himself for what he had done, he walked back to his little tent that was barely noticeable, and also was a distance from the main camp. As he was sleeping, he could swear he heard muttering of tiny creatures -- perhaps Phaeries, but he couldn't tell.

In the morning, he awoke to find himself miles away from where the camp was...he pondered this, and then suddenly noticed the small being that was hovering above his head, supported by its wings. All around him were huge beasts of the forest -- bears, lions, et cetera. Apparently the Phaeries all hated him already.

Katerei was just completely bewildered by everything that had happened. Well, she was slightly better off than the others- at least she had known about the Ronin and the Undine. But the Phaery, and Gwydion taking out two of the Undine, along with everything else that happened. It seemed so much different than when they had first set out.

After Gwydion's battle, she had gone to the wreckage and used some water spells to put out the smoldering remains. For the first time in her life, she wished that she was an Earth Elemence instead of Water. Then maybe she would be able to bring back some of the plant life.

The next night, she lay on her bedroll, not able to sleep. The recent events had been pressing on her mind, and she found it hard to concentrate.

Silently, she lay there, listening to the others. Most of them seemed to be asleep. She sighed quietly and stood up, deciding that walking through the woods a little bit might ease her mind.

Katerei crept past the others until she reached the edge of the trees. Everybody seemed to be asleep- or were they? She could see a faint outline of somebody. Since everyone nearby had been asleep, it must be Gwydion.

He was hanging around in the area where his battle with the undine had been. Katerei wondered why he was there. Wouldn't he be avoiding it?

She bit her lip and listened. Gwydion didn't seem to be doing anything. She waited for who knows how long, but weariness overcame her and she slipped back to camp.

Harper stared into the dying fire and thought about what Gwy had done. It had been a mistake, an error, but at time like this such mistakes could be deadly. The fire crackled in vain, begging for more wood, fighting on, trying, trying. Harper sipped his coffee. He turned around for a second, and felt the hand of darkness sweep out out and crush the feeble resistance of the fire. For darkness would not share its domain with any, it must have all. Harper back around to confirm his hypothesis, seeing the last glowing ambers slowly fade out. Harper dozed off and his dreams were filled with the dark and sounds, stange sounds When he woke up, he found the sun beating down on his face and he felt relief, and sighed for the light was forgiving, warm and comforting and hid nothing. Or did it?

Ferazel woke up suddenly when he felt breath on his face. He opened his eyes to see Omen! Ferazel quickly tried to power a spell behind his back, but he found his hands and legs were tied. "I see that I have captured you at last. Before, you fought me off, but now, you can't." Omen then became a shadow, and dived in to Ferazel's body. Ferazel broke the cords binding him with Omen's new strength to him.

Ferazel walked to the where the phaeries were normally. Then, he powered a Fireball spell. Seeing a phaerie, he unleashed the fireball. It fell to the ground, wounded badly. Ferazel walked on, seeking Shi. More guards approached, and Ferazel wounded them with his fireballs. He spotted Shi, and made her come towards him using Remote Manipulation. Ferazel was reaching out to grab the Crolna, when he suddenly faultered.

This time, he casted a spell to himself. Omen, still a shadow, flew away from there, going back to his stronghold elsewhere. "I am terribly sorry." Ferazel said to Shi, "That was not me. That shadow that flew off was controlling me, but I stil desire the Crolna." "That is true, but you have hurt many of our people." Shi replied, with a bit of anger in her voice. "Oh, I can heal them back to perfect health!" Ferazel said.

He jumped off, and began to heal the phaeries that Omen had wounded.

Trundaylan woke up in the middle of the night, and instantly spotted two bedrolls empty. This group is having many problems, it would be a miracle if all of them found the will to survive by the time we get to Abydos. Pondering over what little he knew, and trying to think of ways he could offer counseling, Trundaylan stayed up long into dawn.

