[Mara]

Light!

Mara saw it ahead of her as she floated towards it, her mind free of all other thoughts and care. The light seemed to be drawing closer and she heard voices talking in the darkness that surrounded her.

"Who is this? Is she expecting her now?"

"Let me check my records."

Mara heard the shuffling of something and the sound of laughter and singing as she drew closer to the white light. But suddenly her body stilled, and she stopped moving. She floated there within the darkness as if waiting for something.

An answer.

"Here we are! No, this is not right! She should not be here. Not now! There's some mistake made here. According to this, she still holds a long life ahead of her."

"Then what should we do?"

"Send her back."

Mara wanted to protest. The light looked so inviting, and the sound of laughter and the singing was pulling at her. She started to fight the darkness, to break free and join the light, but her body felt heavy once again and she felt herself slipping away. The light was starting to fade from her view, and she herself falling. As she fell, she heard yet another voice, but this one sounded panicky, strained.

Carriac!

She felt something pressing against her lips, felt her chest rise and fall, before the sounds of the night caused her to open her eyes. She felt her chest heave and she dispelled the water from her lungs and tasted the bitter flavor of mud and sand. Her breaths came up short as she dispelled more water, her eyes watering as they tried to wash the mud and grit from her eyes. She felt so weak, and her memories flashed back to what had happened a short time ago.

She had hurt Traveler, and tried to kill herself by jumping into the river.

Coughing and choking on what water, she swallowed, Mara tried to rise, but she was too weak, too tired to even move. Through bloodshot and gritty eyes, she saw Carriac knelling over her, and she tried to pull her hand up...

"That's him! He must have done it," Mara heard as she dropped her hand back to her chest. "He's the one that flooded half the city! He must be! Look at them both. They are soaking wet! Saw her jumping in, just before the wave hit. I think she was trying to escape from him! Watch him; he might be a wizard or something."

Mara tried to turn her head, to see who was calling out, but in her weakened state, she could hardly move. She was lucky she had enough strength to even breathe, and that came in hacking coughs and gasps for air.

We'll take it from here! Go back and tend to your store," another voice was heard and the sound of cursing and footsteps fading away, made Mara feel a little better. Until two men stepped up, and pulled Carriac away from her.

She heard Carriac as he tried to explain what had happened, the sound of a scuffle and a sudden sickening smack echoed in her ears, causing her to flinch and close her eyes. She heard a soft moan escaping from Carriac's lips as the sound of a body slipping down on the wet, graveled bank.

"That should keep him quiet!"

"You didn't have to hit him so hard!"

"Do you want him to turn his magic on you? You saw what happened to half the town. Everything is flooded and it'll take weeks to clean up. I would rather have him wake up in a cell, than in our arms, wouldn't you?"

"I guess so, but we don't know that it was him. He could have been the one trying to safe her."

"From whom? Do you see anyone else out here? The shopkeeper said he saw them together as he was locking up. Then that wave hit soon after that, washing him off his feet. There's no one else around. He had to be the one. Bet he tried to murder that one, and have the water wash her away, but it pushed her towards shore instead. We came up on him, as he was about to try again, I'll bet ya! Now check on her, then let's throw the book at this one."

"Wait..." Mara tried to call out, but it came out as a soft whisper. She tried to roll over, to get a better look, but was quickly covered by a blanket. She felt one of the men check her chest and she froze, unsure what she should do.

"She's gone! Leave her and let's get this one to jail. We'll come back and deal with her in a bit. This one here has some questions that need answering. She sure was pretty. Damn shame too..."

Mara tried to pull the blanket off, to call out, but she had to close her eyes and rest first as her body resisted her advances to move even a finger. They would come back soon enough, and find that she was very much alive. But the sound of Carriac being dragged away caused her to cry.

"Twice in one night I've caused pain to my friends. What can I do?"

Her mind raced as her body quickly gained its strength back. Throwing off the blanket, she sat up and looked around. There was no one around. The clouds hid the moon and she felt so alone.

"Traveler! He'll know what to do!" Pulling herself up slowly, she glanced quickly back at the river and shivered. "Carriac's right! If I do have these powers, then I must learn to control them. Traveler and him will help me. They must! But first..."

