[Carriac]

He reacted out of instinct, grabbing Rhea by the arm and pulling her to the ground. He released her then, his hand sweeping away snow in an attempt to find what he was sure was their only chance of survival.

"What are you..." Rhea began, but he ignored her as his fingers brushed against the red granite that characterized the area. He summoned his talent, then, sending a request into the very mountain.

Great fingers of stone erupted from the ground around them. Mara was thrown from her feet. She landed hard next to Carriac, the fire about her arms winking out. Rhea shrieked in terror as the thrusting stone curled about them and then all went black.

[Winter]

Joshua smiled as he watched the two elves make their way up the trail from the village. He had chosen his vantage point well. While his two companions had spent the evening gallivanting around the canyon, he had simply made himself comfortable and waited. Why bother with the village when it was obvious that in order to exit the canyon, their quarry would be forced to come to the pass? As always, his decision had paid off handsomely. The objects of their search were within reach.

It surprised him somewhat when the girl appeared. He hadn't marked either elf as someone who would ask for help, but it became apparent from the gestures of the small group that the girl wasn't a welcome member. Joshua didn't care one way or the other. His target was in sight and he intended to take it.

He was reaching for his crossbow when the elf woman's arms suddenly burst into flames. No matter, she couldn't stop what she couldn't see coming....

The explosions came as a complete shock. What was happening? It occurred to him suddenly what his erstwhile companions had been doing all evening.

"The fools! The avalanche will bury everything!"

As if in response to his words, tons of rocks and snow began a steady cascade down the sides of the canyon walls. He watched in silent wonder as a winter's worth of accumulated snow swept up rocks and trees in a violent white river that crashed forcefully over the whole of the canyon floor. Houses and barns, fields and forest were buried in a tidal wave of frozen water. Joshua was forced to cover his ears, so deafening was the cataclysm. The shockwaves carried up to where he stood, driving him to his knees, but amazingly, the area where he stood remained relatively untouched by the calamity.

It took a few moments for the ringing is his ears to subside. Joshua got to his feet and surveyed the results of his companions' colossal mistake.

The village of Red Rock was no more. Where it had once stood now rested a motionless ocean of snow, rock and shattered trees. His eyes swept the length of the canyon. He was aghast at the devastation the avalanches had caused to the environment. His gaze finally rested on the spot where only moments ago his quarry had stood. No sign of them remained.

Joshua cursed the ineptitude of the two mercenaries. He hoped they had died victims to their own stupidity.

Picking up his gear, he made his way back to the trail they had followed over the mountain. He didn't know if it still existed, but that fact didn't bother him. He would find a way back to the other side, and when he did, he would thoroughly examine the other side of the pass. It was unlikely that anyone could survive being buried under thirty feet of ice and snow, but Joshua had learned to never underestimate his quarry. If they found a way out, he intended to be waiting for them.

[Rhea]

She screamed as the stone surged up from the ground below them, but instead of falling over and crushing them, it cradled them in its grasp like a giant stone hand holding a treasure. She could feel Carriac's body pressed close to hers as the rock completely encased them. The rumbling and shaking grew louder and more intense. The avalanche was going to pound them like a hammer. They were all going to die.

But they did not. Miraculously, the stone shell remained intact as tons of snow and rock pounded down on top of them.

And then there was silence. For a few moments, the inky blackness was completely still. Then, Carriac moved, rolling over to face her direction. She felt his hand touch her shoulder.

"Is everyone all right?" he asked.

Rhea began to tremble. All right? All right? They were buried under tons of rock and snow, in the dark, with no way of escape! Nothing would be all right ever again.

Fear welled up inside. She seized Carriac's arm and pulled herself to him. His arm wrapped about her shoulders and he held her close as great shuddering sobs robbed her of speech.

[Mara]

Shaking off the blast, Mara brushed away the dirt and debris from her back and shoulders before standing. She bumped her head unexpectedly on a low stone roof and was forced to hunch down. Brushing her hair from her eyes she felt around, finding herself buried in stone. She mumbled under her breath.

"I'm fine. Thanks for asking."

As her eyes shifted to see their body heat in the darkness Mara could not help but notice Carriac's handy work, wondering what caused the explosion, not knowing how serious things were around them. The cave like structure reminded her of the last time she found herself trapped with him, causing her to pray that this outcome didn't turn out like the last time.

"You know, I am getting sick and tired of ending up in some dark, wet cave with you. Why is it we find ourselves like this when we're together? Damn the fates!"

The first problem she noticed was not being able to blast out of the make shift prison, but if they had enough air to breath while she blasted the rock, snow and ice away. Her second thought was how deep they were under the avalanche. Her last thoughts fell to the village they just left.