Shi watched Ferazel, critically, as he went to heal her friends. She had awoken in the night, sensing Omen approach, just in time to see him take over Ferazel. Figuring he'd want the crystal shard, she'd left the humans' camp. She sighed, deciding somebody had to keep an eye on Ferazel. His own desire for the crystal enabled Omen to possess him rather easily.
"Shi! You're back!" A female voice squealed.
Shi turned around to see Rhia, waving excitedly.
"And it's most fortunate you're back, at that, what with all the trouble we've had with those humans lately."
"Humans? There are more than him?" Shi pointed at Ferazel, who was trying to convince a frightened Phaerie to let him heal him.
"Oh, yes. Ti'kar and a band of his friends captured the man who set the forest afire. He's really pissed." Seeing Shi's confused exprssion, Rhia added quickly. "Ti is pissed, that is. And the others are, too. And understandably so. The man actually seems sorry. I think Ti plans to teach him a lesson he won't forget, though."
Shi stood still for a moment, thinking hard. "Was anybody hurt?"
"Only some minor injuries, nothing serious. Most had already left before the battle began, when they sensed the Undine approaching. The rest fled when the fire started. But their dwellings are destroyed, nonetheless" Rhia finished in an undertone.
Shi chewed her lower lip. "Well, I guess we should let him off, then. He's got an important mission, as far as I gathered, and his friends might yet need his..." Shi hesitated, wondering how to put it "...his, uhm, skills, before this is over. He is rather effective against the Undine, after all."
Rhia nodded, even though somewhat doubtful. "Then somebody better stop Ti, before he does something stupid." She fluttered up and down. "I know! You go talk some sense into Ti, and I get the elders."
Shi nodded and flew off, but turned around again at the edge of the clearing. "Ok, everyone!" She yelled, magically amplifying her voice. "This human -" she pointed at Ferazel "- is *not* hostile, not any more, at least. The Undine is *gone*. The human's now here to *help* you. So, Dagal -" she looked at the still struggling Phaerie "- stop being silly and let him heal you, for goodness' sake!" The winged male looked at her for a moment, before reluctantly letting Ferazel approach and do his work. Contentedly, Shi flew off to find Ti'kar.
He and his friends weren't exactly hard to find. They were gathered in a semicircle around the human, apparently discussing what to do. Gwydion was neither bound nor in any other way secured, except for the many wild animaly gathered around him. Shi didn't know what Ti or the others had told them, but they seemed rather furious, even though they didn't approach Gwydion. She recognized Racalla, leader of the local wolf pack, among them, and landed on her head.
'What are you doing here, friend?' Shi questioned gently. As an answer, she received images of the devastation in the forest, and of Ti, requesting her pack's help.
Shi ran a hand through Racalla's fur, absent-mindedly, wondering how to explain to the angry wolf that this particular human's assistance was required, at least for the time being. At least, she fell back upon what Brianna had told her. 'The water creatures are up to something, friend. They want to drown all land. We need his help. He destroyed two of them.' She didn't wait for Racalla to reply, but flew down from her back to confront Ti'kar and the others, when the elders appeared, lead by stern old Cairlin, whose hair color, now a sunny gold, changed with the seasons. Rhia accompanied them. On spotting Shi, she fluttered over, and landed next to her, smiling triumphantly. "I explained everything to her." She said.
Shi nodded, watching Cairlin talk to Ti. Of course, he had overreacted by summoning so many animals, but she hoped he wouldn't be treated too harshly. The human needed a lesson, after all. Ti'kar and his friends sulkingly left the smaller clearing after a short time, and the gathering of animals dissipated.
Cairlin turned to Gwydion. "Well, human, it seems you are lucky." She said in her quiet, stern voice. You may leave, for now... if you agree to let us take just one security measure. Don't worry, we will not hurt you." Gwydion nodded, only slightly hesitant. "Good." The elders formed a wide semicircle around Gwydion, and Cairlin raised her hands. The other elders did the same, and as if on cue, they began to chant an incantation. Rhia and Shi watched in astonished silence as a visible ring of arcane energy formed aroung Gwydion. Sparks of magic filled the air and the ring tightened, until it touched Gwydion's neck, and there it disappeared. An orb of red light hovered above Cairlin, and she closed her hands around it. Gwydion blinked a few times. "What... what did you do?" He asked, insecurity filling his voice.
"A security measure, as I said." Cairlin replied, unmoving. "Shi'nayne, come here."
Shi and Rhia exchanged lightning glance, then Shi stepped out onto the clearing. "Yes?"
"Come here." Cairlin repeated, a trace of impatience showing in her voice. Shi did as she was told, and Cairlin opened her hand, revealing a golden chain inlaid with a small ruby. With a fluent movement, she fastened it around Shi's neck. Then she turned back to Gwydion. "We sealed your fire magic." She said simply. Gwydion opened his mouth to protest, sure, he had made a mistake, but that just seemed too unjust, but the elder cut him short. "Hear me out! This chain holds the key to your powers. Shi, only Shi, can release them, if necessary, and she will, for without the power of fire, there's not much you can do against the Undine. Once you and your friends have recreated the Crolna and succesfully averted the threat, you will return here, and we will consider your deed as forgiven. Until that day, the seal will remain." She stared straight at Gwydion, to make sure the human had understood. When Gwydion nodded in agreement, she continued. "Now, I suggest you better hurry. Your companions will be waiting. Good luck, to both of you." She turned and left, motioning for the other Phaerie to follow her. Soon, nobody except Gwydion and Shi were left on the clearing. They looked up as they heard somebody approach, and shortly after, Ferazel walked out onto the clearing, lead by a young Phaerie girl. She nodded, having fulfilled her task, and returned into the forest.
"Well..." Shi looked at the comapanions. "Let's get going! We don't have all day..." She fluttered up into the air. "Okay... actually, we have all day, but you know what I mean." With that, she flew off, into the direction they had come from, motioning for the humans to follow.