Mara nodded to herself, before running back to the room.

[Bird]

The shadowy form observed in silence as the town watch carried the unconscious form of the Bearer to the jail house in the southwest corner of town. Unnoticed in the darkness, it took perch on the swinging sign of a butcher shop that had closed for the night. There is sat, regarding the door of the windowless jail.

It would wait.

[Carriac]

Carriac awoke slowly. His eyes opened, but he was unable to see. Where was he? He attempted to rise from his prone position, but a sharp pain lanced through his head with the force of a crossbow bolt and he cried out, falling back to the floor.

He remained still for a moment, taking stock of his condition. His hands were bound, the rope tight enough that his wrists had begun to chafe. His feet were similarly restricted, tied about the ankles. A hood covered his head, most likely the source of his blindness. His mouth was gagged, though not very well, and he succeeded in working the gag loose with his tongue. He cried out for help. There was no reply.

The elf tried again to rise. The pain returned, but he pushed it aside and managed to get into a sitting position, his back against a stone wall. His question returned: where was he?

Memory returned then, his talk with Mara, her attempted suicide and his impulsive rescue. The men arriving. They had dragged him away from her, accused him of murder. He had tried to explain himself, but his fear for Mara's condition had tied his tongue.

Mara! Was she alright? Had she received medical attention? His concern for his love welled up within him until he was near panic. He cried out again, desperate for someone to come to his aid.

His cries were in vain.

Beneath the hood the elf's eyes turned black.

[Traveler]

After enjoying the bath Traveler dressed and went downstairs for a bite to eat.

The dreams and memories he had acquired still swam in his mind, but lack of food and being healed so dramatically had left him felling drained.

He was drifting in the memories again when he noticed commotion starting to build outside the Inn. People were hollering and were running down the street screaming about a flood. He had no sooner stood up from the table when a stream of water flowed through the front door of the restaurant. In about the time it took to register what was going on the water had quickly risen to his knees. The tables and chairs were bumping in to the walls when the water suddenly receded. He was pondering what could have cause such a commotion when a soaking wet Mara came rushing in the Inn and he remembered his companions had gone for a walk near the river.

[Mara]

She burst in, dripping water on the floor.

"Traveler! Carriac's been taken to jail! They think he's murdered me down by the

river, but he didn't. You must help me," and she slipped to the floor while one hand held the door open.

"Please...Help me...and Carriac..."

[Traveler]

"Mara, Calm down. What ever has happened can be fixed. Take me to him and we'll see if we can sort this out with out too much trouble." He said as a sense of dread began to grow inside him. Something was terribly wrong. All his sense screamed for him to turn and run.

She led him out the door to the local Jail where several men were wandering around shouting obscenities at someone inside. ~ I wish I would've had the foresight to bring along a weapon or, two. ~

"Mara, I think you should go back to our room and bring me my sword. Gather up the rest of our belongings, too! We may be making a fast getaway."

He knew he needed to get Mara out of there before she grew angry and did something else she would regret. A memory tried to makes its way forward amond the torrent of toughts, but he pushed it back.

[Mara]

Mara looked at the growing crowd of people that was gathering around the jail and she started to become frightened, then angry. "I can't leave Carriac to that mob!

They'll kill him! Can't we just break him out of jail and get out of here?"

She looked up and into Travelers eyes, before dropping her head. "I'm just worried about Carriac..."

[Traveler]

"Don't worry, I'll stay here and make sure nothing happens till you get back. If something bad starts to happen I'll take care of it."

Mara gave him an unsure look, but gave in and left to gather their stuff.

He watched for a few minutes and listened to what was being said and gathered enough information to realize they were accusing Carriac of drowning a woman and flooding the town. Thinking of Mara being drenched he could only assume Mara had been the woman they assumed had been drowned. Several men in the crowd called out to hang him now, but luckily there were a few cool heads that persuaded the rest they needed to have a trial. Things seemed to be calming down by the time Mara returned with his sword and their things. She somehow was able to bring the wagon too, as the two mules slowly made their way through the mud and the water.

