[Bird]

The unseen observer watched with great interest as the stones at the rear of the jail - well away from the press of people milling about the entrance - "melted" as butter. A large form stepped through, then turned to place hands on the malleable stone. Within seconds, the wall was back to its original configuration. The form turned and even in the dim light the dark avian could see the great well of blackness within its eyes.

"Excellent!" It thought, "It finally begins."

With nary a sound, the shadowed being launched into flight to intercept its ward.

[Shadow/Carriac]

The elf turned from the wall to observe the expanse of Riverport before him.

"So much to do, so little time," he mused. He raised a pudgy hand and wriggled the fingers. "And with such power at my command...the possibilities are endless!"

He strode purposefully into the night, away from the confusion of the jail, toward a quieter, more residential area.

A block from the jail, a sudden rush of wings caused the elf to look skyward. Eyes attuned to the vagaries of the shadow world immediately noticed the dark form fluttering near him. He stretched out an arm and felt a weight settle there, though he saw no physical form.

"Krom. What a pleasant surprise. Spying on me for my brother, are you?"

[Bird]

::I would never presume to spy on you, my Most August Lord.:: Krom cawed back. ::Say rather I am looking out for your best interests.::

[Shadow/Carriac - Krom]

"I am certain. Say your piece, toad. I am not yet strong enough to remain in control and I intend to make the most of the limited freedom I have earned."

::The Highlord wishes to ascertain your intentions, milord. He reminds milord of the oath made when....::

"The Highlord is in no position to demand anything, worm! I will do as I please and in my own time."

::The Highlord has demanded nothing.::

The elf waved a hand for silence. "His Darkness has no need for worry. I will fulfill my oath. Now, begone, foul one. I can already feel the stirrings."

The elf felt a stir of air as the shadowy bird lifted from his perch and winged its way into the night. So, his brother knew that he had awakened. This would change things. He would have to proceed carefully, or suffer dire consequences when the "Highlord" was finally freed from his prison.

Turning his mind to more pleasant things, the elf moved off into the night in search of some suitable playmates.

[Traveler/Mara]

Night had fallen fully over them before either of them was willing to do more that breath. They had sat in silence fir what seemed like hours. He had begun to feel that something was happening around them, but the night sky was dark, the moon was obscured by clouds. They heard the search party pass by again, they had given up the chase. The only problem they had now was how to find Carriac and leave the area without anymore problems.

Mara had laid her head on his shoulder as they waited for time to pass. Finally, she spoke.

[Mara]

"Traveler?" Mara's voice was but a whisper, but loud enough for him to hear her. "I'm...I'm sorry for hurting you...Back at that room I mean. I...I woke up from another nightmare and I didn't know I was hurting you until Carriac yelled at me. I...I didn't mean too..." and she quickly looked away, not wanting to see Travelers face. She knew that he must have been angry with her, and she shivered as she wrapped one arm around his and pulled her body closer for warmth. "I've been a curse since I met up with you two. You should have let those man take me..."

[Traveler]

"Mara, don't berate yourself. I'm a grown man and have done much. I knew what I was doing when we brought you with us. I knew what you were capable of. Carriac did, too. We knew you didn't know what had happened. Look, Mara whatever else happened you healed me. Not just my physical wounds, but my mental ones and quite possible some emotional scars I've carried a long time. I remember things I didn't even knew I couldn't remember. You don't have to be sorry... Thank you."

Without even thinking about what he was doing, he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "You've saved me a lot of pain, in more ways than one."

He jumped down from the wagon and said," I guess we had better settle in here for a while. There is yet much to be done before we can go. Why don't you go in the back of the wagon and try to get some sleep." He retrieved a lantern from one of the side boxes and lit the lantern so she could see, for an oppressive darkness had settled over them.