"Is she going to be okay, or do we have to carry her out of here? You know, I'll bet..." but she quickly closed her mouth. Rhea was frightened enough without having to explain why assassins were after them. Kneeling down, she brushed the girl's hair away from her face, that was buried in Carriac's chest.

"Welcome to the party! Won't you come out and play?"

Suddenly the cave was lit by a small candle-like glow as Mara held up one flaming finger and looked around. They were completely surrounded by rock. She would be unable to use her powers effectively in the confined space until Carriac changed some things.

"Help her up so we can get on our way, unless you're comfortable laying there on the cold, hard ground. If so, I'll just stand over here and give you two a moment alone."

[Carriac]

"Knock it off, Mara, we'll be fine in just a second."

Rhea had stopped trembling as the light flared to life. She pulled away from him slowly, taking in their predicament. Her eyes widened as she realized what he had done.

"How did you do this Carriac?"

"How do you think I did it?" Carriac said. "I asked the stone to protect us and it did." He got to his feet and surveyed his handiwork. They were completely surrounded by stone. The small "cave" was about eight feet in diameter and stood about four feet tall. The walls were rough and uneven - he hadn't had time to be overly specific in his request - but they had adequately protected them from the descending avalanche. The question now was: how were they going to get out? They were likely buried under many feet of snow and debris and the air in the chamber wouldn't last very long.

Rhea looked like she was going to ask another question. Carriac wasn't in the mood to answer. He moved past her to stand next to Mara.

"Melamin, we have a problem. I can open the chamber and you can melt the snow to make a path, but the melting water will have to go somewhere and the path of least resistance is going to lead it right back in here. I'm concerned we'll be flooded out before we get started. Any suggestions?"

[Mara]

Mara stood there, arms folded over her chest, one finger held a small flame, keeping the chamber lit. Looking at Carriac while he slowly rose, she started to say something smart, but bit the inside of her mouth instead. Her mind was going a mile a second, thinking of a number of different ways to escape, but they all ended with her escaping, leaving him and Rhea behind.

"I'm thinking," she snapped back at last. "There's only one way we can make it out of here together. It will be dangerous, but it's our only chance. You'll have to…trust me," winking at Rhea with a smile. She could tell the child was upset, but she was also fascinated by Carriac's powers. Mara couldn't blame her though. She felt the same way when he first showed her what he could do.

Stepping up to the wall of the cave she ran her hand along the face of the chambers, trying to get her bearings while also trying to judge the thickness from the snow outside. Running her hand along the course surface she stopped and drew a large circle in the stone. The stone all but melted to her touch, as smoke slowly rose up over their heads.

"I need you to move the stone I've just circled. I'm going to use a forced flame to melt the snow at an angle so that we can get out of here. Once I start, I'll need the both of you to shield yourselves until I am finished. I...I'm not sure what I'll run against, and it's going to get very hot in here rather suddenly. Stay close to the floor, that's where the cool air will be. It...it shouldn't take very to long to break through. It's our only hope though," adding a warning.

"But if I run into a boulder, it may explode, causing a cave in. So if you know any gods personally, you had better start praying to them and let's hope they're listening."

She said her own little prayer while she waited until Carriac removed the stone circle, amazed how the stone seemed to roll out of the way to his touch. Reaching down she pulled one of the extra cloaks she had brought with her, covering them both before turning back to the task at hand. Both arms flared up, before the flames formed into one flame. Like a dragon's breath, the flames started melting the snow away, forming a long, but narrow tunnel that shot up at a 45 degree angle. Water flowed out near her feet and moist air tried to choke her flames out, but she applied more will power into her work, causing the flames to grow. Before long they were burning almost white hot from the tips of her fingers out. The snow gave way to the flames' advances like before, boring out a long white tunnel of packed snow. The warm, moist air felt good as it dried on her over heated skin. Her long raven black hair danced behind her, her eyes blazing red.

"Almost there," she whispered. "Gods, this is fun," she laughed. She felt the flames breaking through the surface, sending snow and ice sailing through the air, and she smiled. Ever so carefully she started to cool her flames down, until they were just flickering across both arms. The water from the melted snow was now ankle deep, causing a chill to run up and down her body.

"I'm through to the surface," she said and started to check on Carriac and Rhea. Suddenly a large chunk of snow and ice broke free from the tunnels inner edge. Stone, ice and snow fell down around her, burying her as she turned back to the noise. The snow was cold, the water on the floor even colder. She didn't even have time to scream before darkness fell around her once again.