Brianna awoke with a start, to find the sun streaming down from high in the blue, cloudless summer sky. "What ever came over me?" she thought to herself. "I shouldn't have needed to go fully to sleep for a couple of days, yet!"

She tried to think back over the events of the previous day, but found they were a complete blur. She remembered approaching the camp, with Shi riding on her shoulder; she recalled the Undine escaping, and the aftermath of Gwydion's battle. After that, they'd continued south all day, and collapsed, exhausted, at night. At least she thought they had; that was where things got blurry - especially as, she now realised, they were still camped in the same clearing as the previous night!

Confused, she turned to awaken the Ronin. Sasha stirred sleepily, then sat bolt upright. "We forgot to set a guard!" she exclaimed.

"What in Cythera were we thinking?" Trinias muttered groggily, shaking his head to clear it. Ulf just looked around, puzzled.

"That's not all," Brianna said quietly, and detailed all she'd noticed that morning. "And now I can't find Shi," she concluded, unable to keep the distress she felt from her voice. In the short time she'd known her, she'd grown extremely fond of the little Phaerie.

"There she is!" Trinias pointed towards the edge of the clearing, where his sharp eyes had caught a little movement. Ferazel and Gwydion had just reappeared with Shi leading them. She flew straight up to Brianna, and perched tiredly on her shoulder.

"What a morning we've had!" she exclaimed.

By this time, the whole camp was stirring. Trinias started a fire and began making pancakes and coffee, while everyone gathered around and listened to Ferazel and Gwydion relate their tales.

"I'm really sorry, Gwydion," Shi said when he was done. "Sometimes Ti overreacts."

Sasha had been deep in thought throughout both tales, and finally voiced her opinion. "I think Omen must have done something to us all, taken control somehow, and made us think we'd been travelling hard all day so that the extra deep sleep would seem natural; that would leave him free to take control of Ferazel again while we were asleep. That would also explain why we're still in the same clearing, and why we did so many out of character things. I'd never go to sleep without posting at least two guards!"

Trundaylan had reached the same conclusions, albeit starting from fewer facts. "That was always the Undine way - deception, rather than direct confrontation; and if you try to grasp at them, they flow away like water - metaphorically speaking, of course. Fire may destroy them, but it's Earth that has the power to resist their influence."

Shi spoke up, hesitantly. "We Phaeries are tied to the land. Not as strong as the Seldane, but still... I might be able to give you all some protection, so Omen can't fool you like that again."

"Thank you Shi," Sasha sighed in relief, as Shi completed working her magic. "That was really worrying me."

"Well, we've lost a whole day here," Ferazel stated loudly, his eagerness to find the Crolna shards once more asserting itself. "We should set off again right away!"

There was no disagreement, and the whole party turned to packing up their gear.

Later, as they were on their way south, Brianna noticed Shi stifling a tiny yawn. "You should get some sleep," she commented.

"I had a long night," Shi replied. "But where can I sleep, now we're on the move?"

