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Trinias peered up the corridor, making sure the Undine had gone. When he was satisfied, he nodded to Sasha across the hall; they knelt down, each taking hold of two adjacent bars, down near the base. Closing their eyes, they concentrated briefly. A faint cracking sound could be heard from the ground.

"What are you doing?" Brianna asked Sasha, as the swordswoman stood up again and reached for the tops of the same two bars.

"Using Seldane magic to free the bars," Sasha replied. As she spoke, another series of cracks could be heard from beneath her hands, this time accompanied by a shower of dust. Sasha took a pace back, then kicked the bars firmly; they moved about an inch. Sasha kicked again, and they broke free. Brianna caught them before they could hit the ground and alert their captors.

Stepping out into the corridor, they could see that Trinias had had similar success on his side. He and Sasha went to work on the other cells, while Brianna hurried over to the birdcage hanging in the middle of the corridor. She quickly had it open, and Shi emerged. She flew a couple of loops in the air, then landed on Brianna's shoulder once more.

"Thank you! It's so good to be free! I hate being caged up like that. I couldn't even stretch my wings! How're the others? Are they all right? Can we get them out?"

Brianna's shoulders shook gently with silent laughter. They were far from safe yet, but Shi's cheerful nature was infectious; she couldn't help but feel that everything was going to work out fine.

Katerei waited patiently as Trinias came around to the cell that she and Trundaylan were in. She watched as Trinias used his "Seldane magic" as he called it to knock down the bars of the cell. When all the bars were down, she stepped out and glanced around. Sasha was just finishing the last cell.

Ferazel was still banging his head against the wall, now that the bars were lying on the floor. Katerei walked over and firmly took ahold of his head, stopping him from banging his head on the wall.

"Stop doing that," she said calmly. "You're going to hurt yourself- no, you probably aleady have hurt yourself- and knocking yourself out won't help us get out of here."

Ferazel relented and Katerei let go of his head. She then turned to everyone else.

"We have no way of knowing when Omen will return to check on us. He's very unpredictable. I think we should probably leave this corridor immediately." She glanced at Ferazel again, then at everyone else. "Even if we don't know where we're going, we've got to go somewhere."

"Which way do we go, though?" Harper said, pointing down the hallway. "Either left or right."

Everyone exchanged glances. Suddenly ferazel, who had just started banging his head on the wall again, straightened up. "We go left," he said firmly. "Come on," and he strode off down the hallway.