[Rhea]

It annoyed Rhea that the man she considered a friend and teacher would so readily ignore her now, when in the past he had been nothing but attentive. Where her questions any less important now that the elf woman had shown up? They weren't less important to Rhea.

She watched as Carriac discussed escape possibilities with Mara. The elf woman bothered her. It wasn't that she was so beautiful, or that Carriac couldn't seem to leave her alone. It was something else. The fact that she could produce fire at will was...unnerving. Rhea was going to say unnatural, but after having witnessed the true extent of Carriac's abilities, they didn't seem so strange. They were dangerous, and to Rhea, Mara looked less than stable mentally. At least Carriac's power was tempered by a reasonable mind.

Rhea held her tongue as Carriac agreed to Mara's plan. It wouldn't have done her any good to argue. They were going to do what they wanted regardless of her opinion, but the thought of what they intended was more than a little frightening. Rhea had seen what could happen when large amounts of snow melted quickly.

Rhea watched closely and somewhat in awe as the stone wall of the cave seemingly melted away at Carriac's touch. He then came over to her.

"Mara's going to clear a way out. I want you to hunch down over here. It's going to get hot."

Carriac knelt next to Rhea and shielded her with his body as Mara covered them with a blanket.

"Take a deep breath," Carriac said.

She did and the heat started. It was much worse than Rhea expected. The air got very hot. Combined with the moisture from the vaporized snow, the small cave was like a sauna. In moments, large rivulets of sweat poured across her face. Her tunic and pants were soon sopping. The water pooling at their feet also heated up and were it not for the thick leather of her boots, Rhea was certain her feet would have been boiled.

It suddenly grew much darker in the cave. The temperature dropped noticeably. Carriac threw off the cloak and moved away.

"Mara?" Carriac's voice echoed through the small chamber. It took a few moments for Rhea's eyes to adjust to the lower level of light - now provided by moon, reflected down a tunnel of snow. She saw Mara's slumped form under a pile of snow the same time as Carriac.

[Carriac]

"Mara!"

Carriac moved quickly to Mara's side. He brushed the snow and ice off of her and felt for a pulse. It was very faint. And she was cold. The falling snow and ice had quenched Mara's flame. That plus the expenditure of energy required to burn the passage had exhausted her. If he didn't get her warmed up soon....

"Rhea, come here. Quickly! Open that pack and pull out the blankets and any extra cloaks you can find. Mind you don't get them wet!"

[Rhea]

"What do you want...." Rhea started, but stopped at the look on Carriac's face. She dug through the packs, finding two blankets and another cloak.

[Carriac]

As Rhea searched the packs, Carriac concentrated on getting rid of the five inches of water covering the cave floor. He touched the stone and called on his talent. A hole formed at his fingertips, extending gradually deep into the rock. Displaced stone began to raise from the floor at the far side of the chamber. Within a minute, the water had drained away. By that time, Rhea had pulled the blankets from the packs.

He untied Mara's cloak and began removing her clothes. "Rhea, please help me." When no help was forthcoming, he looked up to see the girl staring at him.

"Her clothes are wet and she's losing too much body heat. Please, Rhea." She seemed to understand then and bent to help him. They soon had Mara out of the wet clothes and laying on one of the dry blankets. Carriac then began removing his own clothing.

"Okay, now take off your wet cloak and strip down to your shift."

"Ex-excuse me?" She was staring at him with wild eyes.

"Rhea, we don't have much time. Mara's metabolism doesn't work the same way that ours does. Her body is able to generate great amounts of heat, but once that heat is expended, she is helpless until she gets a new supply of energy. In this case, her body has insufficient heat to keep itself alive. If we don't warm her up, she will die. Since we have nothing with which to make a fire, that heat is going to have to come from us. Now strip down!"

[Rhea]

Rhea understood what Carriac was saying, but her body was paralyzed. Carriac was telling her to undress. And more than that, he himself was undressing in front of her.

"Rhea, hurry!"

The panic in his voice galvanized her into action. Swallowing down a lump in her throat, she proceeded to do as he asked. She was very conscious of her body as she did so, and she tried not to think about Carriac standing mere feet away. Her only consolation was that the low level of light in the room would make it difficult for Carriac to really see her. In a moment she was down to her shift. It was getting cold in the cave and she began to shiver.

[Carriac]

He was sorry to have to raise his voice, but this was no time for modesty. He stripped himself down to his small clothes then grabbed the extra blanket and cloak. He kept the cloak for himself and held the blanket out to Rhea, being careful to stay partially turned away to give her a small measure of privacy.

"Take the blanket and lie down on the floor next to Mara."