Brianna stopped, crouched down and unslung her pack. "Ulf, can you take some of my gear?" she called. The good-natured giant nodded cheerfully, and they loaded some of the bulkier items from Brianna's pack into his oversized one. Layering some of her spare clothing on top, Brianna showed what she'd done to Shi. "How's that? If it's not comfortable, we can find something else to pad it with."

Shi flew up and dropped lightly into the pack, curling up on the makeshift bed. She smiled up at Brianna. "This is fine!" She closed her eyes and went to sleep.

Brianna smiled, and lowered the flap down, leaving it unfastened. With Ulf's assistance, she carefully reslung it on her back, and they set off after the others.

Finally heading to Abydos, Ferazel led the group. Suddenly, something clicked in his mind. Sean and Dalia seemed to be missing. A Farsight spell revealed their location, and Ferazel was shocked to find them unconscious against a tree. Casting a spell on Sean, he found that Undine magic had been used on them. "Arg!" he said, "Omen knocked them out when he came for me a second time." He casted Cure, then Mass Cure, then Restoration, and found that they weren't doing any effect. He tried other, more advanced healing spells, but they did nothing as well. He cursed under his breath, and teleported them and himself back to Pnyx to see Pheres. Teleporting back, he announced that they would be healed by the time they came back from their adventure.

It wasn't too long of a walk to Abydos, and they got there soon enough. Ferazel scanned for the Crolna shard, and it was down in Tavara's workroom. "Tavara is everywhere." Ferazel muttered, "Hm, I seem to have forgotten where it is." He began searching, and muttered a spell. Ferazel then turned partially white, and quite transparent. He jumped up, and fell through the ground.

He jumped up again. "Well, the spell works, but unfourtunatly, I only found Abydos' sewage system. I'll take another look somewhere else." Ferazel said, starting to search around, occasionally poking his head through the ground. Then, he stopped, casting another spell and returning to his normal properties.

Katerei stood away to the said, watching apprehensively. She wasn't entirely sure what Ferazel was doing, only that he was searching for the Crolna (but that was obvious). She decided to just wait until she was needed.

So she stood there, waiting quietly. Ferazel kept sticking his head into the ground and apparently looking around. The sight of it was rather disturbing, so instead she looked around at everybody else.

Most of them looked either worried or tense. Apparently, the recent events had been pressing on them too. She couldn't blame them, either.

Her gaze fell on Gwydion, and she bit her lip. Generally, she had been avoiding him ever since he joined the group. It was only natural for her to do this, though- He was a fire mage, after all.

Katerei shuddered as she thought about the battle. He had used *fire*. He was a fire mage, trained is using it. Didn't that mean he was dangerous? She wasn't sure. Everybody else (except some of the Phaeries) seemed to trust him, and he had killed two of the Undine, hadn't he? So he must be on their side.

But some of the Phaeries had taken his fire magic away. Gwydion had said so himself. So then, he couldn't be dangerous now- not until he had his magic back. And he had risked his life fighting the Undine. But there were the Undine again...she forced them out of her mind. Anyhow, he had done a brave thing, and he was a fellow adventurer.

Katerei decided that, no matter what, she wouldn't let him die. Nobody on this journey was going to die.

Ferazel casted the ghost spell on himself again, and jumped down, falling in to a room below. After a couple minutes, he returned from a trapdoor, carrying a demon's carcass. "Everyone, down here!", he cried, "The Crolna!" With the mention of Crolna, everyone hurried over, and shimmied down the ladder, except Gwydion.

Down inside, Ferazel led the group down, and when he heard a yell, and the sound of people falling over one another. He slapped his forehead, and casted Daylight. "No need to worry, there's nothing down here other then the Crolna; I checked." he stated. Leading on to the familiar area of Tavara's workroom, Ferazel stood aside and opened the door. This revealed a pedastal holding a shard of Crolna. "In all it's glory." Ferazel said. Conjuring a bag, he stuffed the Crolna inside, and quickly hurried back up the steps, everyone still following him.

Omen, in his shadow form, came up from the ground. "Very good." he said, "You control one measly Crolna shard. Only five more to go!" He cackled an evil laugh, and the hair on the back of Ferazel's neck stood on end. Omen then flew off, still in his shadow form. Katerei walked over to Ferazel, and said, "That Omen gives me the creeps!" she said. "Me too....me too." Ferazel said, shaking his head and staring off at where Omen had gone.