Shi looked after Ferazel, feeling uncomfortable. "I... don't like that." She remarked quietly. "It feels like Undine, that way."
Brianna looked at her thoughtfully. "You're sure?"
"Yes."
"It's no use complaining." Katerei said. "If the Undine are there, then our equipment will probably be that way, too.... and the Crolna."
"Our equipment..." Shi whispered, looking at her uncomfortable new clothes. They had the same aura of Undine influence as this whole area.
"We'll just have to stay alert." Rogar said, shrugging. "There must be some way to get past them."
"Are you coming?" Ferazel interrupted, tapping his right foot impatiently. "We won't get anywhere by standing around."
That was ubdoubtedly true, so they set off down the hallway, warily straining eyes as well as ears to notice anything out of the ordinary.
"Can we walk in the front?" Shi whispered to Brianna. The half-elf nodded, smiling. Shi wasn't doing any walking. Ever since she had joined the group, the Phaerie woman seemed to just have sat on somebody's shoulder, chattering. Brianna quickened her pace and caught up to Ferazel. After about five minutes of walking, without seeing any ending to the corridor, or only intersections or doors, Shi suddenly stopped the group with a hissed warning. "Undine. Not so far ahead. Wait here." With that, she hopped off Brianna's shoulder. For a moment, she just hovered in the air, wings beating ever more rapidly. Then she turned and flew off, at a pace none of them had thought possible.
Not far down the corridor was an intersection and a few doors. One of them was left slightly ajar. Shi landed, and peered through. There, on a table, lay most of their equipment. But where was the -
"Gotcha, Phaerie girl!" With some satisfaction, the Undine watched the small creature's struggle.
"That's what you think!" Shi laughed triumphantly as she landed on the table, and the Undine angrily squeezed the illusion in her hands. The Undine charged again, but Shi had already spotted what she needed. She nimbly dodged the tall water creature and picked up the golden pendant, in one fluent movement, then she was off again, out of the door and up the corridor, with the Undine hot on her heals.
"Everyone, watch ouuuuut!" Shi squealed. "Gwydioooooon!" Even while flying, she fastened the chain around her neck and touched the small ruby. "Fire!"
Gwydion reacted at once, and sent a quick fireball down the corridor. Shi had no trouble dodging it, and though it didn't do too much damage to the Undine, it slowed her down a little, enough for Shi to arrive in safety and Gwydion to power up his more devastating spells. After a minute or so, dust was all that remained of the unfortunate Undine. Shi sighed with relief, but she did not seal the fire magic again. There were surely other Undine around, though not close enough for her to sense them.
The group proceeded until they reached the room with their equipment. Everything was there, clothes, weapons, miscellaneous items - everything but the Crolna shards. Ferazel cursed under his breath, and was about to storm off again, but Katerei held him back, pointing at the equipment. Everybody took their weapons. "And now, there's the door." Katerei looked at the men demonstratively. It was a broad hint, so they all understood. They gathered their remaining stuff, and left the room. Brianna closed the door behind them.
***
Shortly afterwards, dressed in their familiar clothes and fully equipped, the group gathered at the intersection, to decide which way to go.

Ferazel thought for a second, and said: "Go straight ahead, that'll be the shortest passage to the room Omen is most likely to be in." "Um, wouldn't we not want to go there?" Shi said. "Maybe, but we need to kill him. The shorter Omen lives right now, the better. Come on now, we'd better hurry." Ferazel ran along, hurrying down the passage.

----

Soon, they arrived where Omen was, about fifteen seconds ago. He had just gone to check on them. "I wonder where they went." Ferazel said. He was unaware that they were right behind them, ready to attack.

Katerei felt an odd sensation and she turned around just as Omen came up behind them. She shrieked and took a step backwards, accidentally stepping on Rogar.

Ferazel turned around and saw Omen and the other Undine there. He gritted his teeth. "So it comes down to the final battle." He glanced at each person in turn, but didn't have time to say anything else before the Undine attacked.

Shi dodged as an Undine swiped at her and noticed that Gwydion was using his fire magic well. She was glad that she hadn't taken it back after he killed the other Undine.

Katerei thought quickly. Most of her spells were water or ice, so they wouldn't do much against the Undine. She had her dagger, of course, but there were more important things to do- like healing.

Unfortunately, the Undine were just too strong. Nearly everyone had already been injured, some worse than others, but there wasn't much she could do while they were fighting.

Katerei ducked as an Undine swiped at her and she slashed at him with her dagger. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Trinias fall, so she worked her way over and pulled him out of the battle.

He had a bad cut down his side and it was bleeding heavily. Katerei healed it and helped Trinias stand up again before attacking another Undine. She bit her lip. They weren't making much progress and more people were going down.

She healed whoever she could, fending off the Undine as she went. But as she swung, something sparkling caught her eye. The bracelet that Ranari had given her in the forest of Cademia.

It was glowing brightly. Katerei looked at in surprise. So far as she had been able to tell, the bracelet hadn't had any magical properties. It was just an ordinary chain bracelet...

She stepped back out of the battle and studied the bracelet. Katerei knew she should be fighting, but she had a feeling this might be useful.

She touched the raindrop-shaped pearl. It immediately began to glow. Katerei stared at it. A small beam of light came from the pearl and circled around the room, growing larger as it went. Everyone squinted from the brightness.