Rhea did as he asked. He could tell she was glad to have the blanket to cover her. When she had positioned herself, he lied down on Mara's opposite side.

"Now, scoot as close to her as you can. Make sure your body touches hers as much as possible. We're going to share our body heat with her. Wrap the blanket around both of you and tuck the ends under you so that the air can't escape."

[Rhea]

She followed Carriac's instructions. As uncomfortable as this made her, she almost died when she realized that Carriac was doing the same thing. He had taken Mara's still form is his arms and was pressing her to him, not noticing that in doing so his arms were touching the bare skin at Rhea's shoulders.

Rhea noticed. Fire blossomed from that spot, spreading down her chest and into her legs. Her gut reaction was to move away - while something else urged her to move closer. She resisted both urges, simply lying still, all the while trying to control the emotions that swirled within her.

[Carriac]

Carriac could tell it was working. Slowly but surely, Mara's temperature was increasing.

"Come on, Melamin," he whispered into her ear. He kissed her gently on the cheek. "You can make it. Come on."

[Mara]

Mara hated water and snow. She saw the large chunk of snow coming down but there was nothing she could have done to prevent it. She tried to bring her arms back up, to protect herself by turning up the fire, but she had expelled so much energy already that she hesitated. That hesitation was all the snow needed to cover her, knocking her and her flames out.

Now five figures stood together in the dark folds of her mind once again. The assassin side was the first to speak much to the displeasure of the others.

"Don't even start by blaming me for this. I did the only thing I could to get us out of here. Can I help it that the snow fell?"

"We're not placing blame on anyone here," the Phoenix whispered, her wings folding across her back. "We are here because the body is in jeopardy once again. If we are to survive..."

"We must stop meeting like this," the child side giggled. "But she is correct. We must look out for each other, for without the body we will no longer exist."

"See! You're blaming me again," the assassin piped up once again.

"No," the Dragon side whispered, "we are not. If anyone is to blame it's her," pointing to the young woman that remained silent. "She drew us to the shaper once again. She is following her heart. She is in love with the man called Carriac. He is a part of her, he is what drives her, what makes her whole. No one saw this coming, this feeling of love. It, in itself, holds more power than anyone of us here possesses. It is a driving force that makes us who we are...."

"That is true," the Phoenix spoke again, "but the fact is she has expelled most of our energy once again," pointing to the assassin, "which leaves us with no choice but to help, or we too will cease to exist. Would you care to do it this time," she asked the dragon that stood beside her.

"Yes, and while were on this subject of survival, I might suggest we teach this one," the dragon said, his long neck stretching across to stare at the assassin, "how to tap into our resources, so this does not happen again. It should be a simple feat. When ever you feel the need, just reach across the folds of darkness and tap what powers either of us possesses. But be warned, you are only able to do this for the good of the body...."

"Not for evil purposes," the child side said while wagging a finger at the assassin.

"Correct little one," the Phoenix laughed. "We will know if her purposes are good or evil. No need to fear. Now then, the others, the shaper and his student seem to be trying to help the body cope with the cold. We should awaken our host slowly. Any sudden moves on our part may cause her to connect to the assassin side, thus harming the shaper and his student. Dragon, if you would care to take the steps needed...."

"My pleasure," the dragon whispered before fading away, followed closely by the others, leaving the young woman standing alone once more. She remained quiet, hugging herself waiting to awaken from the darkness once again.

"Yes," she whispered at last, "blame me for loving him."

Ever so slowly Mara's body started to warm up. Her skin took on a deep golden glow, compared to earlier when it was all but a pale blue in color, as almond shaped eyes slowly fluttered open. Turning her head she stared into Carriac's face for the longest time. Reaching up she brushed his cheek and smiled, before taking notice of Rhea lying next to her. Turning her head she looked into the child's eyes before laughing softly.

"We must stop meeting like this," she said, thinking she had slipped on the wet floor, knocking them both to the floor.

But the moment she learned that she and everyone else was undressed, lying together she quickly jumped up, pulling a cloak tightly around her, her eyes blazing with anger.

"What's going on here? Why...why are we all...in the state of undress?"

Glaring back down at Carriac, then over at Rhea, her eyes grew narrow. "You're a sick man...."

[Carriac]

Carriac breathed a sigh of relief, though he was somewhat confused at Mara's almost instantaneous recovery once her temperature started to rise. He rose, wrapping the cloak more fully around himself, and went to where Rhea's wet clothing lay crumpled on the ground..

"I would be a sick man if I took any sort of pleasure from Rhea and I sharing our body heat with you. Since it seems to have worked, as you are now no longer comatose, but rather up and about and flinging unfounded accusations, I would say instead that I'm a smart man."