Katerei smiled. "Well, we've got one shard, at least, and..." she glanced at Shi, "We know where another one is. But it might take awhile to find the others, especially with Omen bothering us all the time."

"We're also going to have to figure out where the other shards are," Ferazel sighed. "That's probably going to be harder than retrieving them."

The rest of the group nodded in agreement.

Velcarn shrugged. "Well, the only way we'll find them is by starting. What are we waiting for?"

Sasha's head was lowered, deep in thought. Eventually, she looked up at Ferazel. "What about that spell Lindus taught you, to locate the different pieces?"

Ferazel clapped a hand to his head. "Of course! In all the excitement, I forgot!" He quickly cast the spell. "Right, the next nearest piece is south - somewhere under Land's End Volcano."

Sasha and Trinias both winced; their memories of the Methrikador incursion, the last time they were anywhere near that place, were still quite strong. Knowing what they were thinking, even Trundaylan turned a little pale.

Brianna missed none of it; her grandfather would have some probing questions to ask of them, sometime, to find out what had so disturbed them about that place. She suddenly felt movement in her pack, and gently swung it off her back. The flap raised a little, and Shi peeked out.

"Thank goodness that horrid Omen is gone," she said in her high pitched voice. She gave the flap a shove, pushing it right back, then hopped into the air and flew up and around the group. "Good morning, everyone! Isn't it a marvelous day? Where are we going now? Does anyone have a plan?" With that, she landed on Ulf's shoulder and sat down, much to the cheerful giant's delight.

Brianna laughed. "Yes Shi, we've recovered the Abydos fragment, and we're now heading for Land's End Volcano."

"The volcano? Oooh, I don't like the sound of that. Will it be very hot, where the shard is?"

"That all depends," said Sasha, with a serious expression. "We don't know exactly where the fragment is; it might be on the surface, or deep in a cave. It might even be in the cone itself."

"Well, like the man said," Harper inserted, "we're not going to find out by standing around here. There's still several hours of daylight left; shouldn't we get moving?"

The rest of the group nodded, and they set off for their next destination.

------------------
I came, I saw, I wrote the travelguide!

Katerei turned to Sasha, who was walking beside her. "So we're going to Land's End Volcano- is it still a live volcano?"

Sasha nodded. "It hasn't erupted in a long time, but yes, the core is still live. Hopefully we'll be able to find the shard without having to get too close."

Katerei fell silent and thought about that. So the volcano was still live- Sasha was right, if they were lucky they wouldn't have to go near it. She didn't know what it was that Sasha and Trinias didn't like about it, but live volcanoes had lava and lava was similar to fire.

She bit her lip, worried. What if they did have to go into the volcano, or near the top, or something? Would she be able to go in, or would she be too scared? Fire brought back memories of her parents...

Shaking her head, she fought off those thoughts and turned her mind to other things. Everybody else looked happy enough, considering their situation. Besides, they still had several hours of walking to do, so she had plenty of time to think later.

Forcing a smile, Katerei dropped back to talk to Harper. There were still a lot of people she didn't know well, and she might as well start now. They still had a long journey to go through together, and it might take a lot longer than any of them expected.

Ferazel went to the front of the group, and started to run ahead. He came back later, and reported: "It's just as I thought. We'll have to pass through a ruffian encampment." There were several groans, but Ferazel said he might be able to make this easier. Powering a Fireball and climbing to the top of a tree at the same time, Ferazel struggled a little. At the top, he shot the fireball at the camp, and loud shouts came from that area.

Several ruffians that were on fire ran around, setting some trees on fire. "Ack, this wasn't supposed to happen!" he said. Beginning to power a water elemental, Ferazel flinched; the tree he was in was on fire! Other members of the group were also casting various water spells, and some trees and brush were put out quickly. Ferazel's water elemental finished, and it began to walk around and put out fires.

Soon, the group arrived at Land's End. Ferazel pinpointed the Crolna to an underground cavern, just about in front of the volcano. He casted several shovels, and said two words, "Start digging."