The beam of light started white, then it slowly changed until it wasa multitude of swirling colors, sparkling as it swept across the room. As the beam of light passed over the Undine, they each drew back, writhing in pain. But as the light passed over the other group, each person was instantly healed and their mana was restored.

Suddenly the light disappared, leaving everyone stunned. The Undine seemed to have recovered, but they were weakened. Katerei stared at the bracelet, which had gone back to normal. She slowly raised her head and stared at the Undine. "Now," she said grimly," we fight."

The battle instantly broke out again. Katerei leaped into the fray, slicing at the Undine with her dagger. Everyone else, feeling renewed strength, was fighting with every ounce of skill they had.

They were just barely on the winning side, but the Undine kept coming. Something about the bracelet had affected Katerei, though. She had a cold, grim look in her eyes, and seemed to be battling with a complete disregard for her own safety. Nothing was stopping her, but she was being wounded badly and nobody could get near her while she was wielding her dagger like that.

Sasha dropped backed, panting, to talk to Ferazel. "We can't keep up like this," she said tiredly. "Look, everybody's tired already and injured. We've got to do something."

Ferazel nodded, but he was staring grimly at Katerei. "She's going to get killed if she keeps that up," he said.

Sasha turned to look at the blue girl. "That beam of light seemed to have had a different effect on her." Sasha looked worried. "I don't know what we're going to do, but we can't keep going like this."

Ferazel watched Katerei, and almost was smacked in the head by an Undine as he fought. "I really didn't want to do this, but I will." Ferazel muttered, blasting an Undine away with a fireball. He stood in the very back of the battle, and Sasha was staring at him.

He had knelt down on one knee, with his head pressed against his knee. Looking closer, he was saying a spell. Omen looked at Delir and two other Undine, and nodded. With grins almost matching, they advanced on the unsuspecting Ferazel. Suddenly, the three Undine froze. A bright red aura was growing around Ferazel.

The battlefield exploded in a bright red light. When it passed, Ferazel had gone. In his place was a giant fire elemental. "Power overwhelming." it said, in a distorted voice. It aimed a finger at Delir, and a giant fireball shot at him, and when it had passed, only a crater remained. The Undine tried to flee, and Ferazel shot fireballs all over, being careful to not shoot at the party members.

Only Omen stood his ground, also powering a spell. Ferazel shot a fireball at Omen, but this time, a blue light flickered. A large water elemental stood where Omen had been. Ferazel said, "Uh oh." in his distorted voice.

Omen shot several water blasts at Ferazel, and Ferazel blocked two, deflected one back, but took a blast straight in the chest. Ferazel somersaulted backwards, and began to turn back in to the regular Ferazel. Omen came up to the shrinking Ferazel, and powered a large water blast. He was about to shoot it, when he turned around. An enraged Katerei stood, without her dagger.

He was going to shoot back at Katerei, when a lightning bolt shot at Omen. The elemental screamed, and fell over. A grinning "Archon" stood over the elemental. Just to be safe, he drove another half dozen lightning bolts at the collapsed Omen.

When Ferazel had gone back to his normal form, he nearly fell over. "I'm....too....weak." he barely said, "I....used....a....lot...of...energy....doing....that."

Later, the group was back at the tavern, all recovered. "Ferazel, there was something I was going to ask you." Sasha said. "That fire elemental, it hasn't been used at all before, I believe. Did you create it?" Ferazel smiled, and replied: "No, I didn't create it. I learned that when I lived with the Seldane."

Brianna looked over the the table at Katerei. The woman hadn't recovered very well after the battle. She still looked exhausted and nearly on the verge of collapse. Brianna kept looking back at her every now and then. She seemed fine, but without warning Katerei's body went limp and she slumped down in her chair.

Brianna got up and hurried over to check on her. She discovered that Katerei had passed out. Brianna looked up. 'Um, sorry to interrupt, but Katerei's just fainted."

Ferazel looked startled. He thought for a moment. "Her house is too far away. Can she stay in the Ronin's barracks for awhile to recover?"