Once he lit the lantern, he heard Mara gasp and turned quickly to see what was wrong. He looked all around and all he could see was woods. Not the large grove they had driven the wagon into earlier, but a tight circle of woods just outside the wagon. It was so dense they couldn't see through it. He walked back to the wagon and said to her, "I guess the guardian of the woods has made it safe for us to stay here." He didn't state the obvious fact that there would also not be any escape.

He realized that there was movement among the trees. As they watched he recognized the one he had talked to the night before was approaching. Mara was growing nervous, and he said, "It's all right. She won't hurt us."

The ancient Guardian spoke, "You are safe here from prying eyes, and from the roaming evil. There is something about that has the trees and forest on edge. Who is your friend?"

[Mara]

Mara stared at the guardian for the longest time, before stepping down from the wagon and stood next to Traveler, her hand reaching for his before she spoke.

"I'm Mara...I'm a friend of Traveler and Carriac. We're...We're waiting for our friend to return." Mara then seemed to slip in beside Traveler a bit more, as if to his behind his shadow as she looked into Traveler's eyes asked for reassurance that everything would be alright.

[Traveler]

"We have traveled long together. She has healed me from a fatal wound. There is much I remember now that I didn't before." He watched the guardian for any signs as to what would happen next, but couldn't discern anything from what he saw.

"There is also much you don't say. Very well. You will be safe here tonight." She turned to go but stopped and turned to Mara and said, "Child of the wood, what do _you_ want?" She said in a low whisper. She waited for Mara to answer.

[Mara]

Mara look back at the guardian and tilted her head slightly, before whispering. "Only for my friend to come back to us safe and sound. Is that too much to ask for? Can you...help him? He's...lost you see and we're worried about him," and she looked back up at Traveler and asked, "Was that the right thing to ask? For Carriac's safe return?"

[Traveler]

Looking intently to see what was going to happen Traveler stood there as the guardian seemed to ponder Mara's statement.

[Guardian/Traveler/Mara]

"Your friend, Carriac, is more and less than what he seems. I think you may not really want what you wish for," directing its attention at Mara it continued, "And yet, you too are more than what you seem to be, though you know that now in part. Good."

The guardian turned from Mara and said to Traveler, "You have been awakened?"

Not understanding the question he answered, "I have not been asleep in a while."

"Who awakened you?" the guardian asked.

"Uhhh, I was awakened by..." he thought about the question for a moment and was struck suddenly about the truth of the question. It was asked on many levels. "Mara woke me. I was hurt bad and she healed my wounds. She has a healer's touch that is very powerful."

Looking at Mara he asked, "Do you think she can heal her friend?"

The guardian seemed to shake for a moment, then stood very still for a long time. Traveler and Mara grew worried that something had happened to her.

"NO!" the Guardian boomed. The answer rolled through the surrounding and sounded like a peal of thunder. Traveler and Mara reeled from the sound an emotion in the answer. "Do not try. That is something that has to be worked out'" She said softly.

She turned to leave and traveler and Mara noticed for the first time that a fire had been lit in front of a bed of leaves. Food had been prepared for them.

The Guardian left them alone.

"Well, I guess we had better eat and wait for Carriac to return." Traveler said.

[Mara]

Mara watched as the guardian walked away, her words still ringing in her ears. She had only asked for Carriac to come back to them safe and sound, not understanding why Traveler asked for him to be healed. And she could not understand why the Guardian acted the way she did. Her stomach started turning into knots and she bit her lip before looking up at Traveler.

"I'm not very hungry right now. Maybe later when Carriac comes back," and she turned and slowly stepped over to the fire and dropped down, pulling her knees up to her chest and poked at the red hot coals with her finger. Before long she slipped down and curled up next to Traveler, her head resting on his chest.

"I hope he's ok," she whispered as she looked out past the grove. "I know how it feels to be alone...and frightened."

[Narration]

They fell asleep on the bed of leaves before the fire under the watchful eyes of the grove. There was much rustling of leaves that night. The air carried the cries of departing spirits that had been loosed before their time.