Trundaylan looked up and eyed the group. It wasn't his turn to dig yet, and he personally didn't feel up to physical labor just yet, having spent months studying ancient texts. Trundaylan smiled, he thought he found a way out of physical labor. Closing his eyes and concentrating hard, a small orange arua formed at his feet, and slowly began to expand over the group. Several noticed it, like Shi and Brianna, who stepped back. But, the men working at the time, most notably Ulf, Trinias, and Velcarn (Ferazel had wandered off a bit ago, experimenting and trying to find a spell that would blow a hole through the ground) suddenly felt that they weren't as tired as they thought they were, and they began to work harder and faster. By dusk, the group had dug a hole deep enough for two Ulfs to stand on top of each other and still be unable to peek above the rim.

Though, later that night, the group found it hard to fall asleep and several had the tendancy to walk over a pick up a shovel, as if to dig. Nobody that was touched seemed tired, though the aura had faded shortly after it was cast...

------------------

Katerei woke early the next morning and glanced around. Everybody was still asleep, but then sun hadn't even risen yet. She couldn't blame them at all- they must be tired from digging the day before, they had had trouble sleeping last night, and it was a lot earlier than usual for a human to be up.

Standing up, she dug some flat bread out of her bag and ate it as she watched the sun rise. It was really pretty, she thought, wondering vaguely if it looked that nice in Vera.

Katerei sighed and glanced around again. Everybody was still asleep, so she picked up a shovel and walked over to the hole. It was deep, that was for sure. She wondered if it had anything to do with Trundaylan's orange globe of light. She hadn't been in it, so she didn't know exactly what the strange aura had done.

Katerei climbed down the rope ladder that Trinias had left there. The hole was too deep to be able to get in and out of it on your own. It was actually quite big- ten feet across, so three people could be digging at once, and at least fifteen feet deep.

The area in the middle was deepest, so Katerei walked over and began digging. She hadn't done much digging yesterday, and she felt restless, so it was just as well that she did something.

After twenty or so minutes, she felt her shovel hit something hard. It was to be expected. Even if it wasn't bedrock, the soil was going to get very hard very quickly. Actually, it was surprising that the dirt had still been soft.

Digging away the extra dirt, Katerei crouched down and peered at it. It looked pretty solid. She cast a small water spell, wondering if it would soften up the dirt. It worked more or less, but she soon hit hard soil again. It would take too long doing it her way. Shrugging, she carried her shovel over to the rope ladder and climbed back up again. The others were just beginning to rise, and they still looked very sleepy.

Brianna sat up in her sleeping bag and looked at Katerei, still bleary-eyed. After a moment she realized that Katerei was covered in dirt. Brianna smiled. "Have you been digging?"

"Yes, I have," Katerei said, looking surprised. "Unfortunately I hit hard soil, so I came back up. How did you know I was digging?"

Brianna gestured towards Katerei's blue dress. "You're covered in dirt and mud, that's how I knew."

Katerei looked down at her dress and burst out laughing in spite of herself. You could hardly even tell that it was blue, there was so much soil on her. She shook her head ruefully. "I guess I shouldn't kneel dow in the dirt. Oh well, there's a solution to everything. Just watch," she told Brianna.

Intruiged, Brianna watched as Katerei closed her eyes and muttered an incantation. Immediately, a small raincloud no more than a foot across appeared over Katerei's head and began raining on her. The soil quickly ran off her dress and onto the ground.

Katerei grinned and flipped back her wet hair. "Told you there's a solution to everything."

Brianna laughed and got up to go have breakfast.

It was already late morning when Trinias finally opened his eyes. He blinked for a few moments, trying to adjust to the bright summer sunlight, wondering why he'd slept so late. He tried to sit up - and found his protesting muscles wouldn't allow him to move.

On hearing his groan, Sasha looked up from her breakfast and grinned. "About time you surfaced, sleepy head!"

"What's happened to me?" Trinias queried, still lying flat on the ground - he couldn't even raise his head.

"Trundaylan did something to you, that allowed you all to work much longer than you should have," Brianna replied. "And it worked; you dug a really long way!"

"I'd rather have done less, and still be able to move," Trinias muttered. Brianna giggled; her elven ears had had no trouble hearing.

Between them, Brianna and Sasha managed to get Trinias into a seated position, leaning against a tree. As they were struggling with his inert form, Ulf sat up with a roar and several loud cracks, as his joints readjusted themselves. Even his great strength had been severely taxed, but he at least had enough left to get to his feet.