"Look Mara! You're alive. The men can't dispute that. Everything will be ok!" He didn't want to mention Carriac might be responsible for the flooding of the town. He doubted anyone would be able to pin it on him..

[Mara]

Mara nodded before jumping from the wagon, her clothes still damp from the river.

"Do you think it will work?" She didn't tell Traveler that as she made her way back for their things that she ran across the glass doors that Carriac had etched. The scene on the glass made her skin crawl as she came up to it and the shadows showed what was hidden. The scene of torture and rape, of murder and the decapitation of young children and women. The demons that were doing this were hideous, and she almost lost what feeling she had for Carriac, to think that he had done something like that. But she would not let anyone stumble across such madness.

She tried to use her powers to burn the doors to ash, but she was too weak, and wet, so she ran to the room and gathered their things, and placing Travelers blade in her right hand. It felt heavy, but she carried it back to the doors and smashed the etched glass into a million pieces, beating the larger pieces to dust, before gathering the things that dropped and ran for the wagon. She didn't even try to wake the boy that was sleeping in the hay pile. She just jumped up and got the mules moving and headed towards the jail.

She stood there beside Traveler as he smiled and took his blade from her hand, wrenching it away as she had a death grip on it from beating on the glass.

"Sorry..." she whispered as she looked back up. "Let's do this..."

[Carriac]

A simple mental command caused the bonds on his wrists to part, falling to the floor. A quick touch to those on his feet and the hood about his head yielded similar results. Freed from his restraints, the elf rose fluidly to his feet and moved to the steel bars that formed the barrier of his cell. The movement attracted the eyes of lone guard who had previously shown little concern for his prisoner's distress. Now, the guard got to his feet and walked the short distance from his desk to cell.

"What are you yelling about in there..." he began, and then noticed that his prisoner was no longer bound. He opened his mouth to call out warning, but to his dismay, he had gotten to close to the cell.

The elf's hand shot between the bars, grasping the young guard by the wrist, then pulling his arm into the cage. The youth fumbled for the dagger at his waist, but he was too slow. The shaper's power surged into him and commanded the elements to part.

The guard's wrist exploded in a shower of bone and tissue, dropping the hand to the floor. He tried to scream, but with lightning quickness the prisoner fastened a hand against his throat. Tissue reacted instantly to the unspoken command, the vocal cords collapsing in on themselves. The shriek of agony died in a throat unable to produce sound.

The guard's eyes widened with inexpressible pain and terror as the elf dropped his shattered arm and reached with eager fingers towards his heaving chest. The clawed fingers entered his body with all the resistance of a blade through silk and emerged in an instant with the young man's heart.

Carriac released the dead guard's body. It slid slowly down the bars to rest unceremoniously on the stone floor. The shaper dumped the warm organ into the hood and then stuffed the sticky mass back in the man's chest. A look of pleasure came over his features.

"Next time, you'll come when I call," he said, in a voice that was oily and deep and devoid of warmth. "Now then, let's see how much fun I can have before those defensives come back up."

He moved to the far wall of the cell and placed his hands against the cool stone.

[Traveler]

He made his way through the crowd to the men who were proclaiming, "we seen him over the woman he killed, they were both wet. It was obvious he had tried to drown her.

Traveler asked them, "Would you recognize the woman you say he murdered?"

The turned towards him and eyed him over real good before they answered him, "Sure we would, Mister..."

Ignoring their intended question he motioned towards Mara and asked, "Is that her?"

One of them answered, "Unless she has a dead twin, that's looks like her. I don't understand, I checked her she was dead."

"So I assume your an expert on elvish," he said with a sneer, "The man in there was trying to keep her from drowning. They're close companions. He would do nothing to harm her." Turning towards the crowd he said he willed them to calm down and said, "It's ok everyone! There's been a misunderstanding. No one's been hurt. Ya'll can go..."

He felt something go wrong. His instincts kicked in and his vision blurred for a moment as his _hunting_ vision kicked in. There in the building he saw a man move towards a cell, his body heat showing in whites and oranges, full of life. In the cell was a dark form, no visible light came from it. Something he hadn't expected to see. As he stood there he saw the darkness overtake the other man, It seemed to reach into the man, and kill him his life force turned dark. He watched in horror as the darkness moved through the wall and into the alleyway behind the jail. His vision faded back and he exclaimed, "Oh no..."