The Ronin nodded. Trinias stood up. "I'll carry her over, it's not very far." He picked up the Katerei's limp form, surprised. "For somebody her height, she's very light."

Brianna led the way out of the Tavern with shi on her shoulder. Trinias followed closely behind.

***

Trinias laid Katerei down on a bed. He and Brianna sat down at the table to wait.

Katerei stirred every now and then but showed no sign of waking up. Brianna glanced over each time she moved, a worried expression on her face. The blue girl had suffered badly during the battle.

Then suddenly, Katerei's body started to convulse. She rocked back and forth on the bed, speaking in a language which neither Trinias, Brianna or Shi had ever heard before.

She continued on, shrieking in that foreign language and gesturing wildly in the air, apparently trying to fend off some unknown enemy. Brianna rose to help, but Trinias stopped her. "Just wait," he said gently. "It'll be best if we let her be, seriously."

Brianna bit her lip, not convinced. Shi was fluttering in the air, watching the blue-skinned girl.

Katerei's strange actions subsided for a few minutes, then suddenly she screamed and sat bolt upright. She starad around the room, speaking rapidly. "Un a'taya! Ein kuila avreptorus, sah mai! Zrenerr! Ka! A'vei, a'vei, ul vaya. Shel a lictuya, Kyla em Link? A'vei! A'vei, a'vei, remra a'vei!"

Katerei lay back, shaking violently. She shut her eyes and rocked back and forth wildly, shrieking "A'vei! Remra, a'vei!" over and over again.

Brianna watched, stunned, unsure what to do.

Katerei's shrieks subsided again, and to Brianna's relief began speaking in English. "No, not you again, leave me alone, please leave me alone...Leave me alone!" She stopped for a moment, then began again. "What have you done with my parents? I know you've got them...please, let them go, keep me if you must but let them go..."

Shi, Trinias and Brianna watched, stunned. Trinias spoke quickly before Katerei began again. "She apparently thinks she somewhere else, and that somebody's got her parents...But who?"

He did not have time to speak again before the torrent of "A'vei, remra a'vei!" rang out again. Suddenly, Katerei switched to English. She spoke in a calm voice, seeming to know what she was saying. Strangely, she seemed to be telling a tale. Trinias, Shi and Brianna listened quietly.

"A long time ago, before any of us were around, my ancestors were tranported through time. We still do not know why, but they ended up on the Cythera's mainland. Nobody else knew about them. They had no way to get back to where they came from, so they settled on the land. They constructed a city and named it Vera. Our race, the Elemence, flourished and the city thrived. For a hundred years, they dwelt there, and Vera is where I was born. None of the humans or elves in the mainland ever found out about Vera, although occasionally one of us would befriend a human. Such was the case with me. I often went wandering, and out in the woods one day I met Ferazel. Such wonderful times we spent together." Katerei smiled briefly.


"But then a terror came upon the land. A man, if he could be called that, was forming a group of followers. He ravaged the land, killing people in secret. His magic was so great that none could escape him, and yet he hid so well that no one except the Elemence ever found out. He was to be feared. His name," Katerei drew a shuddering breath, "was Zrenerr. I do not wish to say it again.

"It became dangerous to go anywhere. You could never know what would happen to you. The other people did not know what was happening, so they hid and were reasonably safe. But they did not know who they hid from. The Elemence did know, and we only went out when it was neccessary.

"On one of these occasions, my parents and I were sent out with a group. It ws an important mission. We managed to avoid him and his followers for quite a long time. But one night, they found our camp. Night was his favorite time. They attacked, killing most of our group, but they took my parents and I hostage. We did not know what they wanted."

Katerei stopped for a moment. The three others in the room waited silently, stunned by what they heard.

Soon, Katerei continued in the same calm, steady voice. "He took us to his camp, which was actually not a camp at all. It was a large, stone building. He kept us prisoner, seperate from each other. Once every week he came to talk to me.