[Carriac]

The elf awoke with a start. He was wet - his face was dripping with sweat. His clothes were soaked through, leaving him chilled and shivering, though not all of the shivering was from the cold.

His nightmares had been terrifying. Grotesque scenes continued to flash before his eyes, ghostly afterimages from his dreams that threatened his peace even though the dreams themselves were ended.

Carriac squinted in the dim light and tried to remember where he was. Oh yes! The jail. Memories of cries for help going unheeded filtered through the lingering dream. He realized suddenly that the mask on his face was gone, as were the bindings on his hands and feet.

"About time they realized their foolishness," he muttered as he put a hand down to push himself to his feet. The hand slipped on something oily and he fell hard on his side. The impact knocked a bit of air from his lungs and he pressed a hand to his stomach in a reflexive attempt to help him breathe.

His stomach was gone.

Or rather, it was completely flat.

"Not again!"

At that moment, his eyes fully adjusted to the minuscule amount of light in the room. He was NOT in the jail. Instead, the shaper found himself in a small closet surrounded by what looked like strips of pale flesh in a pool of oily liquid. He recoiled as he realized the flesh was his and the oil....

"No. That's not possible."

Carriac surged to his feet, slipping about on the remains of close to seventy pounds of partially congealed fat. He suppressed a surge of bile and reached for the door handle just visible in the meager light. He wrenched the knob and half stumbled into the next room.

A candle burned to the nub provided the room's only light, but it was sufficient to illuminate the pure carnage he discovered there.

His nightmares had been more than terrifying. They had been real.

The suppressed bile surged again and he fell to the floor, heaving. There was blood everywhere. The room could have been painted in it. He noticed that his clothes were soaked with it. It was not sweat that had him chilled.

Carriac pushed to his feet and forced himself to survey the carnage. Bits and pieces of torn flesh were scattered about with wild abandon. He counted four bodies in the room. The sexes were indistinguishable, so little flesh remained on the bones, but one was no more than child.

He didn't need corpses to see their faces. He saw them in his mind. And through his own eyes, he saw what had been done to them.

He screamed then, a cry of suffering - pure agony of soul. Had he done this? He couldn't have! And yet, the nightmare stood revealed in the flesh.

The revulsion was overwhelming. Instinct took over then, his urge to escape the awful scene took control. His mind locked onto the one place nearby where he knew he could find a measure of peace.

The Grove.

The thin elf fled the house, but he couldn't flee the images. They taunted him all the way back to the campsite.

Half running, half stumbling - unused as he was to the balance required by this thinner form - he came upon the river. He plunged in without thought, wading into the smooth waters until they surged around his waist. He scrubbed at the blood on his face and arms and in his hair. So frantic were his movements that his fingernails left long scratches in his skin. He didn't notice.

Finally, his skin raw and burning, Carriac made his way to the far side of the river and hauled himself out of the water. He staggered up the hillside as the first indications of dawn lit the eastern horizon.

Wet and shivering, wild-eyed and close to both physical and mental collapse, the shaper managed to find his way through the outer edge of the forest and into the Grove where he crumpled semi-conscious to the earth. He thought he saw Mara, running toward him. He pleadingly reached out a hand.

"Please...help me."

[Mara]

Even though Mara was asleep, her assassin skills were still sharp, her hearing still listening to the silence of the grove. When a twig snapped, Mara's eyes opened quickly and she already had her wooden dagger in her hand, hidden and clutched against her chest. Her sharp eyes spotted movement just pass the fire and she slowly slipped from Traveler's arm, before rising up.

At first she wasn't sure who it was, but the sound of water dripping from the form and his words caused her to drop the dagger. She ran forwards, and called out, " Traveler! Carriac's back..." and she caught him as he slipped into her arms and she studied him with her eyes as well as her hands. Brushing the hair from his face, she started kissing Carriac while tears fell down her cheeks.

"It's ok! You're safe..."

(to be continued...)