Everyone around stared at him in wonder as he turned pale. He ignored the looks and turned to the Guard and said, "Let's go inside and release my friend Carriac so we can be on our way." Turning towards Mara he said, "Mara, come here ."

It took a brief moment for Mara to get there and they went inside the building.

As they entered his worst fears were confirmed. There on the floor was the guard that he _saw_ killed and there was no trace of Carriac. It was obviouse to him that Carriac had killed the man and slipped through the wall using his strange ability to control matter.

He looked at Mara and saw the stricken look on her face. "Mara... " he started and reached out for her hand.

[Mara]

Mara had followed Traveler into the jail without question. To her it seemed that he had the crowd and everything else under control. But when they stopped just inside the jail, Mara saw the dead guard and the empty cell. Fear struck her face as she looked up and into Traveler's face as she pulled on his shirt sleeve.

"Traveler," she whispered. "Something doesn't feel right. Carriac would never have done this. Something dark is at work here. Let us go, before they accuse us.

Please..." and she watched as Traveler glanced back and nodded. Yet her eyes fell back to the empty cell, and the dead guard. The bars and wall were in place, so she was sure that Carriac had not escaped on his own. She wasn't even watching Traveler or the guard.

Her thoughts were on Carriac.

[Traveler]

"Guess we'll be going," He said as he turned to see what the guard was going to do. With an imperceptible movement he readied his sword. He wished Mara would be able to read his movements and be ready to leave, but she was too distraught over the seeming disappearance of her love.

The shocked looked on the guards face told him all he needed to know. "I don't think ya'll be going anywhere till we find you friend and find out what happened here. A guard has been killed now and your friend is missing. He's the only one who could have caused it. You better hand me your sword." The man reached out a hand to receive the sword.

Traveler drew the sword from it's scabbard and started to hand it to the man, but as he moved to grab it, he swung his sword at the man's head and at the last moment turned the blade so the flat part would hit the man and knock him out. Mara screamed in surprise.

"We need to go, and we need to go quickly."

[Mara]

"You...You hit him!" Mara stood there, shocked, before looking around to see if anyone saw what had just happened. "Why did you knock him out? We..."

[Traveler]

"I'll explain later. Carriac isn't here. We're not leaving him... we're going to find him. We can't help him if we're stuck in a Cell"

With that she allowed him to lead her outside and to the wagon. The both climbed up in the front and were heading out when another guard called out to see if everything was ok. When they didn't answer he ran in to find his superior knocked out, another guard dead, and an empty cell.

They had actually made it out of the town when the alarm was being raised. They raced out of town to the spot where he had camped the night before and made for the clearing. They would be safe there for a while.

[Mara]

"Traveler? Do you think Carriac's ok? I mean how do we know someone hasn't kidnapped him? Do you think he'll escape and find his way here?"

Mara wanted to jump from the wagon and run back into town, but she knew that she would only cause more trouble for Carriac and Traveler, so she stayed. But her heart was beating faster, and her though were on Carriac.

::Carriac? If you can hear me, were back at the campsite waiting for you. If you're ok, come there. Hurry :: Mara sent out in hopes that he had heard her.

Wrapping on arm around Travelers arm, she slipped in next him him and started shaking.

"Do you think he killed that guard Traveler?"

She didn't want to hear the answer, but deep down she had to know. She had to know if there was another side to Carriac. A darker side that she had not sensed.

She remembered the two torn button's that she had found on the floor of the wagon, and the way the Gnome acted when she asked about them.

Had Carriac torn them? And if he did, what else did he do...

Those thoughts made her hold onto Traveler even more as she closed her eyes and prayed for Carriac's safe return.

[Traveler]

"Mara, I don't know," he lied, "I don't think our Carriac would have killed the guard, though. Something else is definately a foot." He pulled the wagon and mules as far from the road as possible and waited till the coming search party had passed with out even so much as a glance in their direction. luckily for them the grove they were in was consindere taboo.

(to be continued...)