"He owned a bracelet. It was a thin, gold chain, with a raindrop-shaped pearl. It looked like this." Katerei lifted her arm and showed them the bracelet. "Such dark magic had been cast on it that it could possess whoever wore it, and could not be taken off by the wearer unless so directed by the owner. As he was the owner, he had complete control.

"He threatened to make me wear this bracelet if I did not do as he instructed. He wanted me to tell him where Vera was, because it was the one place he could not attack. It was hidden too well. I would not tell him becuase that would mean sure death for all of the Elemence. To this day, I still do not know why he did not use it on me. Perhaps it had some magic behind it that he knew would have negative effects. Maybe he thought threatening me instead would make me tell.

"I still refused to tell. It is a good thing I did not, although..." Katerei bowed her head, "it had terrible results in the end. I think he knew he would not get information from me, so he took my parents and I out onto the hillside. It was the first time in six months that I had seen my parents.

"I did not know what he was going to do, but I soon found out. He tied me up and forced me to watch as he used the Old Dark Magic on my parents. It was a spell that cuased pain beyond belief to whoever it was cast on.

"So I watched as my parents were tortured. It was terrible. I thought nothing could be worse than watching your loved ones die." Katerei fell silent for a few moments, and Brianna wondered if she had passed out again. But Katerei began speaking again.

"It did get worse. He used the worst thing possible for an water Elemence- flame." Katerei shuddered. "Flame...it's a terrible thing. I could never stand it."

Trinias realized that was why Katerei had never gone near their campfires, or ever tried to cook. She was scared of the fire.

"He used the fire on them. It was worse than I ever could have imagined, watching as my parents were slowly murdered. I was completely helpless. I never got over it."

Katerei's face was pale and she was shivering uncontrollably. After a moment she continued speaking, although her voice was unsteady.

"Thus, my parents, Link and Kyla, died. In front of me, when I was completely helpless. I was screaming bloody murder and trying my best to escape, but to no avail. He came towards me...oh, I hate him...His eyes are terrible. Black, cold, empty. Heartless. Lifeless. If you didn't know better you'd think he was already dead.

"I thought he was going to kill me. He thought he was going to kill me, too. But for some strange reason, it didn't work. He cast the spell to kill me- already had his fun toturing my parents- and it did not work. I felt nothing, instead I was transported to Cademia. I have never found out why, but I did not care then. Somehow I knew where to go. I went to the Alraeican Tavern, and there was Ferazel. From then on, you know my story."

Katerei lay motionless on the bed. Brianna rushed over. "She's still conscious," she told Trinias and Shi.

Katerei continued to lie like that for what seemed ages. Then slowly, her eyes flickered. They opened, and Katerei sat up, looking around wildly. "Where he is? He was here! I knpow he was, he was, he was, he was...A'vei! A'vei! He was here, where is he?" She tried to get up, but Brianna held her down.

"Calm down! Who has here?"

Katerei stared at Brianna with a panicked expression. "Zrenerr! Oh, a'vei, a'vei...she looked around slowly as it dawned on her. "He's not here, he is?"

Trinias nodded. "He's not here. Don't worry."

Katerei nodded. "He's not here. He wasn't here. He wasn't..." She nodded again. "He is not here," she said firmly. "Cal'avya. Muinrea, cal'avya."

She smiled suddenly. "I'm fine now. I'll be ok."

Far away, in a dimly lit cavern, a shadowy figure was waiting. A second figured glided in, and sat down opposite the first.

"Well? Did you find what we needed to know?" the first person asked, bruskly.

"Yes, I overheard every word."

"And?"

"They suspect nothing. They remain totally convinced of what they believe happened."

"Excellent! The long term plans can now move forward, unchanged, without raising suspicions. You've done well. Leave now, and continue with the next phase." The messenger bowed slightly, and glided back out of the room.

"It will be a long time before I have my revenge - but I can wait!" Slowly, quietly, but with ever increasing volume and power, the cavern began to echo with Omen's maniacal laughter.