He picked up Rhea's dress and touched it with his gift. The fibers of the cloth wrung out the water and in a moment the dress was dry. He handed it to Rhea.

"Thank you for your help, Rhea. I'm sorry if you were embarrassed. It was the only thing I could think of to save Mara. You can go ahead and get dressed now."

He turned away to give her privacy in dressing as he reached for her stockings.

[Rhea]

Saying she was embarrassed was like calling a hundred year old mountain pine tree a sapling. Rhea was mortified. She had never been in a situation even remotely as intimate as this one had been - and nothing untoward had even happened! Even if she had tried to imagine what it would have been like to have her father walk in on her kissing a boy, she never would have thought it would feel this distressing.

She tried to avoid Mara's accusatory gaze as she hastily scrambled to put on her dress. When Carriac handed her her stockings - Carriac, handling her stockings - it took every bit of willpower she had to not simply snatch them away. She hadn't done anything wrong! There was no need to feel guilty about anything. But Mara kept watching her with those predatory eyes, and Rhea couldn't help but feel ill at ease.

It didn't help when Carriac finished with her clothing and began to redress himself. Her face, if possible, grew even redder and she let out an unladylike squeak as she quickly turned away from him. Thank the gods it was too dark for anyone to see her face clearly.

[Mara]

After being chastised by Carriac for saving her life, Mara remained silent. But she could not help but stare at Rhea, seeing how embarrassed she looked, standing there while waiting for him to dry her clothes. She looked...different, frightened. She started to reach out, to comfort her but slowly dropped her hand. Now was not the time, nor the place. Bending down she gathered up her own clothes, drying them instantly. It had taken her some time and a number of coins to find the right material that would not burn into ash when she used her powers.

Dressing slowly, she could not help but wonder if Rhea knew that elves could see clearly in the dark. "If she knew that I doubt she would have gotten undressed," she thought. Grabbing her pack, she threw it across her shoulders setting it back in place.

Looking up at the hole she had made for their escape she wondered if she shouldn't have carved steps that lead up, but the angle wasn't that sharp but the exit would be cramped. They would have to go in single file, one behind the other.

"Once we start to head up I think you should take the lead Carriac, followed by Rhea. I'll come up last and close the entrance once we hit daylight. The track up will be slow, but if we take our time we shouldn't have any trouble. You may have to dig your toes into the snow and use your arms for support, and if you slip I'll be there to catch you."

Walking up to the exit, she looked up with a sigh. She knew that Rhea's village was gone, wiped away by the avalanche, which was why she angled the exit away from the devastation hoping that she doesn't look back, or the snow has hidden the destruction.

"Are we ready?"

[Carriac]

Dressed once again, Carriac slung his satchels over his shoulders then picked up his staff. The essence of the tortured wood throbbed against his hand. He ignored it.

He looked over to Rhea. The girl was sliding her pack in place. She glanced at him briefly from beneath her bangs and nodded.

"Ready."

The climb was arduous. The heat from Mara's blast had melted the snow, and it had begun to refreeze. Normally, a coating of ice would have made it easier to chip out handholds. In this case, however, the ice was not yet completely formed. Carriac found that if he tried to dig in too hard, entire chunks would break free and he would go sliding back down the shaft into Rhea. What should have taken them fifteen minutes instead took an hour, but in the end they were all standing on the packed snow outside the cave.

Carriac took a moment to survey the damage. The entire village of Red Rock had been covered in debris. Only the roofs of the tallest structures on the highest pieces of ground showed from beneath the mounded snow. He hung his head in despair. There was no way to know how many people, if any, were still alive. Those that lived were buried alive under tons of snow. Could they escape before their air ran out? None of them were blessed with Mara's powers. Would conventional means avail them anything?

The sounds of Rhea sobbing drew him out of his reverie. The girl was staring in abject horror at the remains of her village, tears streaming down her face. What must this be like for her? Her family, her friends, everyone she had ever known was mostly likely dead or dying. She had left the village in a rush. Carriac could imagine what she must have done - penned a hastily scribbled and left without telling anyone goodbye. Now she might never have that chance.

He put his arm around Rhea's shoulder and pulled her to him. She stiffened a bit at his touch, but soon turned into him. He held her closely.

"Rhea, I understand what you're feeling. But do not give up hope. There is every chance that many have survived the avalanche. Most everyone was inside at the time. The village's homes are well constructed. It is very possible that they are alive, saved by their homes much the way we were in the rock chamber. They just need help in getting out."

He fixed his stare on Mara. "We must give them that aid."

(to be continued...)