Sasha led him over to the fire for breakfast, while Brianna - who'd already had hers - fed the just barely co-operative Trinias. Feeling helpless and embarrassed, he was developing an extremely short temper.

When he refused to take the food for the third time, she decided to switch tactics. "If you behave, and eat your breakfast, I'll give you a massage afterwards. How's that?" Grudgingly, Trinias agreed, and allowed her to feed him the rest of his breakfast.

When he was done, Brianna rolled him over onto his stomach, took off her boots, and stepped onto his back. Trinias gasped - but began to visibly relax, as Brianna walked slowly up and down, squeezing with her toes. Occasionally, a popping sound could be heard as his spine moved back into shape.

"I'm glad you're half elven," he dreamily commented after a while. "If anyone with a heavier tread tried that, I'd have gone through the roof!"

Sasha had been trying to restrain herself, but finally lost control. She burst out laughing.

"Laugh all you want," Trinias said, "but you should try this some time!"

Brianna stepped off his back, and he tried to move; to his surprise, he found he now could. He worked his way back over to the tree and sat there, watching the bustle of those that had avoided the orange glow. In no time at all, he was once more fast asleep.

------------------

Sasha had been thinking hard on their predicament; something about it had reminded her of the time Leandra had opened the chasm in the ground and destroyed so many undead, by the power of the ancient elemental magic.

"Surely I can use that here," she thought to herself. The problem was, she wasn't nearly as strong with that magic as Leandra - none of the Ronin were, although Wolmark came close.

"Ferazel!" she called, seeing him re-enter camp. "How much deeper do we need to go?"

Ferazel wandered over to inspect the hole. "Not far now, I shouldn't think. The shard is in a cave that starts about a metre below the level we've reached."

Sasha pondered for a moment. "OK, I think I can handle that for a short while. Get a rope and get ready."

Ferazel nodded in understanding; he'd been involved in that earlier war, and seen what Leandra had done. He fastened a rope to a nearby tree, let it uncoil down into the hole, then climbed down the rope ladder.

"I'm ready!" he called.

Sasha closed her eyes and concentrated. She felt the power flowing up from the earth and through her, felt herself to be a part of it all. She found the spot she needed, and used the power to pull it apart. She held it there for what seemed an eternity, and was almost out of strength - when she heard Ferazel finally call out.

"OK, I've got it - you can let go now!" There was a rumbling sound, and the hole Sasha had torn in the ground snapped closed again. Sasha opened her eyes and blinked at Ferazel as he climbed over the rim of the pit, holding the shard; then her world faded to black.

Shi watched the bustle of the humans' camp from the safety of Ulf's shoulder. It was amazing how similar it was to a morning in the forest settlement. Of course, the big folks made much more noise. As the warrior woman approached the hole that the humans had dug, she hardly paid any attention to her, not even snapping out of her contemplations when the woman fell unconscious. She was, however, abruptly and unexpectedly thrown off balance and shoulder as Ulf jumped up to help Sasha. She managed to catch her fall just in time and landed gently on the ground, only to take off again when she saw what had caused Ulf's reaction. She flew over quickly, and landed next to Sasha, trying to figure out what had happened to her, and was almost run over by Trundaylan, who had had the same idea. She took wing again, indignantly, and flew up high to find a suitable - suitable meaning close, comfortable, and most importantly *safe* - shoulder to land on. But then again she also wanted to know what had happened. With a shrug and a determined expression Shi landed on Trundaylan's head. He shrugged her off, literally, being to invloved with the examination to put up with a Phaerie, so she landed on the ground next to him. A quick survey showed her, to her amazement, that Sasha was suffering from lack of life force, in the same way as the Seldane, or Undine, for that matter, did when they had used their magic.
"A few healing spells should help," she pointed out casually, still annoyed at Trundaylan's rude behavior. The guy probably hadn't meant it, but it couldn't harm to show him she knew some things about healing, too.
Trundaylan glanced at her briefly. "I know." He replied, preparing to cast the mentioned spell. Shi hopped backwards, just in case Trundaylan's healing spells were of the same kind as yesterday's aura. With those big folks you never knew...
Shortly afterwards, Sasha's eyes fluttered open. She looked around, seeming slightly dazed, and then got up slowly. "Thank you." She smiled.
With a contented nod, Shi took wing again. She definately needed something to eat now. Excitement always increased her appetite.